As we noted previously, the Cleveland Presidential Debate was a disaster for both parties, but new information has made this even more problematic than we ever imagined. In a tweet barely three days later, the president announced that both he and his wife, Melania, had tested positive for COVID-19. Making matters worse, the president was moved to Walter Reed military hospital later that day for treatment as his condition worsened. This drummed up the usual media hysteria as they were both present for the Cleveland debate, and the spread of the virus was unimaginable. Since then, the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19, with connections to the White House, has risen to 34. All the while, the administration continued to try downplaying the severity of both the virus and its outbreak.

Meanwhile, these shocking developments were followed by another, equally strange and (un)surprising move by the Biden campaign: They decided to remove all of their negative ads against the President. On Twitter, the former vice president even went so far as offering Trump his thoughts and prayers for renewed health, safety and a swift recovery. Keeping with this, nearly all of the liberal pundits — the same individuals who spent the last four years calling Trump a “megalomaniac fascist” and decrying the “end of democracy” — followed suit by wishing the President well, many of whom also used their platforms to quash anyone who expressed the opposite sentiment and those who were happy to see the cosmic scales of justice rebalanced, happy that the violence this administration generated and fueled had returned to haunt them with a vengeance. Combined, this raises an incredibly important question: What kind of “Resistance” is the liberal establishment? 

Now, some might say this is a fairly common reaction by the Democrats. Time after time, they have “taken the moral high ground” and fully embraced their fence-sitting politics in every element of life. This can be seen everywhere from mourning the deaths of John McCain to George H. W. Bush to Ronald Reagan, but in the case of Donald Trump, it becomes very different. Never before have the Democrats so openly labeled a president, or simply a member of the opposite party, a fascist and an extreme threat to the “safety of our democracy.” This abrupt turnaround, of wishing the president a swift recovery, beautifully highlights the absurd contradictions of American politics today. One can imagine a similarly ridiculous scene by picturing a group of partisans in ‘44, during the heat of the Italian Resistance, wishing Mussolini good health and longevity so that they could vote him out (with a clear conscience) in the next election. 

With this, we can see how liberal politics are generally performative and devoid of any real struggle. If this “resistance” were anything other than a farce, they would take the fight to its necessary conclusion and echo the sentiments of thinkers like Malcolm X and Frantz Fanon: The oppression must come to an end by any means necessary. In our particular case, it calls for fully recognizing the current administration’s evil and wishing they reap the seeds for which they have sowed so ardently. After over 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States alone, roughly 20% of the global reported deaths, wishing ill on those who perpetuate the disaster should not be a controversial statement. 

Here though, we should take a moment to be painstakingly clear. Our contempt does not fall squarely on Trump, or even the Republican party more generally, but encompasses the entire American political system. For example, while the Democrats currently like to call Trump the most disastrous modern president, they do so only to conceal the worst atrocity of our modern age, the Iraq War, and their role in it. Bush’s 2003 excursion into Iraq claimed more than 1.3 million innocent Iraqi lives and was premised on the bold-faced lie that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” Not only did Biden, and the majority of other Democratic senators, vote for the authorization of military force against Iraq, but he also effectively refused the prosecution of these war criminals during his time in the vice presidency. 

The literal endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan has only caused further catastrophe to a region already wrought by centuries of colonialism, and no justice has ever been served for those who lost their lives or their loved ones. So, keeping with our theme, it is easy to see why the anti-imperialist slogan ranging the world over is “death to America.” Now, this might produce a knee-jerk reaction for some, but it is essential to understand that this is not a call for violence against Americans, but rather for the collapse of the American regime in its present role: a key actor, and even leader, in the exportation of violence and destabilization across the globe. Furthermore, not only has justice not been served for those who have faced the consequences of disastrous policy decisions, but many of the same people are being told to vote for the very architects of destruction. When the “better” vote choice is a person whose policy prescriptions criminalized millions of people, predominantly of color, and laid the groundwork for the development of what lawyer Michelle Alexander calls “a new racial caste system,” who could blame that person for sitting this election out? In summation, our point echoes Isaiah 48:22 in that there can be no rest (or peace) for the wicked. Humanizing and wishing-well, the managers of such a violent and oppressive regime, whether it be Donald Trump, George W. Bush, or even Joe Biden, is antithetical to our cause.

Bryce Schlenker is an opinion writer. Contact him at [email protected]. 

Colt Hutchinson is an opinion writer. Contact him at [email protected].

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Hi, I’m Lauren Sasala, a senior journalism student from Toledo. I’m also the editor in chief of The Kent Stater and KentWired this semester. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important news about Kent State and the Kent community. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate.