Democrats are no longer hiding their desire for one-party rule.
A member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a writer for the magazine The Week have called on Democrat leadership in Congress to refuse to seat members of the chamber who supported President Trump’s legal actions against voter fraud in the 2020 election.
In a series of tweets, 83-year-old Representative Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said that “The text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems a pretty clear example of that.”
Pascrell made reference to lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign in various states and to a recent lawsuit from Texas that unsuccessfully sought to overturn the results of the election by claiming that four battleground states that went to Biden unconstitutionally changed their voting rules to enable mail-in voting.
A statement from Pascrell read that “men and women who would tear the United States government apart cannot serve as members of the Congress.”
In a letter to House leadership, the lawmaker specifically urged for the ostracizing of the 126 members of Congress who signed a brief supporting the Texas lawsuit, which the Supreme Court declined to hear. He quoted the 14th Amendment:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Chemist Ryan Cooper, a contributor for The Week, echoed Pascrell’s argument, writing in a December 12 article:
It’s worth thinking about what a party seriously committed to preserving democracy would do when faced with a seditious opposition party — namely, cut them out of power and force them to behave. Democrats could declare all traitors ineligible to serve in national office, convene a Patriot Congress composed solely of people who have not committed insurrection against the American government, and use that power to re-entrench democracy.
Cooper notably italicized the word “force,” emphasizing the tyranny he wants to impose on those who dare question the leftist dogma that Joe Biden is the legitimate president. He went on to conclude that “this country was founded by people who thought it was worth putting their lives at hazard to throw off tyrannical rule. Perhaps some of that spirit can once again be found” — which appeared to suggest that he believes violence should be used against the president’s supporters.
This is far from the first time someone on the Left has called for reprisals against President Trump’s allies and supporters. Democratic-Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said “lists” of Trumpers should be made.
Jennifer Rubin, the neocon columnist who went full liberal and joined the Washington Post after Donald Trump entered American politics, says those who support the president should never be allowed to hold public office, serve on corporate boards, or participate in other avenues of society.
Former Obama staffer Michael Simon, in a since-deleted tweet, added that he wants retribution against everyone who ever worked for the Trump administration.
Actress Janelle Monae tweeted (in a since-deleted post) “f**k every American citizen” who voted for President Trump, saying they should all “burn.”
America has entered a dangerous new era in which the Republic is in greater peril of being lost than it perhaps has been at any other point in the nation’s history. The political battle taking place is no longer a mundane one between equally acceptable policy proposals, but an existential one in which Democrats not only want to replace our traditional institutions with radical socialism, but are willing to use any means to eliminate the opposition.
If there was ever a time to get off the sidelines and become involved in civic life, this is it.
