On Monday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who seems to relish the role of Republican Party lightning rod, tweeted something provocative:
The reactions were precisely what you would predict. From the MAGA/Trump crowd, there was significant support. From anti-MAGA Republicans there was embarrassment and disdain. From the Left, there was apoplectic pearl-clutching.
Within hours of her tweet, "Civil War" was trending on Twitter. Call me a squishy centrist (I'm not) who is just trying to please everyone (perhaps), but I think a number of things can be true at the same time:
- Rep. Greene did not call for civil war. Divorce, while tragic, is sometimes amicable and mutually agreeable. That is what her tweet seemed to be advocating. She actually clarified that in a later post on her official Twitter account.
- Those who hold a position in the public trust – who take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution – should not be openly promoting the (even peaceful) disintegration of our Union.
- She is far from the only one who believes this. In recent surveys, including one I cited when I wrote about this topic a year and a half ago, between 40-50% of Biden supporters believe a national divorce is the best option.
- It is beyond concerning that she says, "Everyone I talk to says this." It can be reasonably surmised that her conversations typically and most often include other lawmakers. A brewing secession movement being developed by federal lawmakers is not anything we should blow off.
- Given that Greene remains a staunch defender of the January 6th rioters, though her conclusion that "it wasn't a coup" is right, this divorce rhetoric doesn't instill confidence in that fact.
- The idea of a national divorce is flatly absurd, frightening, and logically unworkable.
And that last point never gets enough attention. What kind of territorial divide will we all agree on? This isn't like the first time secession was attempted, when the ideological divide was reflected geographically as well. There is no North/South demarcation that makes for a comfortable split. There are passionate progressives in deep red states. And there are committed conservatives in the heart of midnight blue ones. Illinois hasn't voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988, but outside of Chicago, the state is shockingly red. Mississippi hasn't sent electors for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter, but its 2nd Congressional district is a Democrat stronghold.
Take a recently circulated partition map of how a potential 2-nation realignment could look.
What do you do as a Democrat in the Rust Belt? The same thing you do as a Republican in New Hampshire? It doesn't make logistical sense and it simply isn't workable.
Now, don't get me wrong. I can't fault anyone when, in mounting anger and frustration, they entertain the idea of what it would be like for their political opposition to have to live with the consequences of their own policies.
We on the Right revel at the thought of progressives being forced to live with the consequences of open borders, defunding police, legalizing drugs, massive entitlement spending, over-regulation of business and industry, and a bloated welfare state.
And those on the Left delight in imagining conservatives forced to deal with the social burdens of no-abortion "forced birth" policies, all without any social safety net like Medicare/Medicaid to help. That's not to mention the heartless patriarchy straight out of The Handmaid's Tale that would undoubtedly develop and thrive.
In reality, even if it weren't so unfeasible, life together is much better for all of us. A divided, and thus weakened United States, would quickly experience economic calamity, as well as finding geopolitical rivals like Russia and China emboldened.
And that's why with as frustrating as our differences have become, as serious of disagreements that we have, I'll pick marriage counseling over divorce every day. And when she's not being provocative to keep in character for her starring role in the DC drama club, I think Marjorie Taylor Greene would too. Check out the tweet she sent the day before her national divorce remark:
Indeed there isn't, Ms. Greene. No place on earth like this republic. So let's do our part in keeping it.
