You may be shocked that I would say this: You’ve got to admire the Left. There’s no doubt they own the internet, the media, the courts (at least in Republicans trying to get a fair shake in state courts regarding election irregularities), and now the government. That when all lumped together means they have an excellent hand at the poker table BEFORE the dealer actually deals a hand. Even with all that, I’m stupified they have been able to do something I expected could only happen “when cows fly:” they have united America.

“Whoa, Dan!” Oh yes, they have united America — just the America that counts in “Leftist World:” the elite class of Americans. The only one of their number that has even uttered words like “we must unite for the sake of our nation” and “this is not a time for stoking divisions” is their POTUS-in-waiting, Joe Biden. They’ve identified a foil they can use for blame.

It’s not Donald Trump! They realize that at least half the country still loves him. However, the elites in the nation have hit a home run. For the very first time in four years, a chunk of Trump supporters have swallowed the evil pill of Mainstream Media, who incessantly beat the drum of “Evil Trump supporters incited the riotous atmosphere at the Capitol January 6th. Their evil cannot stand.” And they believe the President is at least partially responsible for the attempted insurrection. Believe it or not, many of the simpleton Trumpsters believe the President at best was an enabler of the Capitol violence at worst instigated terrorist acts. At best, he’s an enabler; at worst, a domestic terrorist. And everyone on the Left is doubling and tripling down on that rift of sorts to widen the anti-Trump gap a little wider.

Here’s how the Left is playing this: by getting ANY number of Trump supporters to agree to the culpability of the President, they are forcing each of his supporters to either back away from their fawning MAGA love for “their guy” or be guilty of complacency in the plot to destroy the Congress and the Capitol. And if they pull that lever, they will be immediately today and forever wear the label of “domestic terrorist.”

None of those folks went to D.C. for any reason other than to express themselves at their angst about the lack of interest from Congress to dig into the irregularities that were so obvious in the election that remain untested in the open. A few hotheads got out of hand; the police were oddly unprepared, which seems more every day that the Capitol’s lack of policing was intentional. Two people died.  Unfortunately for the Left, there’s no evidence of any attempt to overthrow the U.S. government last week. That would certainly strengthen their feckless attempt at the second impeachment of Trump in the House — which will NEVER be successful. (I know: “Don’t EVER say NEVER!”)

Yes, there was trespassing on the hallowed ground of government. But it’s ironic that people who have spent the last four years attacking the formerly sacrosanct office of the president of the United States with a hatred that surpasses anything seen before in the history of America, literally calling for his death, disgrace, silencing and imprisonment on multiple platforms all day, every day, as the international community looked on and rejoiced at America’s weakness. These people are now getting uptight about the holy ground of government. I have heard of exactly one (1) lectern and two (2) computers reported missing from the Capitol. You’d get more stuff stolen during a fire drill at your college library.

But all that doesn’t matter. Those who like to consider themselves the “adults” of America are now united in agreeing that this was a planned act of insurrection. Anyone who doesn’t agree to identify events as not just the impulsive behavior of a few hotheads but also a deliberate fomentation of the entire Trump movement is himself a traitor and a supporter of mob rule. The message is plain: if you disagree Donald Trump is responsible for this not-terribly-earthshaking act of violence, you have no future in America’s leadership.

This is insane on so many levels. But it’s mostly insane because it is entirely without thought for the consequences. A huge percentage of America — we could call them Middle America, but it’s bigger than that — still loves Donald Trump and thinks he and they have been maltreated. Does today’s leadership seriously want to alienate a huge percentage of a population that already feels disenfranchised? The question is no longer — and never really has been — whether Donald Trump believes the election was fair. The question is, does America believe it was fair? And is it really a good idea to keep telling Middle America, in particular, to sit down and shut up?

Grand idea: Why not just open investigations and show the World there was NO fraud in the election IF there was none?

The condescending and divisive language, the over-wrought name-calling, the stifling of alternate points of view — all this has to stop. 99% of Trump supporters do not support breaking the law. Their concerns need to be heard in a transparent, orderly, public fashion. But if they think they won’t be, what then? And once Donald Trump is gone, the leader they trusted, the one who gave the disenfranchised deplorables a voice and a chance to be heard — then who will deescalate, who will convince angry Middle America to walk out of the Capitol and go home?  Not Joe Biden, who is now claiming that police were too gentle to the rioters because of racism — as if racism had anything to do with anything that happened on January 6.

You’ve seen on nature channels how a pack of wolves hunts caribou. They cut off a single target animal from the herd and bring him down in a coordinated effort. Once they’re done with that one, they move on to the next. The Left pretends that once the herd gives up Donald Trump, lets him be cut off, and lets them devour him, they’ll be satisfied. They’re holding all of America hostage, promising that things will get better if we hand over President Trump for his extermination by the Mob.

“Give us Trump,” they cry, “and life can go back to normal.” The masses will sink back into their customary disengagement, and the smart people, Republican and Democrat alike, can get back to running the country. Trump is the problem! Under extreme pressure, most conservatives seem willing to agree.

But they’re listening to their emotions, not their brains. First of all, Donald Trump’s election to the presidency was the consequence of a change in American thinking, not its cause. Impeach Trump, take him down, destroy him, and all you’ve done is turn what is a movement of massive proportions into a disenfranchised and resentful conglomerate of American citizens — mostly voters — who are enraged at not being given fair treatment. That’s not a problem we want to create.

Secondly, Donald Trump is not the Left’s real target. We — anyone who holds conservative principles — are the target. What is there about accusations of “systemic” racism, “systemic” problems in America that the Republicans don’t understand? America’s system is the problem. America’s way of life is the problem. That’s what they’re after. The destruction of Donald Trump won’t satisfy them for long. The wolves will be back. And now they know that given the right pressure, we’ll throw them whoever they want. Who will be sacrificed next? If they get Trump, the pattern is permanently in place in history. The Left will know that forever when they come to Republicans with demands, and gutless GOP members will throw to the wolves whoever they want.

Nothing is more deadly than a hungry wolf who sets sights on the prey they KNOW whose family will give them up.

Anyone on the Right who supports the total de-platforming of the President by unelected oligarchs, anyone who expressed support for the idea of his removal via the 25th Amendment, and anyone planning to support the Democrats’ plan for impeachment this week needs to think very, very carefully about what happens next. Because if our elected officials impeach President Trump, they will be for all intents and purposes impeaching the legitimate aspirations and the legitimate questions of millions of Americans. This is not a recipe for restoring order and unity; it’s a recipe for disaster.

Don’t blame Donald Trump for the situation we’re in. Blame the institutions that refused to hear America out, the state courts that refused to allow in the record any of the piles of evidence presented in evidentiary hearings but never seen. Blame the media that joined in a blanket refusal to cover the rising swell of discontent. Blame the Supreme Court, which refused to hear what Middle America had to say. Blame every scribbler who indulged in some variety of the condescending and incessant cries of evidence being nothing but “baseless allegations.” Blame social media censors who only fueled — and continue to fuel — conspiracy theories by blocking, deleting, and stifling free speech. And blame every conservative who was too foolish to see what was happening before we got to where we are.

In an interview — now removed from YouTube — with an eyewitness to Ashli Babbitt’s shooting, a journalist addresses one of the rioters outside of the Capitol, a young man from New Jersey standing so close to Ashli Babbitt that he got blood on his hand. “Why did you enter the building,” the journalist asks? I can’t quote the visibly horrified young man’s exact words because the video has been censored. But he responds, calmly enough, that he and his fellows wanted to demand that Congress make an investigation of the election. “We just wanted to be taken seriously,” he says. “They’re laughing at the people who voted for Trump,” he says, “They laugh at us on TV, they laughed at us as we marched along the street.” He saw a man standing inside a window, laughing and filming as they walked by. “We just wanted a fair investigation, and now somebody’s shot,” he says as if he still can’t quite believe it.

You can condemn rioting and illegal entry into the Capitol without blinding yourself to reality. It’s time to stop laughing at Middle America. It’s time to start listening, and most importantly, to start de-escalating.

Are you seeing ANY attempts to unify, to overcome differences, to respect the rights of dissent, or any discussions of moving forward as one America?

There will be no “peaceful transition” without a dramatic reach out from the Left to that 99.9% of conservatives who are hungry to unite but leery of joining a bunch of wolves.

Don’t you think the Left should SHOW they’re really not wolves?