Katherine Miller | This Is Why Peter Meijer Lost? – The New York Times

By Katherine Miller

Ms. Miller is a staff writer and editor in Opinion.

“Last year Peter Meijer, the Michigan representative who voted to impeach Donald Trump and just lost his re-election primary over it, shared a nightmare hypothetical that illustrates a central tension in American politics.

“China invades Taiwan,” he said in a podcast interview. “We send the Seventh Fleet to intimidate them, and it’s the summertime, and all of a sudden, the power goes out in Phoenix and people are baking to death in their house, and the Chinese say we can turn the power back on if you turn that fleet around.” This would suddenly make cybersecurity the most resonant issue in America. But putting this scenario in perspective, he said, “if you were to poll the public, cybersecurity wouldn’t even register in the top 50 issues.”

The same is true, he argued, about the politics of political violence: It is a vital concern that you can’t run a winning campaign on. “I think Jan. 6 should have been a warning sign,” Mr. Meijer said. “It should have been, ‘This is a taste of what could come if we keep going down this path.’ Instead, it becomes something that you can justify, that you can reconcile.” But, he pointed out, voters did not see Jan. 6 and political violence as a top concern for their everyday lives.”

David Lindsay Jr.

Hamden, CT | NYT comment:

This is an excellent story, thank you Katherine Miller. But I have to confess, it disgusts me. I have extremely strong, negative feelings towards Democrats who would pump up a Trumpist, with fascist positions, over a thoughtful and brave patriot who is a Republican. In my view, the Democrats doing this are nuts. They ignore the plea of writers like Thomas Friedman, who has written several times, that we desperately need two healthy parties at least, to make this democracy work. David Brooks has made similar arguments. How can I make contributions now to Democratic supporting Pacs, when I think they might have been involved in this ugly madness? It is about the economy stupid, is now replaced by, its about the existential threat of global warming, stupid. This is not a good time for the extremists of the Democratic party to be tying the rest of us up in knots of discomfort.

David blogs at InconvenientNews.net