About those calls for unity

During the second Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, Republican after Republican said that this was not the time for impeachment, but a time for unity.

This is akin to the stabber asking the man with a knife in his back to unite with him so the stabber can heal.

The Republicans are the ones who fomented the Big Lie for months — even before the election was held. They cast aspersions on Democrats. They repeatedly let Trump call us the “enemy of the people” without saying anything.

After the election they joined in, with a full-throated chorus. They pumped the Big Lie to the point where nearly 2/3s of Republicans believe, without any evidence at all, that Joe Biden stole the election.

They believe that “Democrats” are responsible for the laws that were changed in Pennsylvania by a Republican legislature. They believe the laws were changed as a result of the pandemic when they were changed in 2019. They believe they were passed to benefit the Democrats, when mail-in voting had traditionally favored the Republicans. They believe that the Trump-appointed judge who ruled was in bed with the Democrats.

They believe voting machines tampered with votes in Wisconsin, even though hand recounts confirm the results.

They believe that a Republican governor in Georgia and a Republican governor in Arizona — both Trump supporters — are in on rigging the election for Biden.

In short they believe in utter nonsense. And they believe it because virtually the entire Republican establishment either pushed the Big Lie or sat by and let others do the lying for them.

And this is why the likes of Ted Cruz, who is no idiot, talks vaguely about “allegations” and “irregularities” without ever saying a single specific thing.

It was so bad that without a scintilla of actual evidence 140 members of the House of Representatives and 14 Senators were ready to challenge the result of the Electoral College.

Make no mistake about it, they were not only willing to, they were trying to overthrow the result of the election.

And now these same people call for unity after their lie resulted on the most violent attack on the Capitol Building since 1812.