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2,000 Mules Is Important. But Not that Important.
Dinesh D’Souza’s new film “2,000 Mules” explores the possibility of election fraud in the recent Trump – Biden presidential election. It has generated significant support. It has also, as one might imagine, met with significant opposition. I have a few things in common with its detractors:
- I haven’t seen the movie.
- I don’t understand what happened in the last election.
- I dislike Donald Trump’s personality.
On the other hand, I have my differences with the detractors, as well. For example, while I’m not sure if ballot fraud was the deciding factor in the election, I think it’s obvious that the Democrats at least tried to cheat. On a massive scale. So this was either murder, or attempted murder. One is worse than the other, of course. But both are crimes. Which should be discouraged, not encouraged. When someone attempts murder, it’s a bad idea to give them what they want. Once they see the power they hold, they’ll use the same strategy in the future. It won’t stop until they realize that it doesn’t work.
Which is why cheating is not necessarily new behavior for Democrats, at least since the Civil War. But what’s particularly bothersome to me in this particular case is that they made very little effort to conceal their attempts at cheating. Zuckerberg’s actions were very public, and widely reported in the mainstream media. The Russia Hoax was obviously absurd from the beginning (Why would Putin want a firebrand like Trump in the Whitehouse instead of a useful idiot like Biden? Americans (and Ukrainians) are now learning how much a Democrat President helps tyrants like Putin and Xi, but this is not a new concept). The FBI openly supported Democrats, using its institutional power to destroy a sitting Republican president. Time Magazine wrote an article about the Democrats’ multifaceted, coordinated efforts to control the last election. This wasn’t a secret plot. This was a public action, which was widely publicized, in real-time. It never occurred to Democrats that they might pay the price for cheating. And, it appears, they were right. That really is terrifying.
So yes, Mr. D’Souza. Ballot fraud was likely a factor. But it was only one piece of a massive, concerted effort by many, many, many people who directly or indirectly supported Democrat efforts to control the election, through various means of various levels of ethics and legality.
I mentioned my agreement with the detractors above, in that I dislike Donald Trump’s personality. Although I didn’t care for his persona, I was amazed at what an outstanding job he did as president, and how well America did under his guidance. So I swallowed my pride, and acknowledged his remarkable accomplishments.
But just suppose I despised him so much that I just couldn’t wait until he left office. Ok, fine.
Even then, I can’t imagine voting for a Democrat.
I would presume that a Democrat would govern as a Democrat, as they always have. And I would presume that those Democrat policies would cause widespread pain and suffering, as they always have. And I would presume that the damage caused by those policies would be felt primarily by the underclass, as they always have.
I would be unwilling to intentionally hurt millions of people just because I got tired of listening to an arrogant boor give speeches with a New York accent. I can afford expensive gasoline, but not everyone can.
I might stop listening to his speeches, as I have with Biden’s. But I wouldn’t intentionally hurt millions of people to feel better about myself. That’s horrifying. That might move one past being a narcissist into being a sociopath.
Many criticisms of Trump are valid. Exaggerated by the leftist media, perhaps. Debatable, perhaps. Debatable, but valid.
What’s not debatable is that America was doing very well under President Trump, and is being predictably devastated by the applied leftism of the Democrat party that took his place. Predictably. None of what’s happened has been surprising. Putin understands Democrats. So does everybody else. Even, I would argue, Democrat supporters.
As horrible as it may be to contemplate, I am beginning to believe that Democrat voters understand what they’re voting for. Oh my God.
I understand Trump’s detractors. I share some of their perspectives.
But I don’t understand those who, even at this late hour, continue to try to defend their actions. Pretending to be surprised by the predictable consequences of Democrats governing like Democrats is not a reasonable defense. The worse things get, the worse that sounds.
They were given a simple, stark choice. Their motivations are revealed by the choice they made. And that’s it.
“2,000 Mules” strongly suggests that there was widespread ballot fraud in the last election. There’s no question that the Democrats at least tried to cheat. And that’s an important point.
But not as important as the motivations of those who either supported or ignored their efforts.
Cheating can be fixed. Unless the motivations of those who hold power find that cheating to be helpful.
The cheating is a symptom, not the disease.
Published in General
That would be enough. There will always be shallow people in every arena, maybe even a majority. They’re self-managing in a healthy Republic. Just punish the cheaters, and elections will be well.
The answer to the question as initially stated is “yes.”
The punishment for attempted murder is for the attempt. There are some jurisdictions where you can be charged with both for a single action.
(prevent & punish) the act: that’s the role of law. But a personality of the left really is existentially threatened by minds that differ, which turns out to mean every other mind.
Uh, both.
Punishment delivers (a form of) justice for the victims, in lieu of them taking the law into their own hands. The punishment represents that criminals payment of his debt to society and to the victim(s).
Punishment also takes the criminal out of society for a time (or permanently), protecting society from potential crimes. Societies throughout history have recognized that persons who commit crimes are extraordinarily likely to commit more crimes. Crime rates drop as incarceration rates climb. Paging Pauline Kael!
The idea of rehabilitation is a modern conceit, and is not holding up well in light of decades of evidence.
Punishment can also be useful as a deterrent for others with similar ideas.
I’d agree. But also, they didn’t just wake up in unison one morning individually hating Trump. They’re being manipulated, and very well I’d say.
I happened to like Trump’s tweets because I finally had someone who stood up to the left. Nothing in his tweets was even half as bad as what people said to me on Twitter. Tweets are benign. Taking guns, imprisoning, creating shortages, and promoting perversions like the Dems are doing are not benign acts. Silly people enabled the Dems to win. Now they are suffering.
Joe’s been lying all his life, its worked well for him. Why would he stop now? Hell, he’s just recently restated his college career on television, all of it inaccurate.
Ah but the Dems still do cheat here. Simply because they can.
Well they might have needed it to save Newsom and to keep that White Supremacist Larry Elder out of office, but probably not for presidential elections.