by Joe Walsh
Not only does enabling Donald Trump go against what we believe as conservatives about the rule of law and not of men; it’s counterproductive to our future priorities. For four years, he has thoroughly destroyed the reputation of conservatism—not because he embodies it but because he bastardizes it. And the Republicans in Washington who should defend conservative values instead of him consistently choose wrong. One prominent example that comes to mind is Republican senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who published an excellent critique of Trump’s emergency declaration on the southern border—defending the idea of a wall with Mexico but not the unconstitutional way the president wanted to build it. This essentially was my position to a T. “It is my responsibility to be a steward of the Article I branch, to preserve the separation of powers and to curb the kind of executive overreach that Congress has allowed to fester for the better part of the past century,” he wrote. “I stood by that principle during the Obama administration, and I stand by it now.”3
Bingo!
“Conservatives rightfully cried foul when President Barack Obama used executive action to completely bypass Congress and unilaterally provide deferred action to undocumented adults who had knowingly violated the nation’s immigration laws. Some prominent Republicans went so far as to proclaim that Obama was acting more like an ‘emperor’ or ‘king’ than a president,” he continued. “There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that there’s an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreach—that it’s acceptable for my party but not thy party.”4
Bingo! Bingo, bingo, bingo!
But Tillis faced a political cost for having the chutzpah to be, I dunno, a consistent conservative. “Conservative” activists in North Carolina murmured about supporting a primary challenger to the incumbent. It appeared for a while that a staunch Trump ally, Representative Mark Walker, would be the guy: “North Carolina Republican primary voters have made their voices clear. They stand with the President. Our senators should, as well,” he told The Hill.5 Tillis should’ve held his head high for doing the right thing—and not backed down. Because if so many people in politics would like to delude themselves into thinking that they’d stand up for “country over party,” we need examples of people walking the talk. Yet Tillis didn’t. He yielded and, three weeks after his op-ed was printed, voted to support the president’s declaration.6 Walker declined to go up against Tillis,7 and Trump tweeted his endorsement of the incumbent a couple of weeks later.8
These “thirty pieces of silver” examples are rampant among Republicans these days. My urging to conservatives: Let’s be better than that. If a Democratic president tries to significantly alter the country just through executive action, too many of us won’t have the credibility to call it out. If Trump continues to demagogue the immigration issue and we go along with him, we will consign the Republican Party to being an ass-backwards group of xenophobes for a generation. If we keep letting the government under his leadership run budget deficits as high as a trillion dollars even in economically good times, we won’t have a lick of standing to cry foul about the exploding debt in the long term. If we keep letting all this happen . . . we’re letting conservatism die so we can have Donald Trump.
There’s no chance in hell that I would make that trade.
This brings me to the third thing I want to emphasize: our country can withstand four years of a president named “Trump”; giving him another term may do it irreparable damage. It isn’t the case that conservatism will live only as long as Trump continues to be president. Around the country, in state houses and governorships, and in the US Congress, I want to see conservative ideas flourish. I want to see patriotic, conservative officials stand up to liberal excesses where they threaten to undermine “the general welfare” mentioned in our Constitution, which could happen under a Democratic president. It’s for these reasons that when I say I’d rather have a president than a king no matter what, I’d rather have even a socialist president than a king—than a person whose worst-case scenario is to plunge our nation deeper toward one-man rule. It becomes more difficult over time for the counterbalances and sources of accountability in our political system—namely, Congress, the courts, and the voters—to constrain such a person. But they’ll always be able to constrain that person as long as he behaves like a president, even if his agenda is bad. When it comes to making policy, there are all sorts of gears grinding against each other that keep radical ideas in check. It’s how the system works; it’s why, most years, this country has been a pretty stable place.
Being the people who make laws and being the person who enforces those laws are two completely different gigs. The second job has an enormous amount of power that the Founding Fathers expected would be used responsibly. If that power is misused instead—to enrich or corruptly protect the person holding the office, to get back at political opponents, to play Congress’s role rather than letting Congress do it—our country teeters on disaster every minute. I can’t predict exactly what the years 2021 to 2025 will look like if Trump is president for all of them. I can say that all of the madness we’ve experienced for the last three-plus years will become more severe. If our political system does not hold him accountable for serially abusing it, he will go on abusing it—worse and worse, since there will be nothing to stop him but partisan opposition, however effective it might be.
Saying no to Donald Trump should not be a partisan project. That’s because Americans can never condone a dictator. By the time this book comes out, there is a strong chance that he will have been impeached by the House of Representatives, and the political rhetoric of him, his supporters, and his adversaries will have grown more heated. We all need to remove ourselves from that zoo of minute-by-minute, back-and-forth shouting. We need to gain perspective and see Trump for what he fully is: a wannabe tyrant who will abuse his authority to get what he wants; a narcissist who is incapable of or resistant to making informed decisions that affect the course of the United States; the center of a dangerous cult that espouses and is supported by complete lies, as if fabrication is his first language; a bully and a bigot; a man who is unqualified to be the steward of this nation that the presidency requires; a man who is untrustworthy and unfit to be our commander in chief. Deciding whether or not to empower him is deciding whether or not to support our democracy. This particular binary choice could not be clearer.
If you’re in Trump’s corner but are wondering about the wisdom of remaining there—or if you have been undecided about these last few complicated years of politics but sense that there is something uniquely wrong about Trump—then please let me offer two blunt words of encouragement: Fuck silence.
It’s time to speak up. This president is exactly the type of ruler that our Founders feared. It’s therefore on all of us to put our nation’s interest before party, policy outcomes, political satisfaction, disgust with our culture—before a man who says he looks out for you while in reality he looks out only for himself.
Fuck silence. Country first.
Acknowledgments
This book is about speaking up. About the imperative of speaking up. About having the courage to speak up. About speaking up even when you know that it will hurt you financially, professionally, and politically to do so. It’s about placing country first.
To this end, this book would not have been written without the courage of those who came before me who refused to remain silent and who spoke up against party—against their political interests. They should be acknowledged. I think of Margaret Chase Smith, the newly elected Republican senator from Maine who, in 1950, stood and denounced a demagogic senator from her own party named McCarthy. I think of that group of Republican members of Congress, including Barry Goldwater, who in 1974 had the courage to pay a visit to the White House, a visit that made clear to a president from their own party that he had better resign or face impeachment.
I think of the courage of all those “Never Trumpers,” who, from the very beginning—from the mo
ment he rode down that escalator in the summer of 2015—spoke publicly against then-candidate Donald Trump. I think of elected officials like Senator Jeff Flake, and political commentators like Bill Kristol, who understood from the beginning the threat this person was to our Republic. Contrary to what the Trump grifters will tell you, it does not benefit a Republican’s or a conservative’s career to publicly oppose Trump. All those who sacrificed their livelihoods by refusing to remain silent against Trump deserve a huge thanks.
Finally, I think of all those of those—including myself—who have had the courage over the course of these past three years to publicly admit our mistake in supporting Trump and pledge to oppose him, on the record and out loud. Better late than never to have the courage to speak up.
Notes
Introduction: Opening Monologue
1. “How Journalists See Journalists in 2004: Views on Profits, Performance and Politics,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, May 2004, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/legacy-pdf/214.pdf; Lars Willnat and David H. Weaver, “The American Journalist in the Digital Age: Key Findings,” Indiana University School of Journalism, 2014, http://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2014/05/2013-american-journalist-key-findings.pdf.
2. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, September 1, 2019, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1168174613827899393.
3. Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Briefing on Hurricane Dorian,” White House, September 1, 2019, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-briefing-hurricane-dorian/.
4. “DORIAN Graphics Archive: 5-day Forecast Track, Initial Wind Field and Watch/Warning Graphic,” National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2019/DORIAN_graphics.php?product=5day_cone_with_line_and_wind.
5. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, September 4, 2019, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169375550806351872.
6. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, September 5, 2019, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169705282123046913.
7. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), video, September 6, 2019, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1170089069105340416.
8. Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow, “An Absence of Meteorologists at Trump’s Hurricane Dorian Briefings May Have Helped Lead to the Alabama Tweet Fiasco,” Washington Post, September 17, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/17/an-absence-meteorologists-trumps-hurricane-dorian-briefings-may-have-helped-lead-alabama-tweet-fiasco/.
9. “Statement from NOAA,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, September 6, 2019, https://www.noaa.gov/news/statement-from-noaa.
10. Peter Baker, Lisa Friedman, and Christopher Flavelle, “Trump Pressed Top Aide to Have Weather Service ‘Clarify’ Forecast That Contradicted Trump,” New York Times, September 11, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/us/politics/trump-alabama-noaa.html.
11. Jim Swift (@JimSwiftDC), “Salena Zito is beyond fucking parody,” tweet, September 6, 2019, https://twitter.com/JimSwiftDC/status/1170178035196338177.
12. Kevin Schaul and Kevin Urhmacher, “The Complete List of GOP Lawmakers Reacting to Trump’s ‘Go Back’ Tweet,” Washington Post, July 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/trump-go-back-gop-reactions-list/.
Chapter 1: The Lies
1. Sean Spicer, “Statement by Press Secretary Sean Spicer,” White House, January 21, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-sean-spicer/.
2. “Full Text: Trump, Pence Remarks at CIA Headquarters,” Politico, January 2, 2017. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/full-text-trump-pence-remarks-cia-headquarters-233978
3. Tim Wallace, Karen Yourish, and Troy Griggs, “Trump’s Inauguration vs. Obama’s: Comparing the Crowds,” New York Times, January 20, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/20/us/politics/trump-inauguration-crowd.html.
4. Spicer, “Statement by Press Secretary Sean Spicer.”
5. Ibid.
6. Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews), tweet, January 20, 2017, https://twitter.com/LisaDNews/status/822485418482483201; Gillian Brockell (@gbrockell), tweet, January 20, 2017, https://twitter.com/gbrockell/status/822474693361987584.
7. Metro (@wmata), tweet, January 20, 2017, https://twitter.com/wmata/status/822482330346487810.
8. “Meet the Press 01/22/17,” NBC News, January 22, 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-01-22-17-n710491.
9. Spicer, “Statement by Press Secretary Sean Spicer.”
10. Ibid.
11. http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/archive/fake%20news%20%7C%7C%20fakenews%20%7C%7C%20fake%20media/ttff/1-19-2017.
12. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, November 27, 2016, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/802972944532209664.
13. Cristina Tardáguila, “Trump’s 9/11 Memories Aren’t Fact-Based—and Fact-Checkers Wrote About Them Again This Year,” Poynter, September 13, 2019, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2019/trumps-9-11-memories-arent-fact-based-and-fact-checkers-wrote-about-them-again-this-year/.
14. Jon Greenberg, “Donald Trump’s Ridiculous Link Between Cancer, Wind Turbines,” PolitiFact, April 8, 2019, https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/apr/08/donald-trump/republicans-dismiss-trumps-windmill-and-cancer-cla/.
15. Glenn Kessler and Joe Fox, “The False Claims that Trump Keeps Repeating,” Washington Post, October 9, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/fact-checker-most-repeated-disinformation/.
16. Donald J. Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Joint Address to Congress,” White House, February 28, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-joint-address-congress/.
17. Executive Order 13780: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States: Initial Section 11 Report, US Department of Justice, January 2018, https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1026436/download.
18. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, January 16, 2018, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/953406553083777029.
19. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5674047-DOJ-Response-Re-Reconsideration-122118.html.
20. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), tweet, September 15, 2019, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1173371482812162048.
21. Jake Tapper (@jaketapper), “.VP Pence to me on @CNNSotu in June,” Tweet, September 16, 2019. https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1173628093052964871?lang=en.
22. “America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith,” Archive, August 28, 2019. https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20190828_130000_Americas_Newsroom_With_Bill_Hemmer_and_Sandra_Smith/start/6120/end/6180.
23. James s. Brady Press Briefing Room, “Press Briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin,” White House Press Briefings, September 10, 2019. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-secretary-state-mike-pompeo-secretary-treasury-steven-mnuchin/.
24. Ibid.
25. “Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Conte of Italy in Joint Press Conference,” White House Remarks, July 30, 2018. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-conte-italy-joint-press-conference/, Meet the Press (@MeetThePress), “WATCH: Trump tells Chuck Todd that he wants to talk with Iran,” Tweet, June 23, 2019. https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1142820376734523393.
Chapter 2: The Constitution Breaker
1. Joel Beall, “10 Astonishing Claims from the Book Detailing President Trump’s Cheating at Golf,” Golf Digest, April 4, 2019, https://www.golfdigest.com/story/10-astonishing-claims-from-the-book-detailing-president-trumps-cheating-at-golf.
2. Donald J. Trump, “Remarks by President Trump at Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit 2019,” White House, July 23, 2019, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-turning-po
int-usas-teen-student-action-summit-2019/.
3. “Trump’s 2,000 Conflicts of Interest (and Counting),” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, https://www.citizensforethics.org/2000-trump-conflicts-of-interest-counting/.
4. Megan Cassidy, “Arpaio Found Guilty of Criminal Contempt,” The Republic, July 31, 2017, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/07/31/maricopa-county-sheriff-joe-arpaio-found-guilty-criminal-contempt-court/486278001/.
5. “Pardons Granted by President Trump,” United States Department of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-donald-trump.
6. John Dickerson, “A Phony Murder Plot Against Joe Arpaio Winds Up Costing Taxpayers $1.1 Million,” Phoenix New Times, October 28, 2008, https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/a-phony-murder-plot-against-joe-arpaio-winds-up-costing-taxpayers-11-million-6629798.
7. Shaun Attwood, “Sheriff Joe Arpaio Brags His Tent City Jail Is a Concentration Camp,” YouTube, December 7, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7reZOp2Qco.
8. Robert S. Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” vol. 1, US Department of Justice, March 2019, https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf, 131.