Words and Actions

Words matter.  They animate people; they calm nerves and spread peace; they incite anger and revenge.  Words can heal and they can destroy.  Today and in the coming weeks, Ratcatcher will watch closely – and listen even more closely – to see whether the words of President Biden and his allies result in actions aimed at brining peace and harmony to the American public.

In the weeks leading up to the attempt on President Trump’s life, Biden and his allies in the Democrat Party carried on an incessant drum beat of personal attacks on President Trump.  He was, in their words, an enemy of the American people; he intended to imprison his political opponents; he was the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler or was, at the least, a Nazi.  He intended to take away the rights of women to abort their babies and to prevent homosexuals from marrying.  All lies!  All were intended to inflame the already over-heated emotions of the Democrats who had witnessed the collapse of their champion on the debate stage.  As if these attacks were not enough, the President, himself – the man who promised to unite America—to bring us together – suggested that what was needed was a bullseye on President Trump.  King Henry II of England, disturbed by the actions of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, exclaimed “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”  The subsequent murder of Becket by four of Henry’s knights is memorialized in the verse drama by T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral.  A modern version of that drama was nearly played out on live television Saturday afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Faced with the public outrage over the attempted assassination, President Biden rushed to the microphone to call for an end to violence in America .  On Sunday, July 14, 2024, Biden spoke from the Oval Office, repeating his call for peace and unity, a strange thing considering that only two evening earlier, Biden had personally attacked President Trump, once again calling him a threat to America and democracy.  There were at least two odd features to Biden’s Sunday address.  First, he did not state that he would take the lead in reducing the fever pitch of political rhetoric and attacks.  Second, he did not repudiate the earlier attacks which he and his fellow Dems had made on Donald Trump.  You can’t have it both ways.  If Trump is a real threat, then there is no reason to apologize for your rhetoric nor any basis to reduce it.  If you have been lying all along, that’s a harder issue since it demands an apology; not likely either Biden or the Dems.

So where do we go from here?  Donald Trump is about to be nominated for the presidency.  By the time this has been posted, he may have announced his pick for his vice-presidential running mate. Joe Biden has postponed a trip to Austin, Texas, ostensibly to allow the political temperature to cool.  We shall see.  As is true for all of us, actions speak much louder than words.  We understand that certain political attack ads have been pulled or postponed by the Democrat Party.  Why?  Once again, if Donald Trump is the Devil incarnate, they ought to say so.  But if those ads are simply regurgitated lies that we have heard before, they ought to be flushed for good.  Any bets?

NOTE:  If you have found this post interesting or helpful, please refer Ratcatcher.net to your friends.  Ratcatcher invites you to leave a Comment or send an email to catcher@ratcatcher.net.  Ratcatcher will respond to all civil emails.