The opposition
The Houston Chronicle
They were fired, demoted or passed over in their jobs. Their lives and the well-being of their families were threatened. They faced harassment on the streets and savage attacks on social media.
Their offense? They chose to stand for democracy and the rule of law over the corrupt demands and machinations of President Donald Trump.
As the curtain falls on Trump’s presidency, despite his best efforts, and America begins looking ahead to new leadership, we should pause to honor those who refused to yield their principles to political pressure and intimidation.
It’s a long list: members of his administration, career public servants, volunteer poll workers, state and federal election officials, judges and others who chose to do the right thing in the face of immense pressure from a president who never shied away from savaging his critics or any who failed to offer perfect loyalty. Together, these Americans stood up to Trump and were loyal instead to the law and to the Constitution. By doing so, they brought to light some of his more outrageous misconduct and thwarted his worst impulses.
The honor roll can begin with former Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who blew the whistle on Trump’s threat to withhold already approved military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the “favor” of its president announcing an investigation into political opponent Joe Biden. Vindman never backed down from the truth in the face of withering partisan criticism and congressional questioning during impeachment hearings.
Vindman was fired as the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council and was eventually forced to retire from the Army he had faithfully served for 21 years. Not even his twin brother, Lt. Col. Eugene
Vindman, who was not connected to the controversy, escaped vindictive punishment. He was fired from his job as an NSC lawyer at the White House.
They lost their jobs, but not their honor. We thank both brothers, sons of political refugees who had fled the Soviet Union, for their loyal service to their adopted country.
Trump’s extortion scheme also brought public attention to Marie Yovanovitch, who had tirelessly battled political corruption as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine before being unceremoniously removed when the White House saw her as a threat to its political plotting.
Yovanovitch and Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s top Russia expert, both provided powerful testimony at the congressional impeachment hearings in the face of death threats and at the risk of their professional careers.
The Republican-controlled Senate ultimately voted to acquit Trump of the impeachment charges, but the actions of Vindman, Yovanovitch, Hill and others drew a clear line between right and wrong and no doubt curtailed even greater offenses.
Many would wish to write these patriots off as career bureaucrats, but our nation should honor their dedication to the rules and norms that have preserved our democracy as a beacon for the rest of the world.
Their courage stands in contrast to the vast majority of Trump’s fellow Republican officeholders. Those few who initially spoke out against his excesses soon left public life or learned to keep their mouths shut. Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee are two clear examples. But some chose to stay in public life — and were not afraid to stand up to the president. The late Sen. John McCain was one such leader, and Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Bob Sasse of Nebraska are two others. “This is rotten to the core,” Sasse said as word of Trump’s self-dealing pardons spread Christmas week.
Others who went along for far too long with Trump’s worst instincts eventually found their voice. And while “hero” seems hardly appropriate, given how tardy their voices have been, they have done the nation a service by speaking out. Chris Christie and even Mitch McConnell have at long last discovered even they have limits that Trump’s wild narcissism has exceeded.
Nowhere have those limits been tested more severely than in the crucible of the 2020 presidential election. Some heroes have responded with courage to stand against partisan criticism and harsh disapproval to do what the law and justice require.
Gabriel Sterling, a voting system official in Georgia, not only confirmed the validity of Biden’s victory in that state but called out the president and other Republican leaders for failing to condemn threats of violence against election workers who were doing their jobs under the most stressful of circumstances.
Sterling was reacting part to reports that Joe diGenova, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, had said that Christopher Krebs, a federal cybersecurity official, “should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot” because he had vouched for the integrity of the election.
Sterling and his boss, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, were facing death threats of themselves and their families for refusing Trump’s demands to overturn the election results.
“This is elections,” Sterling said at an emotional press conference. “This is the backbone of democracy, and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. It’s too much.”
These quiet acts of courage stand in vibrant contrast to the failure of the president and so many of his supporters to speak out against hateful rhetoric as they continue to pressure officials to violate their oaths and their consciences to subvert the will of the people.