Opinion Some Republicans can atone for their betrayal of U.S. democracy
He endorsed Trump in 2020, even after Trump ridiculed late Arizona senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), whom Gallagher apparently held in high regard. He voted against both Trump impeachments and against an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection (though he did say he would not support Trump in 2024). Gallagher was not one to denounce Trump’s rabid racism, his association with antisemites or his denunciation of the justice system.
Worse, he joined in Trump’s attacks against the FBI. He declined to vote to hold Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of Congress. He fanned the flames of the baseless assailing of critical race theory. For his weak-kneed approach, he earned a C-minus grade from the Republican Accountability Project.
That this guy should be lauded as a profile in courage says much about the state of the MAGA-intoxicated Republican Party. Gallagher was, as I have described, among those who chose to accommodate evil rather than resist it.
After a brief show of independence with his Mayorkas vote, he has joined a stampede of departing House Republicans — many outside the core MAGA group — including Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Michael C. Burgess (Tex.), Larry Bucshon (Ind.), Jeff Duncan (S.C.), John Curtis (Utah), Greg Pence (Ind.), Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.), Kay Granger (Tex.) and Kelly Armstrong (N.D.).
Well, now that most of these Republicans have nothing to fear from a primary challenge, why not show some spine? They could, for example, join Gallagher and refuse to support Trump. Furthermore, they could vote to discharge any Ukraine aid bill to get it to the floor, defend judges and law enforcement from baseless MAGA attacks, and repudiate Trump’s betrayal of NATO and his unconstitutional vow to use the military to suppress dissent. Freed from the bounds of party loyalty — which never stopped former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney from putting country over party — they could belatedly join Cheney’s anti-Trump crusade to protect the United States from a fascist onslaught.
That might not erase their original sin in refusing to impeach Trump and ignoring his anti-democratic actions as president, but it would be a step in the right direction. Yet I sense that is a bridge too far for most of them. I hope I am wrong. I will be watching to see whether Gallagher and others find their decency and pro-democracy bona fides. It is not too late to do the right thing.
Distinguished person of the week
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), a former CIA agent first elected to Congress in 2018, is not running for reelection this year. Instead, she will run for governor in Virginia in 2025. Congress — and the country — will miss her deep knowledge of foreign policy and commitment to national security.
After a recent trip to Ukraine, where she met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Spanberger told me in a lengthy phone interview that the “clear-eyed and clear-voiced” Ukrainian leader emphasized that this is “a make or break” moment for Ukraine. Though Ukraine has recovered about half the territory Russia seized in 2022, it is nowhere near victory.
Spanberger is candid about the Biden administration refusing the initial request from Ukraine for critical equipment, waiting for Europeans to act and then, finally, acceding. “Initially, I was willing to concede they were being careful,” she said. The risk of elevating the war to a major-power war is not zero. However, “we have demonstrated that Ukraine is abiding by the parameters” we set, she argued. The rigmarole leaves us consistently at least “a few months behind” Ukraine’s urgent requests.
As for her GOP colleagues, she told me that key Republicans on her visit, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), “promised” Zelensky the aid bill would “get done.” Spanberger stressed: “They are committed to getting it done.” The mechanism for accomplishing that, however, remains uncertain.
MAGA Republicans’ indifference to Ukraine — evidenced by their shrug at Trump’s recent invitation for Russia to invade Europe — incensed Spanberger. “What are they missing? We saved the world from fascism. We ended the Holocaust. We freed Europe. That was us,” she said, her voice rising with emotion. Now, these Republicans “want to remove America from the world,” she says. Russian President Vladimir Putin, she continued, “is on the precipice of destroying the world order we put in place through the deaths of thousands of Americans.” And, yet, it seems, they cannot be bothered to “explain this to their constituents or fend off a primary challenge” to defend our vital interests, she declared. Instead, they meekly follow their isolationist cult leader.
She recalled that the day after 9/11, our NATO allies invoked Article 5 for the first time. “They went to war for 2o years for us. For our war.” In a word, she said, she finds Republicans’ disregard of America’s vital interests “shameful.”
Her passion, clarity and knowledge on national security and democracy made Spanberger a standout in the House class of 2018. Congress badly needs members with these qualities. But Spanberger, just 44 years old, will continue her rise in the Democratic Party. Mark my words: She will be back on the national stage.
Something different
I can hardly believe I now love watching golf. Yeah, golf. I don’t play. I used to make cracks that any activity for which you could wear street clothes and need not run wasn’t a sport. Then, I watched “Full Swing,” the Netflix reality show that follows the lives of several professional golfers on the PGA and LIV tours. The characters are engaging, as is the interaction among players and between players and their families. Some grew up in country clubs, and some practiced in the family garage(!). The PGA-LIV battle provides insight into the issue of sportswashing, which we see in many professional athletic leagues.
But what’s intriguing about the show — and the sport — is how maddeningly difficult golf is. (If a Martian landed, it might exclaim: “You have to use that skinny stick to get the little ball in the tiny hole in a huge park?) These athletes are not physical freaks. They look like ordinary people. But the technique (to generate speed and power), the endurance and, most of all, the mental toughness over a tournament running four days and 72 holes — plus playoff holes — is hardly ordinary. In an instant, a front-runner can lose concentration and collapse; someone back in the pack can catch fire, stringing together a series of near-impossible shots. And aside from their caddies (phenomenal golfers and strategists in their own right), the players’ struggle is a solitary affair. The winner must defeat not a single opponent but everyone else playing that week. (No such thing as an “easy draw,” as in tennis.)
So, I have gotten hooked watching the variety of shots, the puzzle-solving (e.g., when to take a penalty, calculating whether the wind will send your ball flying into the water), the idiosyncratic personalities, the announcers’ patter, the sometimes hilariously hideous ensembles and the dignified camaraderie. And, sometimes, you can simply gaze at the gorgeous setting (the cliffs of Monterey in California, the spring flowers at Augusta in Georgia, etc.) to achieve zen-like serenity. The magnificent execution of a game that drives mere mortals mad might give soccer a run for its money as the “beautiful game.”
From my weekly Q&A
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