Chris Coons Is a Battered Woman

No, I don’t mean he’s been dipped in buttermilk and deep-fried. I mean he has a form of PTSD from being continually abused — in his case not by a spouse, but by Republicans, the kind who referred to him as a “bearded Marxist.”

See if these symptoms (from the Wikipedia entry on battered spouse syndrome) fit the accused:

Repeated cycles of violence and reconciliation can result in the following beliefs and attitudes:

*The abused thinks that the violence was their fault.
*The abused has an inability to place the responsibility for the violence elsewhere.
*The abused fears for their life, and/or, the lives of loved ones whom the abuser might or has threatened to harm.
*The abused has an irrational belief that the abuser is omnipresent and omniscient.

Given that the violence in politics is metaphorical, isn’t this how Coons behaves towards a group of politicians whom he believes, despite a total lack of supporting evidence, to be good-faith partners in governing the country?

I understand Coons’ insistence on reconciliation — it’s a self-protective tactic, one that allows a person who thinks of himself as good to occupy what he considers the moral high ground. Problem is that in politics it’s got a lousy track record. Look up the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. They’re full of rhetorical palm branches about how all Americans are brothers, which they proved to be, albeit in the most Biblical sense. Read that story about Cain and Abel.

Chris Coons is, plain and simple, afraid of confrontation. This should not be misread as diplomacy, because it’s actually surrender, the kind of surrender battered spouses make to their bullies. I don’t think Coons fears for his life but, like most corporate-dependent Democrats, he fears for that of the greater American god, The Economy. The zealots of Lincoln’s time tried to destroy the country rather than let anyone else run it, and Coons might well fear, with good cause, that they will do so again — their COVID response shows they’re already trying.

Of course, the solution to Coons’ problem is the same one available to most battered spouses: Get out. It’s clear he doesn’t have the stomach to confront these bullies, who won’t stop until they are confronted. Get out, and let someone with the guts for the fight step in.