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GUEST WRITER - At any given time, news from the White House crashes from one remarkable statement or initiative to another at warp speed. It wasn’t long ago that the President was musing that Israeli hostages might have been treated with the same measure of “care” and “love” which the Nazis showed for Holocaust victims. Before the shock of that was gone, we witnessed the imposition and revocation of massive tariffs in a cocaine heartbeat.
It’s not hard to imagine that there’s actually a strategy behind this endless tsunami, that the objective is to overwhelm voters until they grow weary or lose track of it all: “Look, Over There! Wait! Look Over Here!” Whether this deluge is deliberate or sheer ineptitude, it produces a sort of political ennui which effectively forces everyone to overlook some astonishingly terrible, dangerous and cruel actions by the President.
Too few noticed, for example, that Trump’s Department of Justice sent armed Marshals (yes, Federal agents carrying weapons) to visit Liz Oyer, a DOJ pardon attorney who was scheduled to testify at a Congressional hearing about the damage caused by purely vindictive dismissals including her own. While the “official” explanation asserts that Marshals were dispatched to deliver a letter, the result was nothing less than an open threat – testify before a Congressional hearing and we’ll send armed law enforcement personnel to your home.
Ms. Oyer’s sin? She had refused to restore gun rights to actor Mel Gibson, a refusal with which the President disagreed.
Turning troops loose on reputable citizens is but one example of the malicious day-to-day operations at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Those who have challenged, disparaged, or otherwise offended the President face severe, perhaps lethal, consequences.
In the name of economy, the President has revoked Secret Service protection for dozens of his critics and/or their families. Some may, in fact, need little if any protection, but too many face very real threats. Two former National Security Advisors and Secretaries of State Anthony Blinken and Hillary Clinton had access to highly sensitive data on terrorist activities. It’s more than reasonable to surmise that all four may well be targeted by foreign agents. President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris both required protection precisely because ardent followers of their opponent harbor potentially violent grudges; revoking their protection literally threatens their lives. Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger drew unrestrained fury when they participated in the January 6 hearings; both surely face threats from violent zealots who stormed the House and assaulted police officers. During and after his New York fraud trial, Trump repeatedly spewed disgust and anger with NY Attorney General Leticia James; now he has revoked the protection she required in part because of his own vitriol.
Coercion of news media, punitive actions against law firms, defunding businesses, universities, and nonprofits whose views aren’t compatible, punishment for anyone who isn’t in line with anti-woke madness – these all share one clear trait. They trample free speech and mock due process of law.
They are perfectly un-American.
While Trump is the villain in this tale, he is not alone. Bewildered Democrats are spending more time scratching their heads and analyzing their loss than they spend standing up, loud and angry, to denounce the rise of fascism in the United States. Moderate Republicans continue to shrug or look the other way, ducking and dodging lest they be held accountable for their silent complicity. These cowards bear as much responsibility as does the perpetrator.
The corruption and venality of the Watergate scandal drove a sitting President from office only when determined legislative principals – all thoughtful and respected leaders of Richard Nixon’s own party – went to the White House to say, “It’s time to go.”
So long as there is no such integrity on the Hill, the actions of an arrogant, uncontrolled despot will remain the norm.
Heaven help us. . .nobody else seems willing to.
(David M. Hamlin writes political commentary and/or satire as well as fiction. He’s the author of the Emily Winter mystery series and, most recently, Murder in Tolland.)
