A time for justice, not vengeance

I was shocked to read an op-ed by retired Montana Supreme Court Justice James Nelson where he says that former President Donald Trump got what he had coming when a gunman tried to kill him. Nelson accused Trump of being a neo-Nazi and said Trump had reaped what he sowed. He declined to condemn the violence or offer any words toward political healing.

This is the exact opposite of what America needs right now. We need a return to a political environment of mutual respect and commitment to peacefully living in a functioning republic, especially amid sincere disagreement. We should deplore anyone who resorts to lethal violence to settle political scores, not glibly affirm it by saying our opponent’s chickens have come home to roost.

Nelson’s words presented a stark contrast from what I have long admired as perhaps the wisest counsel uttered in America in such a situation. On April 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy had the sad duty of informing a crowd of supporters that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated. Kennedy’s remarks came from the heart: