Having abandoned their responsibilities almost immediately after President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated and continuing to relinquish their authority, Senate Republicans have cemented their place in history as moral failures.
Their first failure came with confirming the appointments of nominees who were woefully unqualified and continues with the Iran war.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem allowed ICE agents to roam the streets like thugs. FBI director Kash Patel used $75,000 to $100,000 in government funds to fly to Milan and party like a frat boy with the men’s U.S. hockey team. Former Fox News personality, now Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth talks about the death and destruction of combat with braggadocio and bravado and, based on race or gender, has blocked four colonels from being promoted to general.
Now that we are engaged in war with Iran, Congress—the only entity with authority to declare war under Article 1, Section 8—declines to demand that Trump articulate a coherent set of objectives. No surprise that Trump maintains that combat operations in Iran do not constitute war. To do otherwise would be to concede he failed to obtain congressional approval.
Senate Democrats have repeatedly proposed resolutions aimed at halting the war, but as of May 13, Senate Republicans have blocked those efforts seven times. All the while,
the administration provides inconsistent messaging about the war’s objectives and assessments.
Why is it Republicans don’t exercise their constitutional authority? Answer: they fear losing office should they buck Trump and being “primaried.” They are enamored with—perhaps, addicted to—the prestige that comes with being in Congress. But prestige vanishes with death.
The freedom to speak in the absence of risk is evident when listening to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is not running for reelection, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who retired from the House. Both have been critical of either the administration or Trump himself. Most recently, having just lost the primary, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has criticized Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and the $1 billion he wants for ballroom security and now supports a resolution to stop the war in Iran.
But courage is measured by how one acts when there is much to lose. Standing firm on principle can be costly. But once you become comfortable with the loss you fear, decision making comes easily.
Republicans might benefit from reading Malcolm Gladwell’s, “The Bomber Mafia,” the history of strategic bombing in WW II. General Curtis LeMay, a man not given to emotion, directed the air campaign against Japan. One of his pilots confessed his fear of dying. LeMay’s reply: “Ralph, you’re probably going to get killed, so it’s better to accept it. You’ll get along much better.”
Placing self-preservation ahead of duty means failing the public. As John F. Kennedy wrote in “Profiles in Courage,” “It is when the politician loves neither the public good nor himself, or when his love for himself is limited and is satisfied by the trappings of office, that the public interest is badly served.”
Great men risk their lives for principle. After being held as a POW and routinely tortured for a year in North Vietnam, the late Senator John McCain, R-Az., then a Navy pilot, was offered an early release in 1968—a propaganda stunt based on McCain’s father, an admiral, being named the commander of all U.S. Pacific forces. McCain refused. “I just knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.” He remained a POW for another four and half years.
Lawmakers in D.C. are asked to do little in comparison—just do their jobs, fulfill their constitutional obligations, and do what is best for the country—but for them losing office is unthinkable.
Republicans senators are finally signaling they’ve had enough; Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund and plans for enhanced ballroom security are too much. Or maybe the senators will just loudly grouse, only to later cave. And if they cave, as they have before, their legacy will be one of shame.
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Jack D’Aurora writes for Considerthisbyjd.com
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