By Paul Bledsoe, opinion contributor - 07/16/24

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The political career of former President Donald Trump has been marked most notably by attempts to divide the American people against one another. Even when rejected by the voters, as he was in 2020, his instincts and actions were to foment illegal rebellion to overturn the will of the American people, as demonstrated by his remarks and actions on Jan. 6, 2021 and ever since.

Thank goodness an assassin’s bullet missed Trump. Now that we have avoided disaster, we must confront the cause. We must reject this culture of political violence once and for all.

The only way to end the culture of political division and violence is to seek new voices who will unify the country — genuinely, not falsely.

Trump’s supporters have real concerns and grievances regarding problems in our country. They are not to blame. But equally, we must call on all Americans to reject the culture of violence that Trump and others have leaned on as a political strategy for so long.

Whatever your views on policy issues — and the country is clearly in disagreement about many major issues — those concerns must be secondary to ending our internal political division. Ideally, the solution would be unity ticket of a Republican and a Democrat, serving as president and vice president. Sadly, our culture seems unable to produce this.

Since this best result is unattainable, we must support those politicians who have rejected division and violence. In particular, we must call on our congressional leaders to put aside their culture of extreme partisanship, rejecting all candidates who will not begin to work together again on behalf of all Americans.

I had the privilege to be a staff member in Congress in the 1980s and ’90s, including at the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. I remember marveling at the incredible camaraderie and respect among the committee members, including leading figures of the day like Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and George Mitchell (D-Maine), the two Senate party leaders at the time. Many others, such as the chairman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), and now largely forgotten figures such as John Danforth (R-Mo.) and John Breaux (D-La.), exuded sincere good will, and frequently put aside their own political views for the greater good.

I learned through this experience that my policy and political views are not more important than the political process itself, a process that must be about compromise and progress for the benefit of all. We have lost this lesson in our politics in recent years, in large measure due to political extremism and absolutism like that exemplified by Trump.

The former president has vilified his opponents, calling his fellow Americans “enemies,” ridiculing his opponents rather than respecting them, undermining our faith in our institutions. This must stop.

The greatest Republican of all time, Abraham Lincoln, who saved our country during the Civil War and himself fell victim to its political violence as it ended, said it best in his first inaugural address.

“We are not enemies, but friends,” he said. “We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

This means rejecting both far-right and far-left in favor of a culture of political respect, sincerity and mutual regard that we owe one another as Americans. This is the basis, and the genius, of our system, which has worked for nearly two and a half centuries.

Of course, these days are emotional and fraught. But we must rise above petty differences and reject leaders who divide us, as partisans on both sides will at their party conventions.

By inches, we avoided calamity. Now we must do what is right and reject those who wish to divide us further.

Paul Bledsoe served as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, the Interior Department, and the White House Climate Change Task Force under former President Clinton.