Republican Reform

I have never voted Democrat in a Federal election in my life  ...  This year, for the first time, I will vote for a Democrat candidate in a Federal election ... I will do so for two reasons: First, I want to increase the nationwide total of Democratic votes. The greater the total, the greater the rebuke to the bankrupt Republican party and to the malignancy of Trumpism.  Second, and more importantly, the Nunes tape demonstrates clearly what most of us have all-too-sadly known for a long time. The Republicans in Congress have abdicated their role as a coordinate branch of government. They have forgone the responsibility of acting as a check on authoritarianism. They have sold their soul for policy success at the expense of the nation. Nunes is simply the most obvious, corrupt example thereof. They have no claim to any moral authority any longer.  They are only enablers of Trumpism and should be turned out of office. That's why, for the first time in my life, I will cast a Democratic vote this November. I urge all of my Republican friends who retain a view of country over party to do the same.
-- Paul Rosenzweig

I enthusiastically welcome my former high school classmate, the highly esteemed Paul Rosenzweig, and a growing number of other Republicans who have not lost, or are rebooting, their soul, and are strongly disavowing Trump and his craven Republican enablers in Congress.  Along with an energized progressive base, we need them, and should encourage them to urge other like-minded, non-deplorable Republicans to support Democrats in the mid-terms and beyond. So even those (not Paul) who are monetizing their revelatory change of heart by writing and selling books about what progressives have known all along, I say "welcome" with open arms.

And so it is in that spirit of good fellowship and common cause that I will not confront them with the fact that Republicans have been exploiting race, xenophobia and divisive social issues well before Trump.  (See, e.g., Nixon/Pat Buchanan's Southern Strategy; Reagan's Philadelphia, Mississippi/Welfare Queen Strategy; Bush I/Lee Atwater's Willie Horton Strategy; Sarah Palin's Tea Party Strategy)  They have been shredding the Constitution since Watergate.  (See also Reagan/Bush I Iran Contra Scandal; Bush II/Cheney Torture)  They have been lying about economic policy to justify tax cuts for the wealthy since Reagan (See, e.g., Laffer Curve).  I'm not going to talk about this uncomfortable history because there is no need to shame these well-meaning people who are truly showing great integrity by publicly coming forward when it would be easier to remain quiet.

But I do want to bring up one aspect of the Republican agenda that pre-dated the rise of Trump but on which he is eagerly capitalizing -- the outright theft of the Supreme Court (and the federal judiciary, more generally). I don't recall hearing any prominent Republicans speak out when Merrick Garland was denied even a hearing after President Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court?  Or when Neil Gorsuch was confirmed instead, after the Election and after the Republicans eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.  And now Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh who, if confirmed, will, thanks to the Gorsuch for Garland maneuver, cement a hard-right majority on the Supreme Court.  For the anti-Trump Republicans who are otherwise fine with an ultra-conservative court in principle, do the ends justify these means?  And what about the fact that Trump is choosing a justice who is likely to consider issues involving the Special Counsel's investigation of Trump, his Administration and/or his family?  And what about the push by the Republican-controlled Senate for a confirmation hearing without the release of records that could shed light on Judge Kavanaugh's role at the Bush White House -- particularly as it pertains to the internal debate over the use of torture?  (My friend Paul has penned a piece supporting Kavanaugh -- a former colleague from their Kenneth Starr days -- that elides these issues.)

I applaud and appreciate the embrace by formerly stalwart Republicans of "country over party," and their recognition that Democratic control of Congress is essential to checking Trump's authoritarianism.  If that is as far as you can go, that's OK.  We are truly happy to have you.  But I urge you to consider how Trump and his co-conspirators in the Senate are undermining the integrity of the judiciary.  That's worth fighting against too.