Prinsburg Republican Tim Miller's reading comprehension skills are taxed by his sharing of Robin Wright's short piece for the New Yorker, Is America Headed for a New Kind of Civil War?
While Miller claims the article justifies his much-ridiculed statement at a pro-Trump rally in Willmar that America is on the brink of a civil war--captured at the City pages by Mike Mullen in 'Celebrate President Trump' rally in Willmar features talk of voter fraud, 'civil war'--a reading of Wright's text suggests that a guy who got called out at a tax-time Trump rally might not want to rely on sharing that headline as vindication.
Robin Wright's test includes passages like this:
Earlier this year, I began a conversation with Keith Mines about America’s turmoil. Mines has spent his career—in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the United Nations, and now the State Department—navigating civil wars in other countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. He returned to Washington after sixteen years to find conditions that he had seen nurture conflict abroad now visible at home.. . .
Based on his experience in civil wars on three continents, Mines cited five conditions that support his prediction: entrenched national polarization, with no obvious meeting place for resolution; increasingly divisive press coverage and information flows; weakened institutions, notably Congress and the judiciary; a sellout or abandonment of responsibility by political leadership; and the legitimization of violence as the “in” way to either conduct discourse or solve disputes.
President Trump “modeled violence as a way to advance politically and validated bullying during and after the campaign,” Mines wrote in Foreign Policy. . . .[emphasis added]
The expert singles out how President Trump “modeled violence as a way to advance politically and validated bullying during and after the campaign. . . ."
That's not what Miller observed at the pro-Trump rally.
According to the City Pages, Miller said:
Maybe now's not the time to be describing the democratic process using war metaphors, what with all the actual war we're doing these days. But that didn't occur to Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, who has already declared his intention to challenge DFL U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson in 2018.
"We are entering a time of civil war," Miller said. "We must stay engaged."
Miller added that, "God, in his grace, has given us another chance," a phrase that apparently refers to Donald Trump.
On Facebook today, Tim Miller shared a link to Wright's article, posting a long headnote in which he attributed the unrest to "complete disrespect of all lives" that leads to abortion, euthanasia, and "human trafficking (modern day slavery), pornography, racism, feminism, drug abuse, and I’m sure much more."
Trump's bullying isn't a problem for Miller.
It was one heck of an act of Christian concern for "all lives" for Miller to lump the radical notion that women are people in with "human trafficking (modern day slavery), pornography, racism . . . drug abuse, and I’m sure much more." He must have missed the 1970s and 1980s somehow--and feminist opposition to human trafficking. Witness the Feminist Majority Foundation's Statement on Human Trafficking.
Racism and drug abuse? Troll much, Representative Miller?
Here's his full note:
This is a good article from a few months ago I’ve just now seen. I still find it unfathomable outright widespread conflict can occur here in the US, and I certainly hope not. But I do see and agree with much of what is said here. We are in turbulent times. I was criticized last spring for saying we may be entering a time of civil war. My words were misquoted and misused by people who don’t know me. But I stand by what I said.
We have two very divergent views of what the United States should be. Add to that growing fear and distrust along with politicians and activists playing off that fear and distrust, and you create opportunities for violence and social unrest.
I tie all of this back to a complete disrespect of all lives. We as a society have lost our belief that ALL are created equal and are endowed with certain and unalienable rights, among them, life (that’s right all life comes from God), liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This most certainly shows up in abortion and a new favorite of humanists, euthanasia. But it is also showing up as human trafficking (modern day slavery), pornography, racism, feminism, drug abuse, and I’m sure much more.
We as a nation need to turn to our Creator, our God for healing and forgiveness. If we are to be one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, we have to include “under God” in that sentence.
Emphasis added. The Wright article is certainly an interesting one, but it's not an amicus brief in the court of public opinion on behalf of Tim Miller.
For another take on Miller's "all lives matter," we suggest readers take a look at his response to the murder of a protester by a white supremacist last summer in Virginia, examined in our post, Tim Miller, MN07 GOP candidate who said "we're entering time of civil war," doesn't condemn white supremacist violence in Virginia by name.
Miller lately has been dogging incumbent congressman Collin Peterson about US Senator Al Franken's behavior (see twitter for examples). Unfortunately for Miller's messaging, MinnPost Washington correspondent Sam Brodey tweeted today:
Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson both say it's time for Franken to go, and expect him to step down tomorrow
— Sam Brodey (@sambrodey) December 6, 2017
One doesn't see Miller doing anything to scold is own, like Donald Trump or former Representative Cornish. My, my.
Photo: State representative Tim Miller who groups feminism with drug abuse, racism and human trafficking. A deep thinker, that one.
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