Author: BC

America’s system of government has sustained itself since the nation’s birth through institutions representing three separate branches of authority the OG founders deemed critical to maintaining a sovereign democratic state. The sovereign part has been aided immensely by the geography we have been blessed with, oceans are formidable military obstacles. The democratic part has been more challenging, but it’s the diligent development of our basic institutions that has always carried the day through rough patches.

Equally important to the institutions themselves are the norms established for the way they interact among each other. The fine line between competition and cooperation, ally and adversary has defined how both domestic and foreign policy is imparted. It’s not too much to assert that critical balance is the gist of our political ecosystem; if it’s distorted, or worse destroyed, all bets are off and America is in big trouble.

That the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war is a no-brainer; after all, war is expensive and lawmakers hold the power of the purse. Far more fuzzy is the conduct of foreign policy, and what level of oversight, what degree of interference Congress is allowed to exert on White House actions abroad. These questions didn’t become particularly pressing until the 20th century when technological progress and American capabilities conspired to tempt us toward a more active international role. Things came to a head as FDR recognized the national interests at stake in Europe’s war against Hitler and moved to provide Britain with military hardware for the effort. Congressional isolationists, still attuned to the boys lost in WWI, and determined to keep us out of another conflagration, moved with purpose to challenge Roosevelt’s authority. The Supreme Court issued the final word.

In 1936, ruling on Curtiss Wright Export Corporation’s challenge to a prohibition of arms sales pertaining to earlier hostilities between Bolivia and Paraguay, the Supreme Court issued a watershed decision on White House powers over foreign policy. The language of the 8-1 majority was unambiguous:

“While the Constitution does not explicitly say that all ability to conduct foreign policy is vested in the President, it is nonetheless given implicitly and by the fact that the executive, by its very nature, is empowered to conduct foreign affairs in a way that Congress cannot and should not.”

The President, declared the Court, is the “sole organ” of US policy abroad, and entitled to plenty of leeway when conducting relations with foreign powers. The immediate impact of the ruling was to enable FDR to provide the British Navy with hardware through a “lend-lease” arrangement. The lasting implications were it established legal precedent for an emerging internationalist US posture that WWII and the subsequent Cold War would solidify.

From “police actions” such as Korea and Vietnam to by-the-book Iraq I and post-9/11 carte blanche, the seesaw has tilted from one side to the other and back again. Yet and still, it’s always been about checks and balances in action, with individuals acting together on behalf of the institutions they are a part of. Isolationists and internationalists, hawks and doves, have been represented in both parties. And while partisanship is supposed to end “at the water’s edge,” America has learned the hard way, time and again, that a White House afforded too much leash is prone to destructive hubris, “breaking” nations they then own with consequences that addle US interests well into the future. Thoughtful lawmakers throughout the last 75 years have understood sometimes Republican and Democrat are required to unite for no other reason than supporting the vibrancy of the legislative branch they both work for. Checks and balances.

Donald Trump has no interest in the institutional power of the Presidency he can articulate past whiney tweets and rally gibberish. His pathological narcissism and abject intellectual laziness assure only minute to minute rabid impulses jockey to be a part of an infantile attention span. Nonetheless, Trump views anything other than strident sycophancy within the GOP he now expects to pay him hourly homage as apostasy. MAGA is patriotism, and whatever he decides to do is what’s best for “us” in the continual war against “them,” who are everyone else but us. As Trump would rage at a rally in Toledo after he killed Soleimani, only “we” don’t love terrorists. The farcical briefing his national security team provided US Senators on Thursday about the Soleimani assassination mirrored this attitude.

Those expecting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to uphold his chamber’s virtue and prerogative, after the White House ordered what most observers deemed an act of war without so much as a syllable of consultation, got a heaping helping of lamb. Turns out the guardian of the realm’s most pressing concern, posed to the MAGA braintrust with his usual docility, was whether Senate debate about war powers may hurt troop morale! Ascendent Trumpster Defense Secretary Mark Esper made clear it was follow or betray your country, this is no time for seditious democratic outbursts. It’s been taxing enough having to make up stories to uppity allies, we have to justify things to you? You’re cruising for a tweeting!

Pressed by incredulous Democrats when, if ever, the Administration planned to consider seeking congressional authorization, Secretary of State cum Dr. Strangelove Mike Pompeo declared he would not entertain hypotheticals. Chris Coons of Delaware repeatedly pressed the issue, asserting there was nothing hypothetical about war resulting from targeting Iran’s top military official for assassination. He got nowhere. Pompeo has become very good at saying nothing constructive over and over, his nervous smirk a sure tell he is lying yet again. Small wonder he is now Trump’s Iago of the month. This President simply doesn’t trust anyone honest. No worries about that with Pompeo.

The real shocker from the briefing is apparently the GOP libertarians do have a limit to their ideological expediency of Trump outrages, as both Mike Lee and Rand Paul decided their brand could not survive coddling the President on this one. You can’t cheer on abandoning Kurds to slaughter one month because “it’s none of our business,” and then support mindless escalation toward open ended regional war the next …. er, can you? Mitt Romney can and did, pronouncing himself satisfied with “the largely effective presentation.” Susan Collins of Maine was coy as she hinted a cabal might exist to explore war powers. Fat chance. Believe that when you see it! The myth of Collins as some GOP boat rocker was laid bare long ago. She is as reliable an aye as any Trumpie.

It becomes increasingly clear that the decision to kill Soleimani was made more as a function of Trump’s wild-eyed pre-occupation with impeachment than any US national interest. Seems the President wanted to quench GOP chickenhawks’ taste for Persian blood in order to secure more robust cooperation from them as jurors at his trial. Of course, he needn’t have worried, when it comes to fulfilling their roles as guardians of the Constitution and the institution they pledged to loyally serve in order to protect it, Republicans have clocked out. Now they merely parrot the rants of a mob and loyally serve its seditious champion. The cowardly abdication of duty added to the stew of ruin. BC

One of the most counterintuitive absurdities of Donald Trump’s political ascent is his personal popularity with many in the military. After all, it was previously an article of faith that those who relied on the privilege of wealth to avoid service during Vietnam were at the very least not entitled to anything more than grudging cordiality, even as Commander in Chief.

Bill Clinton certainly suffered through such estrangement during his eight years. Ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” didn’t help matters, but a substantial bloc of veterans already detested him, presumably because he took advantage of a Rhodes Scholarship instead of entering the draft or enlisting. Even W Bush suffered some aloofness due to the correct perception his father used connections to keep him stateside in the Air National Guard when he should have been overseas. “Chicken hawk” is a title vets have used in bipartisan fashion, reflecting the lack of credibility those who avoided service in Vietnam deserve to the eyes of those who did not.

That Trump, he of the multiple “bone spurs” diagnoses, who once told Howard Stern avoiding VD was his “personal Vietnam,” could enjoy the adulation of the Rolling Thunder crowd, current rank and file, and retired naval officers alike, seems to clarify their perceptions are guided by more odious biases previously deemed less important to their thinking, like race and homage to authority, or even embrace of debunked conspiracy theories. More than 50 years after she went to Hanoi, Jane Fonda would still be burnt in effigy, but Trump phony baloney draft deferments are easily forgotten. Go figure.

Regardless, both acting and retired service members are about to have their loyalty to Trump tested by his impulsive order to assassinate Iran’s most revered military leader. Make no mistake, Trump has placed our people serving abroad in mortal danger, particularly those in Iraq. Nobody believes Iran’s vow for revenge is the sort of empty bluster our President defines himself with; there is plenty of substantial tat coming our way, at a place and time we have no means to control.

From that faithful day “shock and awe” was unleashed on Saddam, Iran has been predominant in the Middle East. Its natural adversary fully obliterated, it has been able to focus on what it’s done best since the Mullahs took over, expanding control over a vast network of operatives with only one ultimate aim for one master. The success of that effort is about to be exhibited, American casualties likely the tragic result.

In Gaza, Hamas may operate as representative of Palestinian aspirations, but it is largely financed by Iran, who will surely now expect some of that tab be paid with services only desperate radicals are able to provide. Syria is an Iranian puppet state; that is, Assad does nothing without Tehran’s approval. Ditto Lebanon, where Hezbollah plays a dominant role and stages operations employed to enhance Iran’s reach throughout the region. Whatever Iran requires from either, they will get with at least the indifference of, if not cooperation by host governments. It’s not at all hyperbolic to say our now vastly outnumbered forces within Iraq are encircled by thousands of players mobilizing as we speak to do exactly as they are told.

The most significant aspect of the siege carried out last week by Iran-backed militia at the US Embassy in Iraq was the refusal of Iraqi security forces to intervene in any way. This portends nothing good for our people on the ground there. After more than 15 years of occupation, the army we dissolved remains unable to either guarantee its government’s well being or inspire trust about whose side they are on. Now, when we’ll need them most, anything is possible, nothing and nobody can be counted on. The announcement over the weekend that US personnel has suspended training of Iraqi soldiers clarifies a bunker mentality now exists.

Apparently, like most Presidential decision making these days, the move to kill Soleimani was purely impulsive, made out of frustration while watching television prior to yet another round of golf. What could go wrong? Pentagon brass were stunned, apparently the option had only earlier been presented as the most extreme of a range of possibilities, meant solely to bracket the presentation and encourage Trump toward moderation. It didn’t work. Why they thought it would and didn’t push back more when it didn’t is for another day, a crisis is now at hand. Which of his advisors were all in for targeting Iran’s equivalent of our CIA Director and Secretary of Defense for assassination? Why, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of course, our chief diplomat! Think about that.

The big winner is ISIS, who Iran was instrumental in containing. It’s the second gift Trump has recently given the world’s cruelest group of fanatics, coming on the heels of his similarly thoughtless move to abandon the Kurds, allowing Turkey free reign to replenish ISIS elements that were on the brink of destruction. Now they get another reprieve with both Americans and Iranians focused fully on each other. A couple months ago Trump declared betraying the Kurds was part and parcel of tough love decisions required to keep his promise of ending ceaseless war in the Middle East. Now he has rendered US forces in Iraq sitting ducks, awaiting the worst, even as 3500 hundred more troops are rushed to the region. In less time than is required to get his weave ready for the public, “bring our boys home” has morphed into a very open ended situation.

The wretched core, which now includes the full Republican Party, is predictably deflecting geo-political inconvenience, instead repeating ad nauseam what a terrorist Soleimani was, and how much American blood he was responsible for. But what about where killing him leaves us, and more importantly our troops and personnel abroad, our allies, not to mention global stability? “Let’s just hope Iran does the right thing,” sneered Pompeo.

Meanwhile, the POTUS has made clear via tweet that war crimes are on the table, with a variety of “cultural” sites included in a target package he will choose from should Iran keep its promise to avenge Soleimani. That such strikes would violate international law is beyond doubt:

Protocol I of the Geneva Convention prohibits the targeting of “historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples,” while also prohibiting making such sites the “object of reprisals.”

No matter. Last night Trump tripled down on his threat, snarling the US is obligated only to behave as low as it’s opponent:

“They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites. It doesn’t work that way.”

Asked repeatedly if they support Trump’s rabid disregard of civilized norms, Republican Hill eunuchs ignored the question in favor of inane repetition of Pompeo’s “hope” that Iran doesn’t escalate things. Of course Fox/AM personalities competed to agree most with their champion, no doubt sure he was watching as they supplicated. In addition to reason, logic and democratic values, the wretched core will not be bound by moral decency, that’s for the liberal traitors Trumpie social media threads now assure us anything less than full support of the President confirms.

The river of lies and daily outrages Trumpism requires to feed its relentless totalitarian torrent now approaches an ocean of chaos and needless destruction Middle East War promises. Eisenhower said it best when he observed only those who have actually seen the mindless brutality of war can fully appreciate its wanton stupidity. Perhaps now our future rests with those who are personally affiliated with Ike’s wisdom. One thing is certain, if men who have experienced battle can embrace Trump as a leader worth dying for, the future is bleak indeed. The march to ruin, at the double step! BC

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) has its roots all the way back to Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power to regulate the military. The UCMJ’s current specifics were authorized by Harry Truman in 1950, adopted in no small measure as a reaction to the many atrocities of WWII brought to light at Nuremberg, particularly the question of when subordinates must refuse to obey orders at odds with human decency.

While protective of individual rights and concerned about the means of safeguarding them, the USMJ draws clear lines for prosecuting crimes and abuses by US service personnel, regardless of branch or rank. The system it establishes deals with the very fine line between the key importance of respect for the chain of command and protection of “whistleblowers” holding officers to account for misdeeds. It’s not at all easy, but the code’s provisions offer firm guidelines and processes for establishing such balance.

Like so many institutions our nation requires to make the rule of law work, military justice is dependent on honor and good faith, presumably imparted to personnel from the first day they enlist, or, for officers, throughout their matriculation at the service academies. And this requisite permeates the process all the way to the very top, right to the White House. As Commander-in-Chief, the President possesses broad powers to intervene and alter military justice if he pleases. The ability to pardon, in particular, essentially permits him veto power of decisions rendered by military courts, ultimate authority as it were.

Of course, were such power to be used recklessly and arbitrarily, or worse, for political objectives, the entire system would be jeopardized from top to bottom. A couple of centuries of best practices could unravel quickly under such circumstances, the principle victims our soldiers in the field, no longer able to trust the foundations of their training because they can no longer believe in the chain of command.

The list of anecdotes about the casual and arbitrary violence by Special Warfare Operator Chief Eddie Gallagher is long and shocking. That the accusations come from his own men, several visibly anguished by what their conscience was forcing them to do, enhances their credibility, even if the actual charges he faced in court pertained only to his mistreatment of one teenage ISIS captive.

Stories of randomly shooting into crowds and windows, at women and unarmed pedestrians, witness intimidation and threatening whistleblowers describe an amoral predator. What comes to mind while reviewing the Gallagher file is, not only an American asset gone bad, but one that may have never been good, a Navy Seal who should have been red flagged from the start, identified as the conscienceless outlier his misdeeds in the field would later confirm. When descriptors such as “maniac” and “pure evil” are being employed to describe one with license to kill, everybody is in danger.

No matter. After an investigation and trial that acquitted him of murder once a fellow Seal with full immunity copped to the stabbing of a teenage ISIS fighter he was in the docket for, but fully clarified how dangerous Gallagher was to anyone within rifle range, the POTUS decided he had found yet another MAGA martyr to political correctness. Like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who bragged about how many Hispanics he could round up and force to endure the elements, and Scooter Libby, who endangered the lives of intelligence personnel for politics, Gallagher was another cause celebre from the bowels of Fox/AM. But this time Trump’s impulsive idiocy has inflicted incalculable damage that will reverberate into the indefinite future. To spare Gallagher from being drummed out of the Navy Seals, his trident repossessed, a fate all of his superiors agreed he richly deserved after posing with an ear-to-ear grin for a picture with the body of a teenager, Trump was willing to dismiss his Secretary of the Navy, and lay waste to the UCMJ.

For little more than some props from Fox and Friends, and fresh gibberish for his rally monologues to the wretched core, Trump has unsteadied the basis for honorable conduct by US military personnel in the field. After all, if a worst-case scenario like Eddie Gallagher is protected in full, indeed declared a hero and invited to Mar-A-Lago for cocktails, why would any soldier put his ass on the line to report misconduct, no matter how grievous the atrocity? And what bad apple would give a second thought to the consequences of a command he may be ignoring, or whatever ethical line he may be crossing. For God’s sake, the POTUS personally has his back! Best practices don’t stand a chance when the worst of us has the power to be despicable without thought or accountability… just a tweet.

Looking back on 2019, a year that encompassed some of the ugliest behavior of our nation’s worst Presidency, the Gallagher pardon may be the nadir. In various ways it clarifies how truly awful Trump and his base are, how destructive their abysmal sensibilities can be. The reality we suffer is as grotesque as it is inane: Presidential decision making has been relegated to the visceral impulses of just another Fox/AM consumer with remote in hand and way too much “executive time” to employ it.

The MAGA narrative behind the pardons of Gallagher and other US soldiers held to account for documented war crimes, ignores international law in favor of the ready-made excuses the barbaric acts of American enemies always provide. That is: our virtuous past now entitles us to be judged by the lowest common denominator enemies like ISIS embody. Instead of being appalled by an American sniper taking potshots at women in burkas, the ready response is simply “they do much worse and more!” A thought to ponder for 2020: the right of Iraqi or Afghani citizens to walk down their street without being shot for kicks by a maniac with a Navy Seal trident means less to our President than whatever wretched core acclimation he can gain for obstructing justice on his behalf. The banality of ruin. BC

More people than usual were flying out of Portland Jetport on a weekday, and access to iPhone recharging stations was at a premium. Worse, the unit I was sitting next to was DOA, the blue power light extinguished. Of course, that didn’t stop me from cluelessly prodding around until a helpful fellow traveler pointed the problem out to me. When I asked her if I could appear any lamer, she assured me it was a common issue that most, including herself, responded to no differently than I had. I thanked her for the fib to make me feel better and started surveying the gate area for unaccompanied blue lights. A silver haired witness to my inadequacy generously offered me the seat next to him, which boasted a true blue energy source.

His name was Steve and he hailed from near Augusta, born and bred in the vacation state. Mainers are noted for their pleasant stoicism, and my new friend was no exception. I did most of the talking, but he was jovial and responded to my inquiries with what can best be termed enthusiastic brevity.

The grandfather of five, he was a cable company construction supervisor on his way to Syracuse for training. His employer had played a dirty trick on him and necessitated he first fly south to Philadelphia to then connect at 9:30 pm to eventually arrive in Syracuse near midnight. I cringed at the thought and offered my heartfelt sympathies.

Throughout our conversation I was struck by how, despite certainly not talking my ear off, Steve answered questions thoroughly, while making sure to never stray past the subject matter he was discussing, there were no tangents to his line of thought, no unnecessary anecdotes. He was pleased to answer any inquiry, and willing to rejoin with an invitation for me to address the topic as well, but we stayed on whatever point was at hand. That I found his method of discourse comfortable, even admirable, perhaps speaks to a certain self-loathing toward my own tendency to tell stories and wander fairly aimlessly during discourse. I don’t know. Point is, he was a very easy guy to be around… and to like.

I have no doubt, were I lucky enough to count Steve my neighbor, he would dutifully have my back, and would appreciate but certainly not feel entitled to me having his. Good communities start with the Steves of this world, and countries are merely the sum total of their communities. So, from what I know of Steve, he is an asset to America, necessary to our fundamental prosperity, a root of our foundation, Rockwellian salt of the earth.

This Holiday Season, our third under the Trump Administration, may in fact be the most appropriate opportunity of the year to consider Steve and I and how the awful divisiveness of MAGA encroaches on the community development most agree goes hand in hand with our well being as a nation.
I never asked Steve about his politics, and wouldn’t be surprised wherever he came down. Which is to say I’ve been repeatedly disappointed by otherwise wonderful people I’ve known for years who are now unapologetic members of the wretched core, just as I know plenty of unpleasant sorts I’d just as soon avoid who have not a shred of patience for Trump. However, that is not at all to equate the two groups, which way too many still seem prone to do, contributing to our ingestion of ruinous toxicity.

The space between a rock and a hard place America now occupies consists of two precepts all of us took for granted growing up. Until 2016 we never had any compelling reason to challenge either one of them because each serviced the other. The demeanor of our Presidents never strayed from parameters they entered office determined to respect and left unchallenged. As a result, we had the luxury of assuming, Democrat or Republican, they would function in the background of our life routines, and, more importantly, respect the system that enabled their ascendency or terminated their service. Moreover, they would faithfully champion one common theme, paramount to our existence as a country: national unity. Together, these bedrocks established acceptable norms for civility and behavior, protecting relationships from political passions. No more.

As America confronts its version of the classic symptom authoritarian populism presents, a steady erosion of democratic society, Trump’s wretched core are no longer the primary issue. They’ve become a constant variable. They have elected and emboldened a destructive nihilist, and will embrace his worst, which could certainly descend to historically malevolent depths, but there is no longer any mystery to them or their misguided inclinations.

The open unanswered question now is how the rest of America tolerates them amongst us because, sadly, that has become synonymous with whether MAGA prospers further or is contained and eventually dies out. Totalitarian movements can’t survive dormancy. They can’t live through the collective disdain required to drive them from power, regroup, and then again hit the ground running. Trump out of the White House will look and sound very different, and without the Presidency’s bully pulpit and resources, even with 24/7 Fox/AM participation, he will become page A4 rather than the headline. Relevancy will become much harder work, and we all know Trump is a very lazy man, his own worst enemy.

Our ability to accept Trumpism as anything other than an ugly aberration is everything, the metric of our future. The most significant measure is whether we continue to categorize politics, doggedly refusing to permit this Presidency’s cauldron of degradation to boil over and co-mingle with community relations. No matter how many times it’s been said, it bears repeating, this isn’t Romney, or W, or even Nixon, and it’s a GOP the country has never before experienced, an enterprise with nothing in the way of constructive governance on its day timer. The ever growing list of former Republican Party stalwarts now as opposed to MAGA as any “liberal” certifies this reality.

When the Senate majority leader breathlessly reassures a Sean Hannity of his predisposition to, not only acquit an impeached President, but fully map out the entire process of his trial with him, there exists a massive chasm between the historical norms that are supposed to inform his job performance and absurd new expectations he believes his primary constituency intends to hold him to.
It’s our everyday give and take with that bloc that will define us moving forward. They don’t exist in a vacuum. They aren’t cordoned off and neatly showed for their worst. Many are Steves, whose plethora of good qualities are right now consumed by the existential crisis they believe is saving their country. Of course, it would be a far more pleasant task to talk about grandkids and the New England Patriots. Yet and still, it’s the grandchildren who are at the heart of this matter and deserve more than pleasantries. Confronting ruin. BC

History rewards substance, not pomp. It’s always useful, when considering insults hurled at a particular public person, to remember Lincoln was burned in effigy on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Profiles in courage are just that, popularity doesn’t enter into the picture. Had Lyndon Johnson not pushed through landmark civil rights and anti-poverty legislation, deeds that rendered him synonymous with treachery in his native south, his legacy would have been a big bunch of nothing. Instead of a legislative giant, LBJ would have become the guy who wasted Camelot’s promise and merely mired us in the pointless quagmire of Vietnam.

Wednesday’s orgy of oratory on the House floor was indeed for the ages, and will become more than just a footnote for historians to assess. Nothing could more effectively clarify the crossroads we have reached than the polarization on display throughout a debate with a foregone conclusion, a drama with an ending the audience knew was coming. But predictability can still shock the senses, and the GOP specializes in both lately.

The hyenas of an emerging American totalitarianism dutifully lined up in service to their Scar. Throughout the day they most resembled a collection of rappers, squaring off to prove who could use their allotted minute most creatively. Of course that is a profound diss to the Ice Cubes of this world, who have more imagination than the lot of the Republican House caucus combined. But on they carried forth, hour after hour, with nastiness to spare, directed over and over at the same usual suspects.

Nobody was reviled more this week than Adam Schiff of California, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Throughout the historic histrionics he was attacked with everything from calls for his indictment to scurrilous innuendos about his agenda. Trumpism only takes the low road, but Schiff’s attackers traveled by way of gutters all day long. Incredibly, much of the hideous invective was screeched while Schiff was present, taking his shift steering the debate. And his stoicism in response – a chuckle here, a clever rejoinder there – reinforced the understated professionalism he has embodied through the sorry saga of Trump’s overt corruption. Courageous and unflappable are the best adjectives available.

A common fantasy most indulge is the hypothetical of how we would act in a crisis, when the chips are down and peril comes calling. However, it’s doubtful being constantly signaled out by an unhinged POTUS with millions of acolytes ready and willing to absorb his hatred of the villainy he has assigned you finds its way into many such scenarios. Welcome to “Shifty Schiff’s” world.

That the main of House Republicans parrot Trump’s disgraceful personal libel against a colleague both disqualifies them as anything other than the clear and present dangers to governance they’ve become, and accentuates the debt of gratitude we owe Schiff…. come what may. The lines now drawn could not be clearer, nor the stakes higher. Flinching is not an option as one of America’s major political parties unites around sedition, in full service to a corrupt traitor. It’s a time where diligent fortitude equates with heroism, and that’s exactly what Schiff is delivering.

An ironic sidebar to Schiff’s stewardship of the impeachment investigation process is that, since his election to the House in 2001, he has been exactly the bipartisan-seeking, get-a-deal-done compromiser progressives would be looking to primary. On everything from authorizing the Iraq invasion (he admitted it was a bad mistake) to approving military budgets to supporting Saudi Arabia’s initial foray into Yemen, Schiff has been in line with across-the-aisle sensibilities. In fact, before Trump was elected, the issue Schiff may have been most ardent about was reducing the helicopter noise bedeviling many of his local constituents, a continent away from DC. Now he is MAGA enemy #1.

Indeed, it’s hard to find a better example of the times making a man than the case of Adam Schiff. And what he has lacked in flash, Schiff has made up for with relentless focus on gathering and presenting the facts, the oversight function. While his opposite number, Devin Nunes, has from day one competed to be Trump’s champion Capitol Hill bootlicker, sparing no effort to breathe life into outlandish and fully debunked conspiracy theories, Schiff has been about timelines produced from sworn testimony. While Nunes has his own cot over at Fox News, Schiff has dutifully made the media rounds, calmly tolerating insidious false equivalence while keeping America apprised of the facts, first in regard to the Mueller investigation and then the Ukrainian scandal. At no time has he entertained what wasn’t already there or made himself the story. In other words, he has been a solid professional exactly when that’s been needed most.

When old Sam Irvin was getting the goods on Richard Nixon he had to deal with a lot of different pressures and stresses. One thing he never had to be concerned about was the POTUS calling him “a deranged person… a very sick man, who lies” and should be indicted. Not a day now passes that Trump doesn’t incessantly insult Schiff and hiss to his wretched core their most visceral hatred toward him is appropriate. If it bothers Schiff he doesn’t let on about it, remaining his usual unflappable self, keeping his eye on the ball he is most responsible for pushing forward.

Whatever Trumpism still has in store for the US, whatever dangerous indignities it still may inflict, he has at least been stained by the impeachment his behavior fully warranted. That corruption was meticulously cataloged and presented for consideration largely due to the efforts of one man. Wednesday evening, as Schiff yielded himself the remaining six minutes of his time to make a final Democratic statement about why impeaching Donald Trump was the only option the rule of law and the Constitution allowed those obliged to satisfy their oath of office, he was interrupted by cowardly representatives of a mob no longer concerned with such requisites of democracy. At that moment it was easy to appreciate this is only the beginning of what will be the gravest crisis America has faced. Yet and still, it was also a fully appropriate time to feel grateful hope and good faith are still served by people like Adam Schiff. Nothing is more important right now. BC

Back in 2010, as the House and Senate were marking up what would become the final version of Obamacare, America got a clear view of its future. In both chambers the process defined anyone’s idea of hell, far worse than watching paint dry because paint doesn’t act like an overindulged six-year old from start to finish.

Over and over, hours into days, GOP lawmakers offered one poison pill amendment after another, each with no chance of being adopted by the majority. But it wasn’t enough to simply put the amendment up – coupled with a speech for Sean Hannity and the base back home – for rejection; Republicans would then demand a hideously tedious roll call vote. Nihilist kabuki became part and parcel of every step in the slog toward national healthcare; it was literally a battle of who could disagree more.

Central to the GOP narrative was Obamacare’s reliance on an individual mandate (IM) which would levy a tax, or fine depending on point of view, on individuals refusing to obtain health insurance. It hardly mattered the individual mandate was actually Nixonian in its origins, and found its first national sponsor in 1989 when the Heritage Foundation put it out as an alternative to the Clinton Administration’s doomed push for a single-payer system.

Nor did it matter the modest obligation was simpatico with conservative sensibilities toward ballooning costs associated with extended care for that percentage of “free riders” selfish enough to refuse purchasing coverage come what may. Roger Ailes and Mitch McConnell, both publicly committed to making Obama’s a one-term Presidency, had their main talking point and they would run with it. Fox/AM went to work, attacking the udders of our increasingly shrill argument culture with the aim of milking it for every last drop. The war on Obamacare would fully reflect just how unhinged messaging could become within the vortex of Glenn Beck and GOP show horses from gerrymandered districts, terrain capable of prompting only primary threats from the right.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, despite his stature and seniority, made it clear from the start GOP stalwarts would follow rather than lead on the issue. Although he favored the individual mandate when it was an alternative to single-payer, Hatch did his best Patrick Henry, declaring “…the difference between regulating and requiring is liberty.” From O’Reilly to Rush, Levin to Malkin, the Fox/AM brigade became ceaseless in trying to one up each other as to the calamity the IM portended.

Steadily the IM went from the poster child of liberal dependence on unnecessary regulation to a certain harbinger of totalitarianism. A $695 annual penalty, levied on those with the means to purchase health insurance, but stubbornly ignorant enough to refuse to do so, became a GOP synonym for end times. Instead of free riding deadbeats prepared to cost the system thousands if misfortune came their way, those refusing to take advantage of insurance they previously could not access were proud patriots, modern day tea tax rebels. By November they would have their own “grass roots” movement that would make Democrats pay dearly for their unconscionable efforts to insure more Americans.

By the time Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law in March of 2010, 39 blue dog House Democrats were already preparing talk tracks about why they joined every Republican and voted against Obamacare. The Tea Party wave that November spared few of them. And what of the GOP? After their first taste of just how easy it was to throw all semblance of truth and decorum to the curb, simply making stuff up as they went, Republican back benchers were euphoric. Unlike moderates who valued governance and felt the need for several showers, the nihilists knew a winner when they saw one. Why had they waited so long?!

Near ten years later the GOP strategy and behavior for executing it are one and the same, the product of an epiphany the battle against national health insurance provided. The crux of the matter, which they were just comprehending back in 2010, is straightforward as it is depraved: that the national interest pales in the shadow of power, and the sky’s the limit when visceral white grievance melds with a multi billion dollar, multi-platform messaging system. The only difference now is there exists not a one in the GOP caucus of either chamber who loses a moment’s sleep over such standard procedure requirements.

What was a Faustian bargain with grievous moral and ethical consequences for members to consider back in 2010, is now a central part of the Republican autonomic nervous system, as natural as breathing. Those lawmakers with moral reservations about the Pandora’s Box they helped to open back when they warned constituents about “death panels” are long gone, replaced by a political class liberation of its contents enabled and nourished. That spawn has been on full display recently in a House Longworth Building hearing room.

The Republican Party has devolved apace as one might have expected it to after its hysterics during the Obamacare debate. That a majority of Americans now have a favorable view of the program, and thousands owe their lives to its inception, hasn’t stopped the GOP from tossing all manner of pasta against the wall in an effort to kill it. Yet and still, once they succeeded in ending the IM along with the passage of a massive tax giveaway to big business and the upper brackets, the appetite for false and reckless rhetoric about Obamacare diminished. Now it’s ceaselessly employed to protect Donald Trump’s rabid political survival.

Back in 2010 Republicans discovered the political advantages of ignoring established signposts of shamelessness. Now, as a united authoritarian party with no daylight between their leadership and the rank and file, the GOP has upped the ante and are enthused to disregard established taboos about sedition while protecting Trump. GOP nihilists now peg impeachment as an existential threat to their wretched core supporters, who need precious little persuading, but will still get it 24/7 for good measure, just as they did a decade ago. Same sorry game, but much higher stakes. A contest we can’t afford to lose against opponents who cheat to win. BC

“You break it, you own it.”

Colin Powell

“Every data point was altered to present the best picture possible.”

Senior US Advisor in Afghanistan

They were spread throughout the plane, perhaps a dozen of them. Before the stewardess started with the safety directions she gave them a shout out and everybody clapped. When the Captain came on to advise about the trip’s time, he also recognized them, again a round of applause. They all seemed like babies, hardly prepared for what awaited them. Yet all seemed excited to go. Parris Island beckoned.

Since 2001, when America set its sites on the Taliban after 9/11, 775,000 troops have rotated through Afghanistan. Our involvement has stretched so long, the first sons are now deploying to where their fathers’ boots also hit the ground. Think about that. I remember, as a college student, being dumbfounded how America could have been bogged down in Vietnam for so long. Our stay in Afghanistan has been near twice as long.

Many argue that the folly of invading Iraq doomed quick and enduring success in Afghanistan. The recent trove of classified material gathered by the Washington Post doesn’t support their thesis. Instead, like the Soviets before us, America’s military appears to have entered a quagmire from day one, with time and American casualties it produced the only certain measurements of failure our political and military leaders would spare no effort to sanitize and misrepresent.

It ended up being a flight from hades, Earlier in the day an American Eagle plane, the exact same model we were now on, made an emergency landing at Reagan National due to black smoke in the cabin. Between that incident and miserable weather, an operation that tests passenger patience under optimal conditions never recovered. American Eagle flight 4580 from Portland, Maine was a mere 20 minutes out from DC when our captain came on from the flight deck and notified us we were in a circling pattern because of “weather delays.” He didn’t sound particularly hopeful.

Incredibly, when he came on several minutes later he broke the news that, due to fuel considerations, if we couldn’t land within 15 minutes we would be forced to divert to Norfolk! Suddenly, a late dinner became an overnight stay three hours from home!! Needless to say, the boys heading to boot camp were not going to make their connection, and how they digested the news was very interesting and encouraging to witness. There was humor and a certain degree of fatalism as they discussed their options. One youngster demonstrated outstanding leadership skills as he went through the situations and viable options as he saw it. One could imagine them as a unit, on patrol, mapping out how to react to an enemy encounter. What was great to see was how alert and focused all were, with no agitation whatsoever; they were addressing a curveball with humor and comradeship.

If Iraq was defined by hubris, the decision making behind the US invasion of Afghanistan was impulsive and visceral. The mandate was to get even, come what may. The fact most of the 9/11 cabal were Saudis was ignored. And while perhaps no regime in the world needed to change more than the Taliban, long-range planning, which should have benefitted greatly from the lessons Soviet mistakes provided, really never seemed to be a priority. As Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general and planning “czar” within both the Bush and Obama administrations admitted: “we didn’t know what we were doing.” Yet and still, it hardly mattered; as Toby Keith bellowed, it was time to put a boot in their ass, nuff said.

Eighteen years later we remain an isolated and clueless occupier, still trying to figure out how to declare victory and leave. For our trouble we’re more than $1 trillion poorer and have lost more than 2300 of our soldiers, not to mention more than 20,000 wounded. The primary goals that framed the mission remain elusive and largely unmet. While it’s true Afghanistan is no longer a terrorist training haven, nobody is confident it won’t again become one once the remaining 13,000 Americans still in country leave. It’s government remains corrupt and primed to be toppled by the Taliban soon after a US withdrawal. Opium continues to be grown and exported at levels few would argue reflect successful US efforts at intervention.

Now the stunning collection of classified material the Post had to fight tooth and nail to obtain paints a picture of Vietnam 2.0, where spin doctors up and down the chain of command worked tirelessly at painting rosy scenarios none actually believed. There is no other way to put it: successive US administrations lied continuously to cover up failed operations in Afghanistan, without pause or concern. Hundreds of candid interviews, carried out with the promise they were off-the-record, clarify 18-years of aimless policy that never really got past the original motivation… to punish the Taliban for providing a staging area for Bin Laden.

Mercifully, Baltimore’s BWI airport agreed to allow us to divert there. Inconvenient sure, but hardly the burden of heading to Norfolk. The descent was nothing short of harrowing, the commuter plane relentlessly tossed around by the elements. The recruits joked nervously that bad luck might spare them the unpleasant chore of explaining to their DIs why they were late to camp.

While we waited on the tarmac for a gate assignment, I was struck by how not one of these kids seemed at all preoccupied by the the immense life-change they were about to face. As they discussed pursuing plan B or C to make it down to South Carolina, there was order and calm, with ideas offered and assessed. The leader who emerged earlier acted as a clearinghouse for different approaches. I counseled that sitting around BWI waiting for hours to fly 30 miles made no sense at all. My suggestion was they let the American representative know the importance of getting out quickly and book something from BWI, on another carrier if necessary. After all, this was our national security we were talking about. American helped matters by announcing before we deplaned that nothing was getting into Reagan for the next couple hours and vouchers for ground transportation to DC would be issued.

After almost two decades in Afghanistan we appear no closer to the requisites for declaring mission accomplished. Worse, it’s clear, like Vietnam, those essentials were never possible. Create a strong central government determined to resist corruption? It was never going to happen, particularly with millions of unaudited American dollars flowing through the system. As one US official put it: “petty corruption is like skin cancer… corruption within the ministries, higher level, is like colon cancer….. kleptocracy, however, is like brain cancer; it’s fatal.”

And of course for the US to withdraw, Afghan forces have to be able to defeat the Taliban insurgents on their own. Year in and year out they have not improved. Incompetent, unmotivated and “rife with deserters” has been the common assessment since the start. Afghan security forces have suffered more than 60,000 fatalities, a shocking number that US officials deem “unsustainable.” We leave and the Taliban returns; that’s an article of faith. It is a testament to our failure that our hapless President isn’t necessarily wrong about “cutting a deal” with the Taliban, unthinkable in 2001. Other than permanent occupation, few other options exist.

As I left the gate, beelining for what would be a crowded Uber stand, the future Marines were circled around the airline representative, earnestly yet respectfully pressing their situation. Walking away, I was more heartened and hopeful about America’s future than when I began the day’s journey. These young men would give their best and complain little while doing it. They were splendid in every way, our greatest resource. Who could possibly look them in the eye and tell them they have signed on to, not just a failed mission, but a folly that was doomed from the beginning? Who could be so heartless to do that? Who could be so cruel not to? The hell of it! BC

“You’ve got to live for yourself, for yourself and nobody else!”

Blues Magoos

When I was a 9-year old enjoying a Rockwellian midwest upbringing in Evanston, Ill, one of my best friends was a neighbor named Alan Kornfeld. Together we shared a love of baseball, both playing and worshiping Ernie Banks and his Chicago Cubs. Also, Alan had a full drum set in his basement that may have been his older brother’s; near 50 years clouds my recollection on the matter. What I am clear about is how well Alan could play and how futile my half-hearted attempts at learning were.

Dog day afternoons of summer were often spent in the Kornfeld basement, me watching Alan play along very competently to “Wipe Out” or, better yet, a Beatles classic or some other 45 he poached from his brother’s off-limits collection. After several songs Alan would take a break and give me a chance with the sticks, which I never took advantage of, instead struggling to even master very basic snare/cymbal combinations. Alan wasn’t a patient teacher, and usually after a couple of failed forays at rhythm, he would be looking to get the sticks back, refreshed and ready to challenge himself. I never could get the hang of it, much to my disappointment because drumming seemed to me a very cool activity.

I remember asking my mom what she thought Santa would say to a drum set for XMas; her response was immediate and certain, leaving not a speck of daylight for hope. At least I held on to the Mel Stottlemeyer model mitt I received instead for decades…. what are you going to do? My parents were loving and generous, but not masochists!

Anyway, flash forward seven or eight years to my high school days in Maryland – the family having relocated from idyllic Evanston to the then DC suburban outpost of Potomac, where extreme culture shock and the teen angst it afforded made drug use a forgone conclusion. The silver lining was live music, which went hand in hand with pot smoking and inebriation, became a priority. In neighboring Bethesda, no band was more beloved than The Nighthawks, a lunch pail blues group that loved to play for hours without any fluff or gimmicks. Nothing but the blues!

During summertime, the Nighthawks always booked a number of dates at beach clubs up and down the Delmarva coastline. Throughout my college years summers were spent in Ocean City, MD, and the season was not complete without at least a couple of Nighthawks shows. While most of the limelight went to front man Mark Wenner and lead guitarist Jimmy Thackeray, I focused much of my attention on the drummer, Pete Ragusa, whose rock solid percussion work set just the right tempo, so necessary to allow for extended guitar riffs or charismatic harmonica solos. Perhaps it dates back to my Alan Kornfeld envy, or a close college buddy who could also pound the skins with effortless authority, but there is a wonderful feeling of satisfaction one gets viewing superb drummers as they nonchalantly anchor their band’s offerings. In the early 80s, in resort hot spots like the Electric Circus or the Bottle and Cork, Pete Ragusa fully embodied such blue collar professionalism.

Trump, his wretched core, and perhaps most significantly, Fox/AM relentlessly label critics as “elites” out of touch with the basic sensibilities of flyover American patriots. To deride the grievance narrative of Trumpism is to admit benefitting from the underhanded doings of “the swamp” “our President” is draining one kept promise at a time. Hollywood, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Ivy League “safe zones”, sanctuary cities and the like, these are the outliers obstructing the MAGA agenda “real” rock-ribbed America supposedly embraces…. oh, and prays for.

This week, several academics laid out the case for impeaching Trump to the House Judiciary Committee. It was not a difficult task. Yet and still, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, always game to besmirch opponents by targeting them as worthy recipients of one MAGA gripe or another, shamelessly gulped from the “elitist” well. Attacking Stanford Law Professor Pamela Karlan, who gave short shrift to comical GOP presumptions about Trump’s intentions, Conway went low and exuded phony baloney self-righteousness, her usual deflection MO:

“She’s the star witness, she didn’t educate us. She spent her life lecturing people, she hobnobs with the elite…… I took out six figures worth of student loans to put myself through law school and college with my single mother working her tail off to supplement that. I resent someone like that looking down on half of America. She sounds like Hillary Clinton with the ‘deplorables.'”

All of which circles back to Pete Ragusa and the question of what our citizenry looks and sounds like after three long years of a Fox/AM Presidency. I was psyched he accepted my friend request a couple years ago. As a fan I thought it cool FB rendered a true local blues legend like him so accessible, and welcomed his posts across my news feed. Like the straight shooter I always perceived him to be, Ragusa is direct with his thoughts, often focusing on a preoccupation many share. When not employing memes to convey his feelings, Ragusa gets right to the point without mincing words:

“F**k Trump…. F**k the Republican Party!”

“F**k Trump and f**k the spineless little minions … who further his bullshit ideas of governing a nation he spits on.”

Get the picture? Ragusa, the antithesis of MAGA’s straw man “elite,” calls things as he sees them. The visceral tone he employs matches his level of concern at a situation he recognizes as critical. He refuses to ignore it, and isn’t much concerned whether people hold his vigilance against him or not. In other words, none of this is normal and he’s not going to carry on like it is. Perhaps the one word that best encompasses his approach is patriotic.

The battle for America’s soul and well being as a democratic concern continues apace. Compelling articles of impeachment based on acts the President and his chief of staff admitted to, and for good measure were fully validated by sworn testimony of most of the principles involved, have only convinced his Hill lackeys they need to talk faster and lie with more certainty. Keep throwing pasta at the wall and go with what sticks longest.

But throughout America, on the coasts or where my father liked to call “the hustings,” lines have been drawn that now fully dictate, not just how to react to facts, but disastrously what the facts are and who can and can’t be trusted to present them. One side addles our future with a shared belief that their champion, despite preferring to simply call critics names and attack their motivations instead of offering evidence to refute their claims, is the victim of continuous persecution by dark ever-expanding forces. His gibberish, dutifully sanitized and repackaged by sycophants, is always enough to assuage any doubts they have.

Fox/AM has tirelessly spun a mythology of the wretched core as a dynamic group distinguished by shared common sensibilities and stoicism they alone have held onto as the rest of the country has abandoned what made it great. Blue collar, hard working, plain spoken patriots defending our future by appreciating our glorious past…. MAGA in a nutshell.

Trumpism relies on projection, whether it’s claiming the frailties it suffers are actually what define its opponents, or taking credit for the strengths and accomplishments it had not a thing to do with. The sophistry of Hannity or Rush doesn’t change reality, it only aims to distort it, constantly repeating the same fictions. This is never more true than their relentless efforts to draw a salt-of-the-earth caricature of the prototypical Trump supporter, while defaming opponents as out of touch with the nation’s rank and file.

All of this is now on display at perhaps the most critical crossroads in our history, when freinds and neighbors are faced with choosing sides, considering what they desire in a fellow traveler. Of course, it should be an easy decision. But allow me to help if you’re uncertain. You want direct and stoic and accountable, a portrait of citizens we can take heart in; the last place you want to look is at a Trump rally or deplorable FB thread. Give me a Pete Ragusa any day! BC

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Thomas Aquinas

In many ways, perhaps even in its most important aspects, America is a religion. And like any other theological discipline, for the exercise to be fulfilling and meet its lofty expectations, adherents must always mix a great deal of patience with an abiding faith that all is possible.

If US democracy rests upon and is perpetuated by religious components like, for example, being constantly informed by its bible – the Constitution – then it seems logical the practice of its tenets must be guided by the devout citizenship they require. To consistently offer less makes one more secular and not guided as much by the preoccupations more rigorous practitioners entertain and act upon. I suppose at some point enough of a dearth of care or concern amounts to blasphemous abandonment of the entire enterprise. Yet and still, through it all there must exist faith… good faith.

Faith can be lost in any number of ways and in all proportions. One can be a Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman and, after discovering the father you adore is capable of infidelity, lose all hope about what the future holds with one crushing disappointment. Germany required a disastrous war and a draconian peace to reach the abyss all the world would regret. Or perhaps it’s a thousand cuts that does the job instead of a single epiphany, a Watergate here, a Monica Lewinsky there. Maybe days and nights on end of Rush and Bill O’Reilly. Who knows?

Either way, without faith one becomes rudderless and begins to also lose hope. If hope is merely the promise of a better day, losing faith means a growing belief that day won’t come. Bad faith is when one couldn’t care less if it doesn’t. Millions of Americans now feel this way about their government and its institutions. Worse, they empower one of the principle custodians of our national life, the Republican Party, who now abjectly fails to lead them to a better place, instead consciously opting to wallow within their mire. This is an existential crisis to our church of democracy.

Another critical manner our political system resembles a religious narrative is the binary choice it offers between good and evil, heaven and hell. Winston Churchill addressed this lack of options succinctly when he averred democracy was the worst system he knew of, except all of the others. Whatever warts pluralist government suffers, the alternative is blight. Many a national story reflects the difficulty of getting back to the light once its flock has wandered too far over to the dark side. The purgatory of authoritarianism can be long indeed. Atonement for the sins a mob can bestow is not so simple, redemption can take generations.

In the mid-60s England elected socialist Harold Wilson as Prime Minister and many believed he would destroy the nation. The Crown on Netflix is about as good as historical drama gets, and season three devotes an entire episode to what is aptly titled “coup”. While some liberties with the actual record are taken, the episode couldn’t be more instructive to our current situation.

Wilson’s Labor Government faces economic crisis as trade imbalances and deficits force a devaluation of the pound. After being sacked by Wilson as Chief of Defence, Royal family member Lord Mountbatten is wooed by a cabal of bankers plotting to overthrow Wilson and asked to head an emergency cabinet. Mountbatten, ever the preparer, plunges into study of history’s long list of government overthrows, concluding the most critical element to success is public legitimacy, which only Queen Elizabeth can provide.

When the Queen is informed of the plot there is never a doubt as to her position; the scene in which she takes her uncle to task seems tailor made as a foil to our predicament right now. Mountbatten beseeches her to appreciate the incompetence and danger Wilson’s government poses. The Queen is having none of it and declares her obligation is firmly to the democratic process, as bad as Wilson may be, there is an electoral remedy around the corner. And so the coup is strangled in its crib.

No doubt many a present-day Trump normalist will take heart in the show’s conclusions, which reinforce the viewpoint that patience and faith in our system is all that is required. Better days will surely be delivered by the American electorate. Until then, keep the faith. The church of democracy will sustain itself. Sadly, it’s become easy to doubt such hope precisely because it fails to take into account how damaged near half our congregation has become, how close so many are to disqualifying themselves from US democracy’s essential prerequisites.

While it’s surely true Trump offers incompetent corruption like we’ve never seen it; the fouling of his followers’ beliefs is what really accents his menace. Trump is Fox/AM’s Howard Beal, its minister of hopeless anger, of dystopian cynicism. Harold Wilson believed in his form of government, and the process that would elevate or ruin him, so did the Royal Sovereign. What does Trump believe in? A question with less than inadequate answers, previously unthinkable for an American President. Trumpism’s false prophecy is the delusion that “nothing,” defined as undoing the tyranny of progress, beats whatever we’ve done before and will suffice for what we’ve yet to do.

That’s the heart of it. That’s what faithless looks like, what hopeless faithlessness embodies. When millions can no longer believe in a system’s ability to promise better days, and don’t care to even consider the premise as history, current event or future aspiration, they turn to idols instead. Despair is hope’s greatest challenger and mankind’s gravest threat. With it the dark side beckons; it’s beckoning now…. from an East Wing couch, in between Fox and Friends and rounds of golf. BC

”And when you lose control, you reap the harvest you have sown.”

Pink Floyd

In 2010 a bloc of US voters steeped in grievance and confident, after two years of constant exhortations by Fox/AM that their hatred of America’s first black President was based on his bigotry not theirs, ushered in a wave of new dead-ender lawmakers. The Tea Party claimed to be guided by deep rooted, common sense principles dating back to American Independence. In fact, they were the first incarnation of a new American nihilism, devoted almost exclusively to tribal animosity and viscerally opposed to bipartisanship. Forget Paine or Jefferson, this group took its cues from Limbaugh and Beck. The GOP class of 2010 was a doozy, and surely haunts us today.

Eighty-four freshman entered the House chamber in January of 2011, About one in three GOP House members was green as grass. Mick Mulvaney was one, Mike Pompeo another. But as notable as these reactionary rookies of 2011 were, more important were the Fox/AM veterans, heretofore insignificant back benchers, whose stature was elevated as they suddenly gained seniority. Overnight, Palinite show horses like Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Tom Price and Kevin McCarthy were moved up the ladder as Republicans took back House control. Suddenly they were old hands, with dozens of political neophytes, many elevated by extremist campaign themes, looking to them for help learning the ropes, and fully willing to follow their lead regarding legislation. Moreover, their committee seats moved several positions closer to the center of the dais, ensuring more than just five-minute time blocks at the end of the line for inane ramblings; they would no longer be ignored. After all, aimless talk was their specialty.

In 2015 the Freedom Caucus was christened. Its creation reflected an ominous surge by those less interested in working at the hard job of governing than simply complaining in front of cameras and blocking legislation they weren’t certain would be embraced by the extremists at home. Jordan would state the group’s aim was to be “more cohesive, more agile and more active,” code words for the club’s corrosive hyper-partisanship.

The Heritage Foundation had by now lurched hard right and, along with the Republican Study Committee on the Hill, became a sweat shop for what passed as the intellectual underpinnings for a full range of far right positions on issues from minority “dependence” on welfare to the “hoax” of climate change to the wonders of supply side economics. What developed was a loop between Fox/AM, corporate lobbyists, right wing academics and the GOP to produce talk tracks all would repeat ceaselessly. Truth and inconvenient facts were. as a rule, avoided.

By 2015 the GOP leadership realized it should have been more careful what it wished for. While its full embrace of the Tea Party had regained it majority status, it was clear the bloc they now relied on to govern as a party had little interest in actually governing. The constituents Tea Party do-nothings answered to took their cues not from Speaker of the House John Boehner, or even the more obtusely partisan Mitch McConnell in the Senate; no, they had learned their civics at Mark Levin’s knee, and constructive compromise had become a synonym for RINO.

The primary difference between Boehner and the new Freedom Caucus would become the defining foundation of Donald Trump’s wretched core of support. Both Boehner and the nihilists were united in giving corporations, particularly those of the energy sector galvanized against global Climate Change initiatives, everything they wanted. Both were deficit hypocrites, who never met a farm or oil subsidy they didn’t love or a tax cut that wasn’t heaven blessed. But where Boehner used culture war grievance as a political tool to advance his primary agenda, the Fox/AMers owed it their existence. Boehner was fine with lip service to tropes, Jim Jordan and Tom Price walked the walk, regardless of consequence to the national interest or the groups they constantly marginalized; it was their ugly mission statement. After Boehner was forced out by those who viewed him as much an opponent as Obama himself, he provided a frank assessment of the Freedom Caucus:

“They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”

Paul Ryan, who would make the professional mistake of his life by deciding to replace Boehner, received the same treatment despite his close connection to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and his budget purity bona fides. When he was similarly driven from office, Ryan appeared shell-shocked; wasn’t I just yesterday the party’s future?! What the hell happened? What occurred was, again, nihilist jackals bayed against governance, equating any effort to solve problems or even express a party position on issues as heresy. In the end, both Boehner and Ryan were faced with either working with Democrats or allowing manufactured crises like the debt ceiling or extended government shutdowns to define their legacy.

As it rapidly became clear Trump’s candidacy was gaining traction, House nihilists jumped on board. While GOP Senators struggled with allegiances to colleagues and political sensibilities they fully understood Trump ran directly against, the Duncan Hunters (CA) and Chris Collins (NY), both coincidently -or maybe not – now facing criminal corruption charges, didn’t hesitate. By the time Sean Hannity was in the bag, most all of the Freedom Caucus was well on its way. Sure, some still had competitive general elections that required a bit more muted support of Trump, but when he actually won, all were ready to become MAGA apostles. The rest is ruinous history.

In retrospect it is tragically comical any hopes the GOP could be relied on to check Trump’s worst inclinations were ever entertained. Any meaningful audit taken of the 2016 House GOP never supported such optimism. While Trump opponents cheered 2018’s romp by Democrats as they took back House control, fact is it finished the job the Tea Party started back in 2010. The Republican Party has been completely purged. Forget moderates, there now is virtually no Republican member of Congress who doesn’t consider bipartisan a political slur.

The announced retirements of isolated outliers like Will Hurd and Peter King complete the extinction event. The GOP House Caucus is now wholly a Fox/AM creation, prepared to follow Trump down whatever drain he circles. Anybody who doubts that need only look at the President’s long list of retweets echoing the “sham” of impeachment and the “lies” of House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff – McCarthy, Scalise, Nunes, Jordon, Meadows, Collins, etc. ….there are no exceptions left.

The shameful unity on nationally televised display by House Intelligence Committee Republicans should come as no surprise to anyone paying close attention to the party’s devolution over the last decade. One of the more ironic political talking points of this generation is the GOP trope that America simply wants Congress to “just get back to the business of government carrying out the people’s business.” That’s an activity few if any who now constitute the House Republican caucus ever had any interest in trying. Defending a nihilist President against a continuous stream of facts that clarify his guilt has always been far more up their alley. Perhaps the clearest shade of ruin. BC