In case I have not been crystal clear before, let me be so now. In my opinion, as a whole, Congress is a dismal failure in meeting its responsibilities to the people of America. I am profoundly disappointed by the full body — Republicans, Democrats, everybody. I say “as a whole” because there are some high quality people in the House and Senate, but their efforts come nowhere near lifting the full Congress from the utter depths of failure. I offer this opening because the thoughts that follow focus on Democrats, and I do not want anybody to conclude that Democrats are the sole cause of my congressional concerns.

With that bit of clarification, let me address the fact that it is decision time for Democrats. Now that they will hold the majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats must decide how to proceed. The options are to legislate or investigate. They cannot do both. Democrats have backed themselves into a corner where all they can do is investigate President Trump, thereby keeping up their efforts to force him from office. This backing themselves into a corner is the result of how Democrats have conducted themselves going into, and since, Trump’s election. They have pursued a course that employs obstructing the president at every opportunity and disparaging him nonstop.

The result of that approach is an atmosphere where millions of Americans are consumed by dislike, if not pure hatred, for Trump. This undesirable condition played heavily, if not totally, in Democratic gains during the 2018 midterm election. Some will argue that the Democratic success resulted from their focus on improving access to health care. They have not put forth a feasible plan and will not be able to do so in the next two years. That failure will leave Democrats with “Destroy Trump” as their only strategy. That is the arrow that got them here, and it is the only arrow in their quiver.

It does not require much effort to see that, to the extent that they are winning elections, Democrats are doing so by provoking and nurturing dislike for Trump. I have seen various media reports that support this conclusion, but I saw it live and in person during the 2018 election.

As a volunteer, I passed candidate information to voters at the Board of Elections early voting site. There must have been 15 people, in the midst of candidate signs, lining both sides of the sidewalk leading into the building where voting is done. A lady walked through that gauntlet and stopped at the building entrance. She turned and, facing us, announced that she was one of those white, educated, suburban women coming to vote against Trump. She was screaming at a level that seemed to be as loud as possible. My sense was that she was beyond angry. In addition to the words, her tone, movement and expression seemed to indicate the presence of pure hatred.

On that same day, while volunteering, I had a conversation with another lady. She was composed, and we talked about the president. Her comment was that she dislikes him. When I tried to talk with her about his long list of positive actions on behalf of the country, the lady kept going back to her dislike of him. She could not move beyond her dislike to even consider actions that are good for the country.

After a gunman ruthlessly took the lives of 11 people at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump visited the area to grieve. A pastor who lives near the synagogue protested the president’s visit. Her screaming from a sidewalk was widely reported by various media outlets. An article in Pulpit & Pen titled “Ranting Lady Pastor Protests Trump’s Visit in Pittsburgh” notes that the protester screamed the following at Trump: “This is our neighborhood. You are not welcome here. We don’t want him here. We don’t want him on our streets. … You don’t belong here. This is our neighborhood. We welcome everybody here. You are not welcome on my street. … You are not welcome in Squirrel Hill.”

The contradiction in that “rant” by Susan Rothenberg cries out. She says that her neighborhood welcomes everybody, but the president of the United States is not welcome. Watching the video of her protest leads me to sense far more than disagreement with policies or a simple dislike for the president. Her protestations look and sound like hate.

Then there is what recently happened at the home of Tucker Carlson. He is host of a nightly Monday through Friday show on Fox Cable News. The focus is current events. I watch Carlson’s show with some frequency. He seeks to make sense of what is going on, and not going on, in our country and the world. That leads him to ask tough questions and challenge positions taken by guests. He brings this same approach to his personal examination of, and commentary on, issues and events. In a world where reason and godly values are rare, Carlson’s approach brings out tremendous opposition.

That opposition recently manifested itself in accordance with what is becoming normal in America. Antifa members surrounded Carlson’s home. Karol Markowicz, in an article titled “The mob at Tucker Carlson’s house is a serious threat to freedom,” reported that the Antifa members chanted, “We know where you sleep at night.” Markowicz also wrote: “The mob vandalized the Carlsons’ driveway with graffiti, tried to break down their front door, shared the family’s address on social media and encouraged others to confront him.

“In an interview with The Washington Post, Carlson said, ‘It wasn’t a protest. It was a threat. They weren’t protesting anything specific that I had said. They weren’t asking me to change anything. They weren’t protesting a policy or advocating for legislation ... They were threatening me and my family and telling me to leave my own neighborhood in the city that I grew up in.’

“Carlson’s wife hid in a back room until police arrived. Their four children were not at home at the time.”

What was done to the Carlson family looks like, feels like and smells like pure hatred.

What is presented to this point defines a societal atmosphere of rapidly growing hatred that is driven by Democrats’ unbounded quest for power. The happenings that support this conclusion go on far beyond what has been addressed here. To get an even better feel for the severity of our situation, please read “Rap Sheet: ***594** Acts of Media-Approved Violence and Harassment Against Trump Supporters.” Simply enter the title in your browser search bar.

As to how Democrats proceed now that they are the House majority, I hold that they will not have the fortitude, or good sense, to turn from their “Destroy Trump” strategy. That strategy has contributed mightily to the condition of rampant hatred indicated by what is discussed above. The likely accuracy of this assessment is supported by what Zachary Basu writes in an article titled “Democratic hit list: At least 85 Trump investigation targets.”

The article reads: “Now that they’re set to assume control of the House, there are at least 85 topics that Democrats have said they’d target — or are expected to target — in the forthcoming torrent of investigations and subpoenas to be directed at the Trump White House, according to Axios’ reporting and analysis of members’ public comments.”

Eric Tucker’s article titled “Trump warns Dems against investigating him” gave the president’s response. “Some House Democrats have threatened to use the subpoena power they will gain in January to investigate Trump and administration actions. But, he warned, he will respond in kind and government will suffer.”

Since the Democrats have locked themselves into a hate-producing “Destroy Trump” strategy, standby for government to suffer and, thereby, for the American people to suffer.

Photo: Tucker Carlson