In the wake of the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, who will become the GOP nominee for president again this coming week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, many Democrats are saying things like the political discourse needs to improve or violence has no place in the country or the tone of the nation’s politics needs to calm down.
While they’re right in that general thinking, it’s unclear if any Democrats have the conviction necessary to actually take steps that would accomplish that or if they are just spouting off nice-sounding talking points after their political opponent was almost murdered in cold blood on live television. There are, however, several steps Democrats could take right now to prove they are men and women of their word and that they are interested in healing the country. It is highly unlikely they will do any of these, but it’s worth trying because maybe, just maybe, they believe in the country and want this insanity to end.
First and foremost, they would need to end all weaponization efforts against Trump and conservatives immediately. Secondly, steps would need to be taken to ensure anyone in danger has the security they need to be safe. Thirdly, the Democrats and broader left need to right now drop their rhetorical nonsense, claiming that Trump is a threat to democracy or a dictator or an authoritarian. And fourthly, there need to be consequences for anyone who keeps these various charades going in the aftermath of this horrific moment.
So, without further ado, here is a list of action items Democrats could immediately undertake on Sunday afternoon if they are actually interested in the safety and security of all Americans and in taking the political discourse in a more productive direction. What follows is a by-no-means comprehensive list of actions Democrats and their media allies should undertake immediately as a good first step—and that’s all the below is, a first step—towards helping the nation heal.
1. Democrat President Joe Biden Should Fire Special Counsel Jack Smith
First and foremost, Biden himself has, through his Justice Department, overseen the biggest weaponization of law enforcement in American history. He has overseen his own administration targeting his political opponent with dubious-at-best criminal charges on a number of fronts filled with hypocrisy like in the documents case and built on novel legal theories like the January 6 case. The U.S. Supreme Court just decimated key charges against Trump on the presidential immunity front, and Biden could very legitimately on Sunday afternoon not just terminate Smith by ordering Attorney General Merrick Garland to do so but also ordering the closure of the Office of the Special Counsel and the dropping of all criminal charges against Trump. Realistically, we should be under no illusion that Biden would actually do this, but if he actually did care about healing the nation, he would.
2. Fani Willis Should Drop All Charges Against Trump
The case Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis has brought against Trump is rife with problems, as has been very publicly documented many times. The case is held up in the appellate process in Georgia state courts, but the weakness of the charges and the very clear evidence of corruption and salacious nature of her relationship with now-terminated prosecutor Nathan Wade should have been enough for this to happen anyway. If Democrats were interested in peace and calm, they would pressure her to end this immediately and drop all charges while publicly apologizing to Trump.
3. Justice Merchan Should Vacate the Convictions Against Trump in New York
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s legal framework in the charges he brought—and then the leftist-controlled system rigged to engineer a conviction—against Trump notwithstanding, Justice Merchan if he truly believed in protecting the country should vacate the conviction against Trump now. Everyone seems to know it will eventually be overturned on appeal—legal experts from across the political spectrum say so—so it’s time to wrap this nonsense up now. If Merchan resists, appellate courts in New York should expedite the matter and maybe Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can step in and help the process along. He’s very close, being from New York, with many of the players involved, apparently.
4. Biden Should Commute the Sentences of and Immediately Release Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon
The only reason why former Trump White House aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon are both in federal prison right now is because they cited executive privilege that Trump had asserted in response to dubious subpoenas from the politically charged January 6 Select Committee. The Committee’s questionable formation and creation, stocked only with Democrats and just two Trump-hating “Republicans” who literally voted to impeach Trump, notwithstanding, it was a purely political judgment call by Democrats to seek to imprison Navarro and Bannon. Regardless, Biden has unique powers as president of the United States and could immediately commute their sentences and order their release from federal custody. Both are in federal prison right now—Navarro is set to be released soon and Bannon in a few months—but there is zero reason Biden should not release them now.
5. All Nonviolent January 6 Prisoners Should be Released with Charges Dropped as Soon as Possible
This needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis. But Biden could be extremely magnanimous here and take the temperature down big time in this country if, in the case of nonviolent January 6 offenders charged and/or convicted right now in federal custody they were all released. In fact, the Fischer case at the U.S. Supreme Court reportedly affects hundreds of people so it’s a totally legitimate thing for the federal government to follow through on that and release these people as fast as possible. Biden could order it to move faster, and move the wheels of bureaucracy quickly to process their release.
6. Bennie Thompson Should Withdraw His Legislation that Would Have Stripped U.S. Secret Service Protection from Trump
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the guy who then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the chairman of that questionable January 6 Committee, actually audaciously introduced legislation that would have stripped U.S. Secret Service protection from any protected individual convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail time. This was transparently an effort to target Trump. Thompson should withdraw the legislation and apologize to Trump, and for good measure, the staffer he has who was caught posting that he wished the would-be assassin didn’t miss Trump with his gunshots should be terminated. Democrats could accomplish this feat today.
7. Provide Trump with Expanded U.S. Secret Service Protection He Requested, and Provide RFK with Secret Service Protection
The Biden administration has knowingly and very publicly repeatedly denied Robert F. Kennedy Jr. protection from the U.S. Secret Service despite the long history of very credible assassinations against his own family members. Of course, his uncle former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while he was President, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated while running for president. There’s no legitimate reason to deny RFK Jr. Secret Service protection.
In the past several hours, it has also been revealed that Biden’s administration denied Trump extra protection his campaign requested. This is ludicrous and should end today. Biden should overrule Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who reportedly denied it, and give Trump the security he needs.
8. All Democrats and Establishment Media Figures Should End ‘Dictator,’ ‘Authoritarian’ Nonsense
Listening to Democrats and their establishment media allies for the past few years, and especially in the last few weeks, they argue repeatedly that Trump is a “threat to democracy” and would be an “authoritarian” or “dictator” if he wins the election in November. This is abject nonsense and they know it. Trump was a great president in his first term, and accomplished many things even Democrats now say they appreciate for the country. Sure, they have political disagreements with him and that’s fine, but it’s high time for everyone—Democrats and everyone in the establishment media—to knock it off once and for all regarding this highly-charged and frankly wholly inaccurate rhetoric. The policies Trump has actually laid out that he says he intends to executive, should he win in November, are fairly common sense. Democrats should, if they want to beat him at the ballot box, argue on the merits up-or-down on policy and end this insanity.
Again, nobody should be under illusions that the Democrats and media will actually do this—in fact, some have already begun suggesting they will continue down this path—but if cooler heads on the Democrat side prevail and they actually did want to stop the insanity, they would do this immediately.
