The House speaker is willing to do something no other Congress has done: condition aid to Israel (amid an existential war). A sizable share of Republicans are ready to throw Ukraine to the Russia bear, which would hand a defeat to the United States more serious than Vietnam. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) persists in holding up military promotions. (He had the gall to compare the workday of a senior military commander who suffered a heart attack after working two jobs for 18 hours a day to his stint as football coach.) Beyond hollering at him, Republicans appear unwilling to make any rule change to shut him down. And let’s not forget Republicans’ infatuation with shutdowns, which would have our military men and women work without pay.
Having chosen performance politics and white Christian nationalism over responsible governance and fidelity to their oaths, MAGA Republicans and their cult leader mock and threaten the people and institutions responsible for upholding the Constitution and protecting our safety (e.g., disabled veterans, Capitol police, the FBI, court personnel).
Instead of responsible stewardship and respect for the military, they offer insults (“woke,” “losers”). Instead of serious concern for their fellow Americans’ safety, they bait violent extremists with paeans to toxic masculinity. Democracy and ordered liberty will be on the ballot in 2024, but so will defense of the homeland, preservation of critical alliances and maintenance of a 21st-century military.
Democrats would be foolish to ignore their opponents’ dangerous dereliction of the first responsibility of government: ensure the safety and security of Americans. But they must also disavow elements on the far left spouting “colonialism” poppycock about Israel and insisting we distance ourselves from our closest ally in the region. President Biden and the vast majority of Democrats understand that the survival of both Israel and Ukraine are national imperatives for the United States.
Biden needs to reiterate the message. “History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said in his Oct. 19 Oval Office address. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.” He and his supporters need to emphasize that there are few people who could steer the United States and our allies through a perilous time for the international community.
Sadly, only one party has a coherent, responsible view of U.S. leadership in the world based on our national interests and values. The GOP, which once boasted it helped defeat the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, now cannot be trusted to lead in a uniquely dangerous and complex international landscape. Every despot, from Putin to Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, would cheer Trump’s return. Biden cannot let voters ignore this frightful possibility.
Distinguished people of the week
Observing Trump pout, hurl insults and lose his temper in a New York courtroom on Monday might be distressing to many Americans who know such behavior would land the average person in contempt of court. But it also signaled the limits Trump faces in his effort to flout justice and pretend the rules don’t apply to him. Moreover, there have been two other recent developments that suggest the rule of law still has a pulse.
First, the center-right group originally called Checks and Balances relaunched this week as the Society for the Rule of Law. “This marks a major nationwide expansion aimed at protecting the Constitution and building a broad-based movement of conservative and center-right legal practitioners, scholars, and law students committed to defending the rule of law from mounting threats,” its news release noted. With prominent figures including George T. Conway III, retired judge J. Michael Luttig, former congresswoman Barbara Comstock (Va.), former acting attorney general Stuart M. Gerson and former Reagan White House lawyer Alan Raul, it will expand its activities to include public education, events “aimed at engaging those in the legal community and law schools in the vital work of supporting and preserving America’s legal institutions from those actively working to undermine them” and a nationwide membership drive.
In an appearance on Morning Joe, Conway explained: “We are absolutely determined to get our message across of the danger of a second term.” The group understands the problem is not solely Trump but the entire MAGA movement he spawned. “What is at stake now goes way beyond … one deranged, deluded, disordered man. … The termites are loose in the basement of the house.” He reiterated, “This goes to the fundamental aspect of what makes America America.” If principled conservatives can provide an alternate affiliation to the hyper-politicized Federalist Society, young lawyers and practitioners alike might come to recognize the necessity of preserving a system that promises no one is above the law and holds attorneys responsible for attempting to subvert democracy.
In other positive news, a California judge last week delivered a blow in defense of the rule of law and potentially a knockout punch to former Trump attorney and coup architect John Eastman. In a state bar proceeding stemming from Eastman’s effort to overthrow the 2020 election, State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland issued a preliminary finding of culpability for multiple ethics violations. This “marks a key moment in the months-long case against Eastman, who could face sanctions as severe as disbarment,” CNN reported.
The ruling means the state bar has rejected Eastman’s scheme to negate Biden’s victory as within the realm of reasonable legal advice. This is consistent with rulings from district courts in California and D.C. that pierced the attorney-client veil between Eastman and Trump because their conduct amounted to probable criminal activity. Multiple experts have testified that Eastman’s theory allowing then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw out electoral votes was absurd and that there was no plausible evidence of fraud.
Eastman is an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal case concerning Jan. 6, 2021, and a defendant in the Georgia state case focusing on, among other things, the phony electors. Certainly, the standard of proof in a criminal trial — beyond a reasonable doubt — is much higher than in a state bar proceeding. But the extensive evidence from legal experts rejecting Eastman’s theory out of hand bodes poorly for him, for any Trump defense based on “advice of counsel” (which must be reasonable advice) and for Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani (who has already been sanctioned by the New York bar). Though Eastman remains adamant about his innocence, the pressure will build to strike a deal with state and federal prosecutors (as co-counsel Kenneth Chesebro did).
These developments highlight two critical aspects in the battle to preserve the rule of law, a key component of our democracy. First, people on the right must take up the cause. Defense of principles such as “equal justice under the law” should not be a partisan effort. Conservatives might be the only ones who can sway still-reachable Republicans to preserve the impartial rule of law and reject the MAGA cult leader eager to use the Justice Department to enact revenge on opponents. And it is only when lawbreakers, especially lawyers, face consequences — be it criminal charges or loss of their license — that we can deter future lawbreaking. Democracy defenders should hope these events signal a rebound for the cornerstone of American democracy.
The first time I saw Annette Bening and Jodie Foster on camera in “Nyad,” the eponymous biopic about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, my reaction was: “Finally!” Here were mature, talented and intelligent women playing talented, intelligent women over 60 years old. Though they are toned and athletic, they look like women over 60. Their faces are creased, weather-beaten and luminous. They physically take up space, asserting their presence in the room. They talk candidly about age but refuse to let age define or limit their ambitions.
These characters, especially Nyad, are prickly and flawed people — real human beings, in other words. The story of their sometimes-tempestuous and complicated friendship is one of the most realistic and uplifting portraits of female friendship you’ll see on screen.
The film gives us two sets of remarkable women: Nyad and her devoted coach and friend Bonnie Stoll and the acting duo of Bening and Foster. Nyad and Stoll endured unimaginable sacrifice and displayed terrific grit so Nyad could complete the swim from Cuba to Florida at age 64. Bening and Foster underwent grueling training and allowed themselves to be photographed in ways Hollywood actresses rarely are (both without obvious makeup, Bening’s character disfigured by injuries, bloat and chapping from days in the water). They might win Academy Awards, but they have already won thanks from millions of women who’ve been waiting to see themselves portrayed on the screen as they are: aging, zealous, funny, imperfect.
If “Barbie” gave Greta Gerwig the status of blockbuster director, perhaps “Nyad” will give studios reason to make films about women who don’t look like Barbie.
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