After the midterm elections, when Kansas and much of the country hoped to return to normalcy, we are faced with a very disconcerting fact.
We are not living in normal times.
In Topeka, I saw the worst curt partisanship on Monday. House Speaker-elect Dan Hawkins is a Wichita Republican who threatened a Democratic committee post if it nominated his party’s candidate for chair. , called for the “termination” of the United States Constitution to restore his power.
Neither man had to do what he did. Hawkins would lead an overwhelming majority from his party. The Democrats, being in the ultra-minority, do not threaten his goal of leading Congress.
Similarly, Trump has announced his re-run for the highest office in the country and enjoys a large and devoted following. He has a multi-billion dollar fortune. There is no need to attack the constitution of the country he claims to love.
But both men decided that the sheer exercise of power, detached from reason and proportionality, justified everything.
Like most congressional maneuvers, Hawkins’ actions can be defended by vague references to how one party ruined the other decades ago. It was a time-honored tradition when the House was run by Mitch McConnell, the Minority Leader of the House of Commons. Republicans need to change the rules now because despicable Democrats are considering a different approach.
Or, as Sherman Smith of the Kansas Reflector wrote, “Hawkins will allow the minority party to choose which members will be on which committees unless (Rep. Boog) Heiberger declines for 50 years.” He said he would cancel the previous Gentlemen’s Agreement.”
result? Absolute silence of dissent.
Lawrence Democrat Heiberger has faithfully represented his community over the years. He was as saintly as the Kansas Party had to offer, and his bid to be an orator was purely symbolic. It would have been nice to just hear Berger say. Smith’s coverage suggested that agents wanted to talk about transparency.
Snowflake-in-Chief Hawkins and his increasingly sensitive party members couldn’t bear to ponder the prospect.
Words fail when it comes to Trump.
No one who claims to care about our state, country, or shared history can read this man’s incoherent ramblings and miss the clear and present danger. As I wrote, Trump is an authoritarian threat. Republicans should set him aside for our common future.
However, he posted the following message on the “Truth Social” platform on December 3rd. Our great “Founder” did not want or tolerate false and fraudulent elections!”
Politicians who ignore or explain these words need to rethink public service. Our common political community will not last with party leaders demanding the termination of our founding documents. Trump has shown himself to be the most revolutionary extremist of all time, someone who, in his eccentric pursuit of self-examination, is upending everything we know and love about America. Democrats and the few remaining sane Republicans firmly assert the mantle of “conservatives.”
Massive fraud of this type and scale allows the termination of all rules, regulations and provisions, including those found in the Constitution.
We want to preserve what made this country great. Trump and his ilk have made clear their commitment to destroying any clues that have ever been missed.
Hawkins and Trump, and the actions that accompany them, may appear dramatically different. In fact, the threat posed by Trump surpasses the threat of Hawkins in every conceivable way. But both politicians preside over a clear and current breakdown of our common notions of civic politeness and mutual respect.
Mr. Trump cannot tolerate the idea that he lost a free and fair election. Hawkins would rather hurt the Kansas House of Representatives than hear the Democrats speak.
This is not normal.
These are not normal actions taken by a man who aspires to lead a nation or country. They will not be role models for future children or historians. Instead, Hawkins and Trump call themselves politicians corrupted and corrupted by ominous warnings, a need for more power and approval. They only think of the moment of seeking revenge on those who may have wronged them.
Voters did their part. Kansas elected Laura Kelley Kansas governor — she won her 499,849 votes against Hawkins’ 5,641 votes in last month’s election — Americans voted Joe Biden, not Trump, for President of the United States elected.
But where does that leave us if Hawkins and Trump refuse to listen? What kind of landscape do we follow when political losers refuse to admit the obvious? How do our states and countries work?
For better or worse, we are trying to find it.