Some leaving Washington won't be missed
Some of those departing Washington will be missed — but not Trump's team
A new Congress and a new administration have come to Washington. To politicians, cabinet secretaries, bureaucrats, ambassadors and pundits, we offer farewells, welcomes, condolences, congratulations.
Some will be missed. Most will not, particularly those associated with the twice-impeached Donald J. Trump, a distinction sure to be the first line of his obituary.
Congratulations to Nikki Haley, who played Trump perfectly. She was ambassador to the United Nations. She departed after less than two years, having got what she wanted: some international experience after serving as governor of South Carolina.
She will run for president in 2024, appealing to his voters. Like all decent, patriotic Republicans who could never stop blaming the Democrats for the raid on Benghazi, she now calls for “unity” after the attack on the Capitol. “I mean give the man a break … move on!” Funny.
Condolences to Kelly Craft, Haley's successor at the UN. Craft shows what Kentucky money and influence can do for an ingenue in Washington. Having served as ambassador to Canada, she got the job in New York when Trump's first choice for Haley's successor withdrew.
Craft was invisible in Ottawa, disappearing for weeks at a time. She was then the least-qualified permanent representative of the United States to the UN, confirmed by the Senate by the narrowest margin. Now she is said to interested in being governor of Kentucky. Audacious.
Farewell to Kayleigh McEnany. As Trump's press secretary, she became a caricature. A practised dissembler, she uttered the greatest of falsehoods with the greatest of authority. Watching her evoked “Comical Ali,” Saddam Hussein's reviled spokesman; he famously denied American soldiers were in Baghdad amid the rumble of tanks outside. She may join Fox News, recently overtaken in the ratings by CNN. Comical Kayleigh.
Congratulations to Sen. Susan Collins. Against the odds, she pulled off easy re-election in Maine, which no public polls — not one — predicted. She was the only Republican senator in America to win in a state won by Joe Biden.
Now she is a moderate, with Lisa Murkowski, who may help the Senate legislate again. Maybe.
Congratulations to Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. Who could have predicted they'd win both seats in Georgia? At 33, Ossoff has a thin resumé but hey, who's to criticize success? Warnock, for his part, brings the high purpose of the pulpit to the Senate. Inspiring.
Condolences to Robert Portman. He is leaving the Senate in 2022, distraught over the rancour and partisanship. Many hail his decency. But like Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Jeff Flake of Arizona, he got those tax cuts and conservative judges and shut up.
Portman voted to acquit Trump a year ago. He could have dissented. He could have been John McCain, who killed the repeal of Obamacare. Portman? Cowardly.
Welcome to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, still learning the three branches of government (“You know the House, the Senate, the executive,” he declared.) And to Marjorie Taylor Greene, the first adherent of QAnon to sit in Congress. She once called on social media to assassinate Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House. Psychotic.
Condolences to Martha McSally, who ran for the Senate in 2016 and lost. Appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy, she served two years and lost again in November. She joins former senators David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler and Cory Gardner in tying herself to Trump, a bad bet.
Oh, the humiliation. At an election rally in Arizona, Trump beckoned McSally to join him on stage. He gave her a minute to salute him. Then he dismissed her. Pathetic.
Farewell to Conrad Black. For five years he has been the greatest of Trump's loyalists. On television and in print, he predicted reliably what didn't happen, from the defeat of the Democrats in the House in 2018 to Trump's victory in 2020. He warned of “the slaughter” to come. His 344-page apologia to the president (Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other) was a thank you card like no other.
Lord Black can stop now. He has his pardon. He can safely return to his veneration of Franklin Roosevelt and celebrate FDR's new heir, Joe Biden.