Shortly after the election, some asshole with a blog called for Republicans to begin healing the nation:

It’s their turn to “be the mom.”

Since the election was called for Biden, lots of Thought Leaders and Professional Politics Knowers have been calling for Democrats to “reach out to Republicans”, “heal the nation”, and other similar blather.

This is a con.

When Democrats lost in 2016, they were told they had to reach out to Republican voters–fair enough, Democrats did lose. But when they win, they’re also told… to reach out to Republican voters. Yet no one is saying Republicans, who lost both the electoral college and the popular vote, need to reach out to Democrats. That never happens.

It’s all the more ridiculous when you look at how many, if not most, major metro areas reacted Saturday after hearing that Biden had been declared the victor. When Democratic areas are rejoicing like we had just blown up the Death Star, that’s a sign that Republicans have a lot of work to do. If we weren’t in a pandemic, strangers would have been spontaneously hugging and high-fiving each other. If the reaction to your candidate losing is similar to that of a dictator being toppled, let’s just say you have some more reaching out to do.

And then there’s the healing. For the first two years of Trump’s term, Republicans controlled it all: Congress, the White House, and the courts. While they lost the House in the midterms, they were still running things for the most part. To the extent there is damage that needs healing, it is they who inflicted it.

This time around, Republicans should be the ones who moderate, and who manage the emotions–because ours are a little raw right now. So what do they give up? And, no, “well, we won’t be overtly bigoted or support assholes like Trump” doesn’t cut it. That doesn’t even get you in the door. So what do they do? Support a $15/hour minimum wage? Let Democrats appoint the next Supreme Court justice, or a bunch of federal court justices? What’s their give(s) here?

Our discourse, such as it is, needs to put the burden on Republicans–who were rejected nationally–to do the work.

In a related vein, Greg Sargent notices that many Republicans are infected with snowflakeitis (boldface mine):

To hear some pundits and Republicans tell it, millions of people across the country who voted for Donald Trump are suffering from an affliction that you might call “Snowflake Syndrome.”

On numerous fronts in our politics — from voting rights to covid-19 to the legacy of Jan. 6 — we’re being told these voters are afflicted with a deeply fragile belief system that must be carefully ministered to and humored to an extraordinary degree.

We must pass voting restrictions everywhere to assuage these voters’ “belief” that the 2020 election was highly dubious or fraudulent. We must not argue too aggressively for coronavirus vaccines, lest they feel shamed and retreat into their anti-vax epistemological shells.

And we must allow Republicans to appoint some of the most deranged promoters of the stolen election myth to a committee examining the insurrection so they’ll feel like its findings are credible…

But many are also floating a destructive Snowflake Syndrome story line as well: the notion that vaccine hesitancy in red states is a reaction to how Democrats are talking about vaccines, a claim freighted with all manner of ridiculous hyperbole.

To wit: Some Republicans insist Trump voters will not shed vaccine hesitancy until Democrats give Trump more credit for originally launching the vaccine program.

…Many Republicans are airing concerns about “voter confidence” to justify further efforts to suppress votes and undermine that confidence. Many demanding understanding of vaccine hesitancy are working to inculcate further vaccine distrust.

And those calling for Trump-sympathetic GOP lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee hope to corrupt the investigation with bad-faith lies, not to ensure that Trump voters have faith in its findings.

So enough with the bogus Snowflake Syndrome narratives already. It’s a tired act — not to mention a transparently disingenuous and even dangerous one.

Enough unwillingness to take responsibility for their own actions. Enough of the bullying behavior. Enough of their bullshit.

Time for them to be the mom.