Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Unlike white nationalist "patriots," real patriots like Lt. Col. Vindman believe in the democratic principles this country was founded on


Yesterday was yet another day of pathetic scrambling by some desperate Republicans and Fox News commentators to find a way to undermine an impeachment witness who gave the lie to yet another talking point they have been trying to fake on the public: that the original whistleblower complaint was “unreliable” because the information gathered was “second-hand.” A Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army, Alexander Vindman,  came forward to testify that he not only was sitting in on the infamous phone call as it occurred, but reported his concerns about its substance at the time and attempted to correct omissions in the Trump-approved, “perfect” transcript. While Vindman’s principle “bombshell” claim—that one omission spoke of Trump’s belief in a previously unrevealed conspiracy theory that the Ukrainians had a “secret” recording of then Vice President Joe Biden—did not dramatically alter the impact of the whistleblower complaint, Vindman’s deposition did confirm its essential facts beyond a “reasonable” doubt, as if there ever was such a thing save in the minds of Trump and his familiars. Vindman also added to the speculation that Gordon Sondland may have committed perjury during his deposition. 

Republicans like John Yoo and Sean Duffy joined in with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade to question Vindman’s “loyalty” to the country, given that he and his family immigrated from the old Soviet Union when he was three-years-old. Yoo made the ludicrous suggestion that Vindman’s was guilty of “espionage,” and Ingraham even more ludicrously alluded to “damaging” information about him “buried” in a New York Times profile—that since he was fluent in Russian and Ukrainian, and sometimes spoke in those languages to counterparts during diplomatic missions to those countries, he must “guilty” of “disloyalty” and is perhaps even a “double-agent.” Such talk did manage to arouse pushback from a few Republican lawmakers like Trump loyalist Rep. Liz Cheney, although interestingly she did not address directly Trump’s own predictably wild accusations against Vindman. 

You might notice on occasion some white people posting American flags on their SUVs, pickup trucks or in front of their homes. They do so because they want to advertise themselves as “real” Americans and “patriots.” In reality, for almost all of these people being an “real” American and a “patriot” stands for nothing more than being a member of the race that “founded” this country, rather than just a member of the race which stole the land from the original inhabitants. They don’t “stand” for the credo that everyone—not just white people—have the right to pursue “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and that all men are created equal, meaning that one person’s humanity is no more or less than another's; while how they end-up is part of the nature vs. nurture debate, to a greater extent it is about the privileges they are born with, and how those privileges are used and abused. Trump himself is proof that not all men are created “equal” morally or ethically; if Trump hadn’t been born with the silver spoon thrust firmly down his gullet, one could imagine him being an infomercial conman selling a worthless bill of goods to gullible people, maybe even winding-up behind bars after all. 

A real patriot is someone who believes in what this country stands for and will defend it against all those who would destroy those principles. Regardless of how one may feel about migrants on the southern border, there is one thing quite clear: they at least believe in what this country stands for far more than so-called patriots/xenophobes/nativists/racists who would deny them even the right to seek asylum. All those who have come forward to tell their stories about Trump and his familiars’ crimes against democracy and democratic principles truly deserve to be called patriots, because they believe in the high-minded principles of the founders (not the fake “principles” that far-right outlets like The Federalist espouses to) that know no partisan boundaries. If anyone is guilty of “treason” against what this country stands for, it is Trump and all those who have jumped into his dumpster fire. 

Republican lawmakers may continue to issue forth illogical defenses of Trump, but we should all know by now that these are desperate bids to prevent the Trump tsunami from swallowing them all up. But while we can write-off white evangelicals as the moral and ethical hypocrites that they are, it is still possible that if there is a discernable crumbling around the peripheries of Trump’s “base,” then perhaps we will discern some mumblings about to persuade Trump not to run for re-election for the good of the party; this was suggested by liberal commentator Christopher Hahn, who believes that if John Bolton testifies in the impeachment inquiry, it will be the final “nail in the coffin” for Trump’s presidency. Can we say it? That John Bolton—in the past much disliked by the left—has more patriotism in his pinky finger than Trump and all his familiars put together? We can certainly say that those who have defied Trump and testified to his crimes have more patriotism in the tips of their finger. 

But even if Trump chooses to “resign” from seeking a second term, that is no reason for real patriots not to remain vigilant; Mike Pence is one of those hypocritical white “Christians” who does not believe in what this country truly stands for, either.

No comments:

Post a Comment