Contributed commentary by Joel Diemoz in response to Rep. Mark Green: ‘Every one of us has a role to play in bridging the divide’
In 1979, psychologist Lenore E. Walker wrote The Battered Woman, a treatise on the cycle of abuse often experienced by victims of domestic violence. Essentially, Walker describes an abusive relationship as cyclic. First there is building tension. Next there is a spark that triggers an incident. Finally, the abuser asks for forgiveness, and the cycle starts over again.
Right now, we are at step three.
But let us remember how we came to be here. Since your career in national politics began, you have been firmly in the corner of the most divisive politician in modern history.
When President Donald Trump mocked a disabled reporter, you said nothing. During the height of Trump’s family separation policy, you went to the border to run cover for some of 45’s cruelest policy. You spent the last year and a half labelling anyone portside of Sen. John McCain as the “radical left.” When President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign bus was nearly run off the road, you said nothing.
Finally, when the people finally had their referendum on Trumpism, despite the fact the president has never polled above 50% (https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/31/politics/donald-trump-polling-2020-election/index.html), you had the audacity to call into question the legitimacy of the election. Your supporters believed you. But your own words betrayed you. According to your own statement before the Capitol riots, “I tried to sound the alarms for nearly a year in House Homeland Security Committee and Oversight Committee hearings that the increase in mail-in balloting and last-minute changes to election laws could lead to confusion, fraud and distrust.” (https://markgreen.house.gov/press-releases?id=4CB11E7D-D0C7-49A3-86B8-745E88B80BE4).
But now you flee the sinking ship. Was there actually reason to doubt the election, or has your political calculation changed?
On Jan. 6, your own chickens came home to roost. The people storming the Capitol did so, in part, because of your actions. And you call for unity?
If this was a domestic partnership, you have blackened our collective eyes and are now clamoring for forgiveness. For anyone that is not firmly in the Trump camp, there can only be unity when you acknowledge your responsibility for this mess. If not, the cycle of abuse will only escalate.
Joel Diemoz
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