I want to share with you the summary of my live conversation with the always-engaging Stuart Stevens from my friends over at Lincoln Square. I can tell you that I’ve been researching some different periods in our history to try to get at what happens when we don’t hold the treasonous among us accountable, a too-common occurrence in American history. Suffice to say, I’m looking back with an eye to the future—and I share in this conversation some of what I’m learning.
There’s an argument to be made that one can draw a straight line from Andrew Johnson’s amnesty to Confederates to the devastating brutality of the ICE raids in blue cities across the country.
Maybe that sounds like a stretch, but we have struggled to hold the powerful accountable for their crimes, from the Revolution through the Civil War, through the Gilded Age to the failure to prosecute Trump after January 6th.
We can no longer fail to hold those guilty of subverting our Democracy accountable for their actions. Certainly, Democrats need to offer a vision of a more equitable, prosperous future for voters, but they must also make it clear that anyone responsible for our current crisis will be prosecuted and barred from political life forever.
The stakes are too high. We’ve already lost so much, but there is still so much we need to protect.
Stuart Stevens and Steven Beschloss sat down for a far-reaching conversation about American history’s impact on our present, and where we go from here.
It’s a must-watch.
There’s a lot here, both in detailing this history (more on this another time) and the variety of other topics that Stuart and I discussed. I hope you’ll give our conversation a listen.
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