Revenge is mine
The Republican Party might actually draft a platform in 2024 for the first time in eight years. And a “Stop the Steal” election denier will lead them (The New Republic):
On May 15, Ed Martin, a former chair of the Missouri Republican Party, was hired to serve as the deputy policy director of the platform committee, reported NBC News. Martin is well known for supporting Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, even giving a speech in Washington, D.C., the day before the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021 to rally Trump’s supporters.
“No matter what happens tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after, we still need to be in the fight. There’s no summer soldiers and springtime patriots here. There’s the die-hard true Americans,” Martin said in that speech. “We start today, go through tomorrow and every day till we have a last breath and go home to the Lord because we will stop the steal.”
Well. Echoes of Gone with the Wind.
Of course, “true Americans” is a euphemism in an organization imbued with the spirit of the convicted criminal of the hour, The Man of 30,000 Lies.
The New Republic adds, “Martin’s appointment suggests that 2024’s platform will include challenging the integrity of any election that Republicans lose.”
Yes, but what else might that platform include? What all-American value might lie at the heart of a platform worthy of a man who thinks only of himself?
ABC News offers a clue:
Former President Donald Trump continues to center his third presidential campaign on retribution against his political allies, saying in a recent interview that at times revenge is “justified” — comments that President Joe Biden’s campaign seized on Friday to point to Trump’s focus on personal and political retribution.
[…]
In an interview with television host Dr. Phil McGraw — best known as “Dr. Phil,” Trump was asked about his calls for retribution, and his claims of taking action against some political opponents. Though Trump originally said he would work on forgiving and forgetting, he quickly changed his tune after McGraw, referencing the pope, said forgiveness was necessary in order to avoid revenge.
“Well revenge does take time. I will say that, and sometimes revenge can be justified,” Trump said in the interview that aired Thursday night.
Justified: Donald Trump is Raylan Givens, a tough deputy U.S. Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice. Except deputy is below convict Trump’s station and he’s prohibited from owning a gun. Whateva.
“You know the word ‘revenge’ is a very strong word, but maybe we have revenge for success. But that’s what I’d like to see. I want to see the country survive, because this country is not going to survive like this.”
Revenge For Success could be Trump’s next slapdash, ghost-written volume on screwing your neighbors. (Make sure that gets into the platform, Ed, if it takes your last breath before you go home to the Lord, justified.)
Imagine the acceptance speech Trump might give next month (with a few minor edits):
In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . . retribution today . . . retribution tomorrow . . . retribution forever.
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