"The phrase "national healing" is always more aspirational than real in the United States, a nation whose blood-stained history of ethnic genocide, racist pogroms, and assassinations gives the lie to any pious words of comity. But the best American politicians have been able to use their platform to, at the very least, offer a path to a more peaceful future."
"In 1865, while delivering his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln created the template for the deployment of presidential eloquence in the face of strife when he spoke of the need "to bind up the nation's wounds." The reconciliation Lincoln called for never emerged, but here was a politician trying to find a way out of civil war, rather than a way in."
The killing of Charlie Kirk is framed as serving as a pretext for a concerted attack on President Trump's political enemies. The phrase "national healing" is described as more aspirational than real in a nation marked by ethnic genocide, racist pogroms, and assassinations. Abraham Lincoln's 1865 second inaugural is cited as the historical template for presidential appeals to reconciliation, though actual reconciliation failed to follow. Barack Obama's 2004 DNC speech is noted for revitalizing the theme. In the wake of the killing, President Trump was asked to assume a healer role, and a Yahoo! News headline suggested he hoped for national healing, but Trump's brief remark was limited to, "I'd like to see it [the nation] heal."
Read at The Nation
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