Many Americans are justifiably worried about how our country can be brought together after this most divisive of elections in years.
Those who think that Hillary Clinton can do it are living in dreamland. The continued WikiLeaks revelations—and they are probably just getting started—coupled with the ongoing investigations on many fronts, lies multiplying on decades of lies, Obama himself implicated, will wound Mrs. Clinton, her husband, and their putative foundation through her entire administration and weaken her both at home and abroad to such a degree that her ability to govern will barely exist. It will be tragic for our country and the world.
Everyone honest knows Trump is right in one regard—she is a crook, a crook who got away with it.
But Trump, if he wins, will create aftershocks reverberating way beyond his enemies on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Beverly Hills. We may see riots, strikes and urban discontent unlike anything we have seen in many years.
In order to govern in this parlous situation, Trump has to break one of his campaign pledges immediately. He must pardon Hillary Clinton, not “lock her up”—or at the very least, don’t initiate new punitive actions against her—satisfying as that chant has been to his loyalists and much as she may deserve it.
He should do this pardoning quickly and then move to something far more important to our futures than revenge, tasted cold or otherwise. He must lead a reform of the FBI and the Department of Justice so they are free of political influence. The rule of law has taken a serious blow in our country, one from which it may never recover without significant action. The investigation of Clinton’s email server is only one of many examples of unexplored corruption.
But even if Trump does this, his job will not be easy. An unfortunate percentage of the public in our heavily divided country has been brainwashed by our educational system, the media, and entertainment–or is just plain ignorant—to such a degree that the road back for any president will be difficult.
An example of this is the recent revelation—from a poll conducted by YouGov—that nearly a third of our younger generation (millennials and Generation Z) believe that more people were killed under George W. Bush than under Joseph Stalin—a terrifyingly uneducated view that could be refuted with one Google click. The depressing part of it is that this historical blindness is not that astonishing at this point. Our culture is that far gone.
Given this problem, it would be wise for Trump–if he wins–to reach out to people on his own side who have opposed him, difficult as that may be. (Magnanimity has never been Donald’s long suit, but it’s not so hard when you’re the winner.) Early in the campaign I wrote that the error frequently made by the NeverTrumpers was that they failed to reach out to Donald, a man who usually likes you if you like him. A lot of things may have been different if they had. They could have made more of an impact. But those are bygones and we are where we are.
Two weeks out from this election, which is now beginning to seem closer than it did only a few days ago, the biggest concern is for the future of this nation. How do we walk back all the hate? I’m not sure we’ll be able to, but if we don’t….
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of PJ Media. His latest book is I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.
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