I want a refund for 2021.
There was an expectation, a futile hope of sorts, that a new year would mean new politics, a unification of an angry nation, a satisfaction of an insatiable pandemic and the politics and broken feelings surrounding it.
There was a decisive conclusion that those hopes were dashed as early as Jan. 6. While the riot at the U.S. Capitol was extraordinarily disheartening, the response to that riot was a good deal more damning for 2021.
There seemed to be a unilateral decision among the elites of this nation – Congress, Big Tech, and the media – that President Donald Trump must be erased and forgotten.
I can understand why one might dislike the 45th U.S. president, but I don’t think that personal dislike merits two impeachments and social media censure and banishment. Most especially, disagreement with his policies should not mean the blacklisting of all those who supported him or worked with him during his presidency.
You’ve certainly heard liberals in government and media claim that Trump is threatening the peaceful transition of power spoken of in the U.S. Constitution. They claim that this “peaceful transition of power” has long been the hallmark and glory of the American republic, and they are right. Finally, they say that by fighting the results of the election and “inciting rioters to violence against elected officials,” Trump is threatening our very democracy and is, implicitly, an embarrassment to this nation.
The problem with the argument liberals present is that Trump’s challenging of the election is by no means unprecedented. Bush v. Gore is a famous case of a very similar situation. In fact, electoral votes have been challenged in almost every election. Legal battles have been fought in the past; this is nothing “unprecedented.”
Furthermore, Trump hasn’t incited violence, he’s actually done quite the opposite. Before his account was frozen on Jan. 6, Trump tweeted that rioters storming the U.S. Capitol to go home and be peaceful. Twitter deleted the tweet and temporarily froze the account. Prior to their march to the Capitol, Trump also told the protestors to remain peaceful and strong. At the conclusion of electoral vote counting on Jan. 7, Trump conceded the election and condemned the rioters on Twitter, shortly before he was permanently banned from the platform. If this isn’t a president handing over a government legally and peacefully, I don’t know what is.
I’m aware that Trump has claimed for the last two months that he won the election in a landslide, despite the fact that he has been unable to produce sufficient evidence. However, it would be a blatent lie to say that he hasn’t followed the proper legal and political procedures in accordance with that belief.
Although the left tells us that Trump is embarrassing the nation by upsetting a long history of peaceful transitions, he is doing nothing unprecedented. Rather, I would argue that the left is guilty of this very crime.
The banishment of the president from social media has caused a worldwide stir. Even Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, despite her past distaste of President Trump, has called the banishment of Trump “problematic,” according to the New York Post.
Alexei Navalny, a vocal Russian critic of Stalin, and no fan of Trump, posted a lengthy Twitter thread on Jan. 9, asserting that Twitter’s banishment of the U.S. president was unacceptable censorship and opens the doors to future international censorship.
As it attempts to rewrite history and paint Trump as an evil figure in American history books, Twitter’s decisions are garnering international attention. This isn’t the American way of transitioning power.
I’m not claiming that banishment of someone from social media is violence, but it isn’t peaceful either. Furthermore, no one should be fooled, this kind of censorship won’t stop with banning the president of the United States.
Biden has informed us that he will unify America and heal our wounds. That’s a message that appeals to many after 2020. However, if Biden’s “healing” process involves simply covering over the problem by censoring and banning critics who happen to be conservative, I prefer 2020.
Aubrey Gulick is a sophomore studying history.