Fear of Admitting Wrong & Doubling Down or Asking for Forgiveness (like Gul Dukat vs a True Mea Culpa)

Liz Cheney recognizes the danger of a Donal Trump re-election (see her on The Rachel Maddow Show / podcast: ‘He is not the lesser of two evils’: Cheney emphasizes severity of Trump threat). Voting with him the vast majority of the time, she has since spoken out about the danger. The only answer to what she says is that she has somehow become a ‘RINO’ — Republican In Name Only — despite that voting record.

I won’t spend my time here naming all the achievements of the Biden presidency, particularly when Biden had both houses of Congress with him — and there were many accomplishments which do not get enough attention, but rather look at the evils of the far-right — now written and spoken by the Trumpist authoritarians, in Project 2025 and in Trump’s own words and especially his actions, such as when he tried to stay in power and is now being held accountable by two jurisdictions for that and others for other crimes. If he returned to power he would attempt to become a dictator, as he is now saying aloud; his insurrection was a first attempt.

Many Republicans admitted this until they fell in line — whether due to fear or hope for monetary reward. In Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Gul Dukat wanted forgiveness from Major Kira — but he was not just a member of an administration trying to reign in their worst possible actions, as one might say of some Republicans in the (first, hopefully only) Trump administration, he took actions that led to many Bajoran deaths. Kira could not forgive him.

We must consider each Republican, how they spoke about Trump before he took office and after, and most importantly how they acted and when — and if — they turned on him, and spoke truth about the dangers, now increased by such projects as Project 2025. If they are somehow still backing him, then they are as evil as Gul Dukat turned out to be, if we ever had any hope that he might change. If they are actively working to fight Trump and his supporters in groups and think tanks and the GOP now — like Liz Cheney, Michael Cohen, Adam Kinzinger, The Bulwark, the Lincoln Project — then even if they hope to gain from their new position, we can at least say they are now on the right side of history, on the side fighting to save democracy.

If they are still supporting Trump, even covertly through projects that help the right by diverting votes away from the Democrats in a two-party system, they are most certainly on the wrong side, and should be seen as the Gul Dukat, who might ask for forgiveness now and again, but cannot be forgiven.