By Christopher Corbin · Contributing Writer
In his Feb. 6 Perspectives column “No time for unity,” Micaiah Brindle makes a number of bold assertions. He argues that the political left in the United States promotes an ideology that is too radical, too militant and too bigoted to be worked with, and as such it is the moral duty of conservatives, and especially Christians, to deny any ground to the left and to “remove” any ground given previously.
This thesis is empty rhetoric. While the author provides many ideological talking points, the work provides few facts that support the thesis. The article, to use a line from the work, “entirely misses the reality of American politics in the 21st century.”
“No time for unity” opens with the assertion that “leftism necessarily stands for anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-white principles,” thus immediately dehumanizing those on “the left.” Those who adhere to “leftism” aren’t Christian. They aren’t Americans.
The author continues, stating that “the cult of transgenderism and abortion” were dominant leftist policies in the 2024 elections, with “mass immigration” being the only acceptable policy for leftists on immigration. Neither abortion nor “transgenderism” were top priorities for either party in the last election, though they did make good strawmen to attack each other with.
The official 2024 Democratic Party platform dedicated its first 50 pages and five chapters to economic concerns before dedicating four pages to “reproductive freedom” and “LGBTQI,” both of which are just smaller sections within a larger chapter.
This is also true for the Republican platform. Of its 20 stated promises only two, promises 16 and 17, remotely relate to “transgenderism.” The first 15 promises instead focus almost entirely on military, energy, economic and immigration concerns.
Abortion is not mentioned in the promises, and President Trump ultimately sidestepped the issue and left it up to the states. As for said immigration concerns, the Democratic platform called for strengthening the border while providing more resources for legal immigration, not the “mass immigration” the author implies.
However, the meat of the argument in “No time for unity” comes when the author claims “As a result of left-wing ideology … violence is increasingly occurring. This ranges from school shootings, often against Christians, by transsexuals inspired by their mental insanity and targeted political assassinations.” This is not true.
If left-wing ideology promoted mass shootings and political assassinations the numbers would indicate it. Instead, the reverse is indicated. The National Institute of Justice found in 2024, that “the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism. Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed … 227 events that took more than 520 lives. In this same period, far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.” That the Department of Justice took this report down a week after Charlie Kirk’s death is, of course, just coincidental.
The school shooting the author is likely referring to is the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting. While it is true that the shooter had identified as a transwoman, establishing an ideological basis for the shooting has proven much more difficult for investigators, given that the shooter made frequent usage of antisemitic language and idolized Nazism.
Even with this incident, the claim about school shootings is not supported by data. The Gun Violence Archive considers a single event during which four or more people are shot a mass shooting. Between Jan. 1, 2013 and Sept. 15, 2025, 5,748 mass shootings have occurred, of which five were perpetrated by confirmed transpeople, or less than 0.01% of them. Given that 0.8% of the U.S. population is trans, this does not demonstrate a population more prone to mass shootings.
Only one group shows a particular inclination to this sort of violence, as the vast majority of mass shootings are perpetrated by men. According to research by the National Library of Medicine, most mass shootings are impulsive and emotionally driven. They are not motivated by gender identity, political ideology or mental illness, and it should be stated that contrary to what “No time for unity” implies, being transgender does not constitute mental insanity.
“No time for unity” also cites the assassination attempts on President Trump as examples of leftist political violence. Again, the truth is more complicated. The political ideology of Thomas Crooks, the first would-be assassin, is also difficult to determine. He had written in 2019, for example, “I hope a quick painful death to all the deplorable immigrants and anti-trump congresswoman.”
Investigators believe that Crooks turned on the president for his actions during the pandemic, and that he felt that political power could only be achieved through violence. Ryan Routh, the other attempted assassin on President Trump, again has a murky political history, but had most recently registered as an independent, and in a Twitter post claimed to have voted for Trump in 2016. It seems he started planning the assassination after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
Nevertheless, “No time for unity” uses these claims to conclude that “the left has become militarized against normal Americans to the point where politics has become existential … when a group defines itself by opposition to … (your religion, race, ideology) … working with that group is no longer possible.” This claim is then undermined by the author writing, two sentences later, “the American right — the opposition to the left — must be a reactionary movement, tailor made to combat the left.”
In other words, the left is evil because it is militarized and defines itself in opposition to the right, thus the solution is for the right, defined only as the group in opposition to the left, to become a hardline and militarized reactionary movement ready to “remove” ground given to the left, in order to establish “its vision of traditional Americanism.” After all, “normal” Americans aren’t leftist.
The hypocrisy, thus, becomes obvious. This sort of radical, bigoted and militant thought from the right is just as guilty of destroying attempts at unity as any action on the left. The author has exposed himself as the very thing he claims to be fighting.
“Are we not required as Christians to oppose evil where we find it?” asks “No time for unity.”
Yes, we are, but not like this.
Our savior rode a donkey, not a warhorse. He told us to love our enemies. He said to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus died for everyone. Hatred for people is anathema to his character. We must seek truth and unity. Conflict with each other only benefits evil.
existential … when a group defines itself by opposition to … (your religion, race, ideology) … working with that group is no longer possible.” This claim is then undermined by the author writing, two sentences later, “the American right – the opposition to the left – must be a reactionary movement, tailor made to combat the left.”
In other words, the left is evil because it is militarized and defines itself in opposition to the right, thus the solution is for the right, defined only as the group in opposition to the left, to become a hardline and militarized reactionary movement ready to “remove” ground given to the left, in order to establish “its vision of traditional Americanism.” After all, “normal” Americans aren’t leftist.
The hypocrisy, thus, becomes obvious. This sort of radical, bigoted, and militant thought from the right is just as guilty of destroying attempts at unity as any action on the left. The author has exposed himself as the very thing he claims to be fighting.
“Are we not required as Christians to oppose evil where we find it?” asks “No time for unity.”
Yes, we are, but not like this.
Our savior rode a donkey, not a warhorse. He told us to love our enemies. He said to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus died for everyone. Hatred for people is anathema to his character. We must seek truth and unity. Conflict with each other only benefits evil.
