Do you remember the sense of national unity we had after 9/11? As much as that was a scary time for our country, I long for days where we could put aside our political differences and come together as a nation. We showed al Qaeda that while they could bring down buildings, the core of America remained unshaken.
There was, perhaps no truer way to described what happened than when President George W. Bush said, "A terrorist attack designed to tear us apart has instead bound us together as a nation."
Sadly, that national unity didn’t last very long, and I dare say it’s likely never going to happen again. Political arguments that often manifested itself with one side comparing the other to Nazis and Hitler gradually started equating their political enemies with al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.
For example, a couple of years ago, Rep. Eric Swalwell compared Donald Trump to Osama Bin Laden.
“Well, Osama Bin Laden did not enter U.S. soil on Sept. 11, but it was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country. And the president, with his words, using the word 'fight'... that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the capital," Swalwell said.
Another example comes from the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks last year, when Kamala Harris appeared on Meet the Press, compared Trump supporters to the 9/11 terrorists.
“Look, we’re at the 21st, um, marking, if you will, of the September 11th attacks. This was a foreign terrorist attacking our democracy, attacking this country. We’re now as a nation battling a threat from within,” host Chuck Todd said alluding to Trump supporters. “Is the threat equal or greater than what we faced after 9/11?”
“That’s an interesting question,” Harris replied, unfazed. "Um, I have held many elected offices, as district attorney, attorney general, senator, now vice president, and there’s an oath that we always take, which is to defend and uphold our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We don’t compare the two in the oath, but we know they both can exist, and we must defend against it.”
Such inflammatory rhetoric seemed beneath even the most radical of Democrats, yet, in hindsight, at least the absurd comparisons showed they saw al Qaeda and bin Laden as evil — even if their rhetoric was absurd.
Nowadays, young leftists have a new view, not only are al Qaeda and bin Laden not so bad, but Republicans are worse.
Last week, we learned that young Americans were discovering Osama bin Laden’s Letter to America, which had been available on internet for more than twenty years, and finding themselves agreeing with its message. It’s not that they don’t know who Osama bin Laden is, or what he did. They read his words, and it spoke to them. They found themselves seeing America the same way bin Laden did.
Why is this important? Because for quite a few years now, we’ve more and more voices on the left, be they in government, the media, or social media influencers, insisting that Republicans, Donald Trump, etc. are worse than al Qaeda or worse than bin Laden. A quick search on your favorite search engine will bring up ample results to this point.
It’s troubling to see that there is a growing number of voices on the left who feel so morally superior to anyone on the political right that they will say anything. They won’t settle for comparing Republicans with al Qaeda, but actually insist that Republicans are worse.
We were once a country that was united against al Qaeda, and now the division in this country has become so bad that leftists see Republicans as worse than al Qaeda at the same time they’re empathizing with the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden. This past week leftist rag Salon published an article calling House Speaker Mike Johnson more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden.
This is concerning because it tells us that the radical left is too far gone, too radicalized to be able to see Republicans as anything less than an evil. These are the same people who are teaching young minds how to think. And yes, that’s what’s happening, and let’s not pretend it’s not. Hate like this is taught, and the left’s virtual monopoly on education is proof that our country is being ripped apart from within. Al Qaeda failed to divide our country, but its sympathizers on the American Left are succeeding in that goal.
