Berl Falbaum
I know I have ranted about the following before but, I’m sorry, I need to say it again: I don’t believe I have ever seen so much hypocrisy in one venue (the January 6 Select Committee hearings) even by the standard in our politics.
And that’s saying a lot.
All of a sudden, the participants have found honor and integrity when they had the opportunity to save and protect this country from the ugliness of Trumpism for six years.
While there are many responsible for Trump occupying the Oval Office unchallenged, let’s just consider a few recent participants in the hearings:
--Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s lead counsel who defended the president in his first impeachment trial;
--Former Attorney General William Barr who continually protected the president and who misrepresented the findings of the Mueller Report;
--Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) who along with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) not only followed their leader for four years but voted against convicting Trump in his first impeachment trial;
--Kaleigh McEnany, who as the president’s press secretary, turned lying into an art form.
(An aside: Vice President Mike Pence. I have written about him many times. We’ll let it go here with observing that he makes the other hypocrites look good.)
Then there are the last two witnesses we heard Thursday evening -- Matthew Pottinger, deputy national security advisor, and Sarah Matthews who worked for McEnany. They resigned (finally), they said, when they believed a Trump tweet endangered the life of Vice President Mike Pence.
Pottinger and Matthews apparently were never bothered by the lies, corruption, a perverted sexual history, racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism or ineptitude.
Pottinger cited what he called policy achievements of which he said he was “proud,” but as a member of the national security team he forgot to mention how Trump alienated NATO, the UN, Canada, France, Australia, Mexico, South Korea, several other allies while lauding Russian President Putin and bragging that he fell in love with North Korea president, Kim Jung-un.
As to Matthews, here is a tweet she sent on January 20, 2021, some 14 days after the insurrection:
“Thank you President Trump and Vice President Pence for your service to the American people. It was the greatest honor and privilege of my life to serve this great nation.”
I guess Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Matthews for helping McEnany deliver a diet of falsehoods daily from the podium in the press briefing room.
Cheney commended Pottinger and Matthews for their “honor” and “bravery,” ignoring how the two --- along with all the others -- were, by their service, Trump enablers.
It would be a lot easier to accept that all the witnesses finally “saw the light” if they had offered some kind of public acknowledgment about their “misjudgments.”
In eight public hearings it would have been “nice” to hear Kinzinger, Cheney or any of the witnesses, say something along these lines:
“I would like to apologize for having supported Donald Trump and I deeply regret my decision.”
Not much to ask for. I would even accept something less of a confession. I would be satisfied with a simple, “I’m sorry.” As we know, it was not to be.
While expressing respect for Cheney and other “converts,” here is what New York Times Columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote on this issue:
“But whatever they say now, the witnesses who worked for Trump enabled his mounting authoritarianism. Each contributed, in his or her own way, not just to Jan. 6, but also to eroding our democracy so that Jan. 6 may be just a prequel. Each helped bring us to a point where, according to a recent survey, more than half of Americans believe a civil war will erupt in the United States in the near future.”
So, why did these “heroes” have a change of heart? My cynicism leads me to the following reasons:
First, they are trying to salvage a little of their tarnished reputations. Second, in seeking new jobs, their resignations and testimonies may lead prospective employers to overlook their complicity; and, finally, they may be treated more favorably by history.
Of course, there is also the issue of having to explain their political behavior to their children and grandchildren.
There is nothing wrong with any of that, of course, although I wish we would be more honest about what motivated the witnesses to come forward.
Yes, Kinzinger and Cheney deserve credit. They have done a masterful job in presenting the obscenity of Trump’s involvement in the insurrection. Both have been articulate and, often, eloquent.
But they are not heroes; nor are any of the witnesses. The heroes were sitting in the gallery.
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Berl Falbaum is a veteran political journalist and author of 12 books.
