I Cannot Be Silent
I resisted posting anything about yesterday’s Oval Office fiasco because I wanted some time to reflect. This morning I realize that even after a sleepless night I can’t say anything that David Frum, Timothy Snyder, Bret Stephens (even Bret Stephens!), and Maureen Dowd (sorry – I’m conserving my NYTimes gift links, so that one is behind a paywall) have already said more eloquently than I can. But I feel like I still have to say something – Martin Niemöller’s words were ringing in my brain as I was not sleeping last night.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
I have to say something.
Some are saying that yesterday’s encounter in the Oval Office was a planned ambush. (And what was that Russian journalist doing there anyway?) I don’t know whether the specific terms of the ambush were planned, but I do think that Trump’s transactional view of the world is such that he sees every encounter with another in terms of how he can play things so that he gets an ever-increasing slice of an ever-shrinking pie.
Imagine – Zelenskyy was walking into a conversation with one man on record as saying I don’t care what happens to Ukraine, and with another man who has called him a dictator and just instructed his representative in the United Nations to vote against a resolution holding Russia responsible for the invasion of Ukraine. Trump continued to take Putin’s side again in yesterday’s encounter: “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia.” It seems clear to me that some Republicans share Trump’s view of America’s proper role in the world, but there are reliable reports that other Republicans are silent only out of fear. I get it that Republicans in Congress legitimately fear for their political standing in the face of Musk’s millions and minions, and even for their safety and their family’s safety. But Zelenskyy and the country he leads both face dangers that are more severe and more concrete than any of those faced by Republicans in Congress. Zelenskyy’s performance in the White House yesterday puts them to shame. When is some Republican in Congress going to show any spine?
Martin Niemöller’s words are not the only words ringing through my head this morning. American attorney Joseph Welch’s challenge to Senator Joseph McCarthy are as well: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”
Or perhaps Republicans in Congress might consider Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s Declaration of Conscience, delivered on the floor of the Senate in the summer of 1950:
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism. … It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques — techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.
It’s worth noting that Smith was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and that she delivered this speech as a junior Senator, having entered the body only the year before. Moreover, in making that speech, she wasn’t abandoning her party; rather, she was calling both parties to stand up to totalitarianism, just as the country had in the 1940s.
As I said, I didn’t sleep much last night. If I had, perhaps I would have dreamed that some Republican senator would embody Smith’s bravery. Alas, not even in my dreams.