Public Servants are Standing Up
More and more officials are refusing to stay silent or let the ex-president run roughshod. Is the dam breaking?
I have no tears for the now-demoted Kevin McCarthy. In his hunger for power, he chose the shameful path of appeasement—indulging the GOP extremists and kowtowing to the top chaos agent and insurrectionist, Donald Trump. It’s worth remembering that, in the week after the violence of Jan. 6, McCarthy for once said what he really knew.
“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters,” Rep. McCarthy stated on the House floor. “These facts require immediate action from President Trump—accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest and ensure that President-Elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.”
Yet, as we know, in a sad foreshadowing of his untrustworthy leadership as speaker, McCarthy objected to the certification of the Electoral College in the hours immediately after the violent insurrection, voted against impeachment, and headed weeks later to Mar-a-Lago to beg forgiveness and secure a photo-op with the recently evicted Trump.
Republican chaos—the removal of McCarthy without a replacement waiting in the wings—may be the story of the week and a tragic expression of the GOP’s abdication of responsibility and utter inability to govern. It’s just the kind of dysfunction and paralysis that the Kremlin’s murderous boss celebrates, particularly as it raises fresh fears about a government shutdown in less than 45 days and growing doubt about America’s commitments to Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine.
But I also think it’s important to notice a series of comments this week that clap back against the climate of violence and intimidation that Trump relishes and catalyzes. These remarks alone do not promise that this infection in the body politic will be successfully cauterized, especially amid a continuing surge of death threats for public servants doing their jobs. Yet they do offer some reason for hope that—while sometimes coming too late to minimize the damage—a rising tide of voices will not remain silent or permit the criminal defendant to run roughshod over our system of justice, the rule of law, the institutions of democracy and factual reality.
First up, John Kelly, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff from 2017 to 2019, previously his first Homeland Security secretary and a Marine officer who lost his son in combat in Afghanistan in 2010. Until now, Kelly has largely remained silent, thereby making him complicit in the transgressions and degradations of the man he chose to serve, along with his own willingness to do Trump’s racist bidding back in 2017. But when CNN sought his comments this week—in the wake of White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s grave warnings in her new book Enough and after Trump attacked Gen. Mark Milley as treasonous and deserving death—Kelley clearly laid out his view of his former boss.
A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family—for all Gold Star families—on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason—in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.
It took Kelly far too long to speak out, but finally he has, possibly a sign that the dam has broken among previously reluctant enablers, who no longer fear the inevitable backlash from the criminal defendant. (And, yes, oh, yes, Trump did serve up his typical sludge of degrading insults and denials, calling him “the dumbest of my military people,” a “lowlife” and more.)
Another sign that those in a position to do something are deciding they’ve had enough: New York Judge Arthur F. Engoron, who is ruling on Trump’s civil fraud case, imposed a gag order on Tuesday, forbidding any posts, emails or public remarks about his staff after Trump attacked and lied about his law clerk. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” said Engoron. This from a judge that The New York Times says is “known for keeping a lighthearted atmosphere in his courtroom, cracking jokes and making outdated pop culture references.”
The following day, the third day of the trial, Trump left town, back to his Florida club, after exploiting the news media present to attack the judge as “deranged” and someone who “could be criminally charged,” the trial as a “witch hunt” (of course), and the judicial system as “corrupt.” But New York Attorney General Letitia James had had enough, too, especially after she was a target of his ugly bile: “We have a racist attorney general who is a horror show. This is a disgrace. And you ought to go after this attorney general.” Her remarks to reporters:
Trump’s comments were offensive. They were baseless. They were void of any facts or any evidence. What they were, were comments that unfortunately fomented violence. Comments that I would describe as race-baiting. Comments, unfortunately, that speak to the very bottom of our humanity.
This case was brought because it was a case where individuals have engaged in a practice and pattern of fraud—and I will not sit idly by and let anyone subvert the law. And lastly, I will not be bullied.
Mr. Trump is no longer here. The Donald Trump show is over. This was nothing more than a political stunt, a fundraising stop.
Standing up comes with a price for these public figures. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney noted that a number of his Republican colleagues refused to vote to convict Trump after the second impeachment hearing out of fear for their families’ and their own safety. But we are now seeing public servants—including three African American women—who are willing to pay the price to do the right thing for their country.
As a result of violent threats, Judge Engoron now relies on security officers from the court to pick him up and drive him home every day. AG James noted she has more law enforcement protecting her, “but I will not be paralyzed by fear by no means,” she said. “I’m from Brooklyn.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis also relies on added protection near her Georgia office and home because of the violent threats from Trump supporters, “what I and my staff have come accustomed to over the last 2½ years,” she recently said.
And Washington, D.C. Justice Tanya Chutkan, who will be deciding on Oct. 16 about a limited gag order in the Jan. 6 case, is accompanied these days by U.S. marshals, even when she’s engaged in the simple act of getting a cup of coffee in her federal courthouse.
Of course, little is simple these days as the former White House occupant and leading GOP candidate continues to fuel a climate of violence. But pay attention to those who don’t turn away, those who do their jobs because they believe in the rule of law and the duty of justice.
While a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service refused to say specifically what their precautions are, he did say they “take appropriate steps to ensure the integrity of the federal judicial process…Ensuring that judges can rule independently and free from harm or intimidation is paramount to the rule of law.”
Let’s take heart from the words of AG Letitia James:
Am I concerned about my personal safety? I don’t think about it. The reality is I’ve got a job to do each and every day. And again, I cannot be paralyzed by fear. I’ve got to wake up each and every day with this fire in my belly to represent the interests of the citizens of the state of New York to serve this state.
Chaos may rule the Republican-led House, ad nauseum. The criminal defendant may continue to believe that the law does not apply to him, that he’s free to attack prosecutors and judges, and violence and intimidation are his path to victory and immunity. But there are signs that decency, courage, the expression of truth and the slow moving wheels of justice will finally win out. I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope.
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It is lonely and terrifying to be the spouse of someone in this fraternity. When we juxtapose the courage of these public servants with the salacious tales Sen Markwayne Mullen (previously a Representative) is now telling about Matt Gaetz it is beyond disheartening. The entire GOP caucus in the House knew about his horrible behavior--because he apparently told them--and they quietly accepted it but now they are upset. We can not afford to wait to do what is right hoping things will sort themselves out in the meantime. We ALL have to fight every day to educate those in our circles and beyond about what is happening in our nation.
In one of his outside the courtroom babbles, the indicted one complained about having to be there instead of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other states campaigning. The fact is that he wasn’t required to be there, it was of his own choosing. Second, when he decided to leave, instead of going to one of those states to campaign, he went back home to Florida.