by Jonathan Reisman

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” - Matthew 12:25

“A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” - Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Friends and acquaintances from left, right, and middle have shared their anxiety and concerns concerning possible violence and social unrest this year. Fear of desolation is a rare area of unity in our otherwise divided American house.

From the left, I hear concerns echoing the narratives of the legacy media and the Biden Department of Justice and FBI of Republican thuggery, white and Christian supremacy, insurrection, and oppression. From the right, I hear concerns of a two-tiered system of unequal justice that persecutes Republicans and excuses and exonerates Democrats for the same offenses, eroding the confidence and faith in our judicial system and institutions that comprise much of the glue that holds us together. The upcoming Presidential election and the unequal treatment of Trump and Biden have heightened division. A substantial portion of my fellow Republicans believes the left is engaged in election interference and is preparing, via manufactured “emergency,” to steal (another?) election via lax electoral security, fraud, and vote count shenanigans. 

The Biden administration’s policy to open the southern border (and to keep it open while blaming Congress for it) and bring some 8-10 million unvetted, asylum-seeking migrants as well as an unknown number of “got aways” into the country, is the likely source of both the electoral fraud and the upcoming emergency. A number of blue states led by New York and California are giving the migrants driver's licenses, which are then combined with “motor voter” registration policies that enable them to vote. 

The Biden DOJ and FBI have recently warned that there is a strong possibility of terrorist attacks in the coming months. Unlike 9/11, the attacks will not come from “students” who overstay their visas but from an invading army of military-age males that the Biden administration invited in. The likely directors of the coming desolation hail from China and Iran, two countries the Biden administration has sought to appease. The destruction and desolation such attacks cause will weaken the country and enable “emergency” electoral conditions, such as millions of fraudulent mail-in votes and ballot harvesting mules. It is possible that, as with 9/11 America and 10/7 Israel, attacks may unify the country, but I have no confidence the appeasing Biden administration would direct that unity with anything but treasonous malignity. That is the consequence of campaigning in 2020 on unity but governing for division thereafter.

The country reminds me of 1968 when I was 12. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy shook the nation, precipitating grief, riots, and unrest. An unpopular incumbent President withdrew amidst uninspiring primary results and health concerns, and his Vice President stumbled to the Democratic nomination in a Chicago convention marked by violence and distrusted police. The drug-fueled counterculture revolution reached a crescendo. Richard Nixon channeled concerns over rising crime and disorder into a return to power. Nixon had a plan to end the Vietnam War, involving heavy bombing of North Vietnam and invading neighboring Cambodia to destroy supply lines. It took all of his first term to achieve, unraveling into embassy rooftop helicopter evacuations not long after he resigned, leaving the ignominy to his successor, the never-elected Gerald Ford. I leave the potential twisted parallels of Trump, Biden, Harris, Ukraine, and Chinese triad grow houses to the reader and assorted conspiracy theorists.

Lincoln’s house divided speech also included this prophecy/warning:

“I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.”

It took the Civil War, untold blood and treasure, and more than 600,000 American lives to end the division. I hope 2024 is not a repetition of 1968 or 1860. Our house is badly divided, and little seems to unite us. We have separate sources of news and the disturbing phrase “my truth.” There were a couple of unifying cultural moments revolving around music recently. Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs combined on an inspiring Fast Car duet at the Grammys, and Reba McEntire brought people to tears with the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Our leaders should seek to stoke unity instead of division, but neither Trump nor Biden shows any such inclination.