Letter From Lithuania: Watching The Civil War From Abroad

I had thought that I’d write a column about the gorgeous city of Vilnius and the remarkable, complicated but proud history of the Lithuanian people. Instead, because location is obsolete and there’s something wrong with me, I’m writing about the appalling spectacle of the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court. It was disturbing, the feeling of repulsion that swept over me here not about my country per se but about a large percentage of our political class that will do and say anything in order to stay in power or thwart the will of those who are.

Democrats showed us this last week that’s there’s no tactic they won’t employ in order to take out Kavanaugh. Republicans showed us that they are often times useless and weak, something of a political signature of the Minnesota Republican establishment but here, at least, the damage is done to a flyover state that is slowly sliding toward becoming a cold California. On the national scale, the lack of courage and genuine understanding of what they face from the now far Left Democrats risks the entire project of our republic.

Whether something happened to Dr. Christine Ford thirty-six years ago isn’t the issue. The issue is a Republican party unable to realize the depravity of their political opposition and to respond accordingly. When Judge Kavanaugh finally was able to speak publicly, he gave a rousing, astonishing and impassioned defense of himself and his honor. He correctly said that the opposition to his nomination is a result of the Left not being able to come to terms with losing to Donald Trump.

The media attacked his performance, saying that such an emotional response was in itself an indication of his unfitness for the Supreme Court. In reality, their attacks were a sign that his response was effective and appropriate. Someone remarked that for two weeks Kavanaugh had been savaged as, yes, a gang rapist but when he responded as any innocent man would, he disqualified himself on other grounds. That, the observer noted, is the very definition of gaslighting. The far Left tried to gaslight an entire nation last week and it almost worked. In the unsuccessful process, our political discourse has been seriously damaged and deformed.

As Sen. Lindsey Graham, of all people said, from now on politics will be referenced as BK and AK: Before Kavanaugh, After Kavanaugh.

* * * *

Last night in Vilnius, leaving an excellent Italian restaurant, an older couple motioned to me to come over to their table. They’d heard me mention to my waitress something about Minnesota and asked if in fact I was from there. Because, yes, they were too. Meeting Minnesotans abroad is the opposite of the reason why I travel but I’m a polite guy, despite what my detractors might say.

I stood there and talked politics, at their insistence, including the Kavanaugh debacle. They were both well educated but I knew I was in trouble when Mrs. Couple said that in order to peak into the “center-right” she read Jennifer Rubin. I laughed out loud and said that she’d never understand why Trump won if she read only rancid, vile Never Trumpers. “Walking tumors” is how I referred to those types.

I tried to challenge her hermetically sealed world view by asking how was it, if Trump supporters were racists, bigots, etc, millions of Obama supporters voted for him? She agreed that that was indeed a curious phenomenon and she should puzzle that one out more. I don’t think this will happen.

Judge Kavanaugh was what she really wanted to talk about though, Mr. Couple having said not one word after introducing himself to me. We all know that type of couple and so my verbal sparring was directed at her. Not surprisingly, we didn’t agree on what had been on display back in America. I did plead for her to understand that once the presumption of innocence is abandoned, all is lost. And no, it doesn’t matter that the Senate hearing wasn’t technically a trial. It was in all but name.

And then she revealed the stakes, at least for her and her side: abortion. I wasn’t  taken aback so much as my blood ran cold. I’d seen various analyses positing that this wicked farce was all about Roe being overturned. I couldn’t quite credit that hypothesis but walking back to my flat in the center of Vilnius smoking a much deserved cigarette, I was forced to reexamine my thinking. I have and I despair.

* * * *

In my discussion with the Minnesota liberal couple, I pointed out that it was not “my side” which sought to drive them from, say, this very restaurant in which we were talking, because I disagreed with their political views. They demurred that they wouldn’t do that but I pointed out neither do they condemn those on “their side” who do just that.

Two days ago the Twitter account @People4Bernie tweeted “Don’t just confront them in restaurants. Confront them in elevators. Confront them on trains. Confront them on planes. Confront them in hallways. Confront them in public. Confront them in private. We cannot allow them to normalize their greed and horror. #DelayTheVote”

This is the politicization of all aspects of life, with punishment visited upon those who hold what are deemed disfavored views. We’ve now reached the stage that no matter how outrageous or uncorroborated the allegation may be, in the interests of Leftist social justice ideology innocent lives must be destroyed. Indeed, the foundation of our way of life hangs in the balance, with a return to the Salem witch trials becoming the new normal.

Republicans had better wake up to the fact that this is a fight to the death and only one side will emerge victorious. Eunuchs like Mitt Romney, and their Minnesota political clones, are not only of no use in this battle but effectively aid and abet those who seek our destruction.

We don’t have to use the same tactics as the fascist Left because that would be to aid in the destruction of the country, only from another direction. We do have to get used to their tactics and withstand them, ignore them, mock them, not take them at face value in the slightest and to hold fast to what we know to be right.

After all, if we don’t defend America as founded, no one will.

* * * *

In addition to Alpha News, John Gilmore is also a contributor to The Hill. He is the founder and executive director of Minnesota Media Monitor.™ He blogs at MinnesotaConservatives.org and is on Twitter under @Shabbosgoy. He can be reached at Wbua@nycunarjfza.pbz

 

John Gilmore

John Gilmore is an author, freelance writer & former opinion columnist for Alpha News. He blogs at minnesotaconservatives.org & is @Shabbosgoy on Twitter