I may be wrong, but I don't recall any Republican legislator writing about the existential crisis our democracy is presently going through. I don't recall any of them being on record as saying that this, in part and/or whole, is somehow a good thing.
That's because in demonstrable areas, they're winning: the voter restrictions they've managed to introduce in states like Georgia and Texas have yet to be tested, though they look pretty formidable. And there's the fact that Republicans, still cowed by the monster they've created, don't want to say much, do much, or certainly write much that can be quoted by an exquisite liar and name-caller. California Congressman Adam Schiff has pulled off the road by writing Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could, and reminds us how tenuous it all was and still is.
We dangle near the cliff of autocracy. Its shadow engulfs us. We will not leave it soon or easily. Too many Republicans have lost their compasses and prefer what they believe to be lasting power to the shifting winds of the people's preferences, the insecurity and fickleness of which have, ironically, borne us forward these past 234 years. They do not see that they have been invited to someone's table not to share the feast, but to be feasted upon. Their disposability is the same as that of the Democrats'. Once they are not needed anymore--looking at you, Kevin McCarthy, the ultimate cat's paw--they will be jettisoned. The difference is that they are blinded by hopes of perpetual control and somehow believe they will share in the glory.
Schiff's book may eventually be hailed as the definitive text of how this gained sufficient momentum to disrupt democracy and make it largely irrelevant. He has written his account of the lead-up to, and implementation of, the first impeachment of ex-. He again walks you through the stages of discovery, the mistakes he himself made--minor glitches in the big picture--and the irrational Republican resistance by such paragons as Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy, John Radcliffe, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, the dissembling Mitch McConnell and of course, ex- himself. I still wonder how they can sleep at night.
The Republicans, of course, want us to forget all about this, want us to think of it as tourism gone briefly wild, want us to think of it as a blip on the radar screen. But Schiff sees this clearly, sees it for what it is: an existential threat to our way of life, whether a working majority of the country sees it likewise or not.
He allows the idealism, his and that of others, to be played out, but is no gee-whiz, aw-shucks purveyor of reality: He understands full well the danger under which we now live. The title itself tells you how he feels about it. Of course, he's absolutely correct. We may indeed be watching a slow-motion coup here, the sudden attempted one having barely failed.
Schiff brings back the awfulness by which ex- intimidated, or tried to intimidate, brave witnesses who did not give up on America: Alexander Vindman, the tragically compromised Marie Jovanovich, Fiona Hill, William Taylor. To read it again is particularly painful, but important to revisit and remember. Schiff makes sure that Vindman's words, once uttered, follow you through the remainder of the text: Here, right matters.
Schiff hammers us with that phrase again and again, reminding us of where we've been while fully clear-eyed about the simple fact that for an alarming percentage of Americans, actual facts matter little now. The sources of information or mis-information matter more. When that happens, nothing is true and everything is true. We become frozen in place, unable to act and most vulnerable to a siren who shouts easily absorbable but lying nonsense, stirring up anger uselessly.
Does right matter now? Or do simple numbers determine that? If it is the latter, we are surely in peril. If everything is political, the day will soon come when nothing needs to be political anymore. There will be one lie, one pseudo-truth, and someone's alternative reality will be the only thing that matters at all. It isn't mere speech, protected by law: When it is accepted by the body politic, it is a form of extortion, and Republicans are caving into it at enormous speed.
Schiff writes well and begins the book by taking you to the House chamber as the hoards descend upon it on January 6. It's revisiting a chilling scene, but the record of it is vital. I still believe that because the rogue House members who met with ex- on December 19 to extend their undying fealty to him and arrange, as much as they could, the compromise of the chamber itself, did not themselves know the place to which they would be taken for safety because of the unprecedented nature of the event. Had they known that and revealed it to the organizers of the riot through ex-, who clearly orchestrated it (or so says The Washington Post in an important three-part expose' written the week before last), there would have been a blood-letting of immense proportions, and the coup might indeed have succeeded.
But the insurrectionists got to both chambers, found them empty by mere minutes, and had no other guidepost, so the attempt died right then and there. It was that close, because the mechanism by which the National Guard could have, and should have, responded by then had been stonewalled by those controlling the levers, anointed and supported by ex-, and sufficient help had not yet arrived. Had they found those rooms, many more people would have died, and ex- could have claimed far more martyrs to his 'cause' than just Ashli Babbit, whose fanaticism cost her her life. Many of them should be glad that all it has come to is a few brief prison terms.
Schiff, of course, survived and became the lead House manager of ex-'s first impeachment trial. That he litigated and spoke brilliantly is part of the point of this work, make no mistake: He's still a politician, and the smiling picture he displays on the inside of the jacket is almost a ruse. There's little here to smile about, and he knows it. But pol that he is, he won't frown unless he has to.
Because any well-known politician, especially on the national level, writes a book for a well-known reason: He's planning to move on up. His name resonates in too many households now, and the House of Representatives now seems a little crowded for him. His dislike of ex- is deservedly well-documented, but in terms of criticism, that's low-hanging fruit. It feels like he's holding back on people such as Nunes and the ever-notorious Rudy Giuliani. Some powder stays dry.
Katie Couric he's not. Tawdriness is left for others. In the popular vernacular of the day, he stays in his lane. The only "reveal" is that, with all the long days and nights of preparation, with the country and world staring at him and hanging on his every word at the trial and knowing his side would lose the vote pretty much ahead of time, he did all that with a horrible toothache, one that rejected a first fix and needed a root canal when all was finished. I've had three of those, and the only rational thing I could do while waiting for treatment was breathe. He got by on Advil and determination. That's a toughness few have.
Schiff has three choices of advancement, electorally: governor of California, U.S. Senator, or president. I hope, for his sake, that it isn't the latter. As unquestionably brilliant as he is, Schiff gives off a patrician air, and comes by it naturally: B.A. from Stanford, law degree from Harvard (a particular devotee of Laurence Tribe), and likes to relax by staring out into the sea and riding horses. His diet is disciplined.
His manner. borrowing from both coasts, comes off as slightly unctuous. He reminds me a bit of John Kerry, another good man easily smeared, stereotyped and cornered by his background. Dianne Feinstein, senior Senator from his state, is now 87, so that could be Schiff's direction. But what Schiff has been through has forged him, too. We shall see. I wish him luck.
In the meantime, he has documented a time that, regardless of ultimate result, has been one of the most tumultuous in our history, and done so in a way that is digestible and thought-provoking. This is a valuable work that will last through whatever fate we have in store. I'll leave you with a few of his thoughts from the Epilogue, with which I can't help but agree and I bet you do, too:
That we are in trouble is undeniable. That this trouble is of our own making--even as it is being stoked by our adversaries overseas--is also undeniable. Democracy is hard. Civilization is not inevitable. Progress is not a straight line. Freedom is not assured. It is, as ever, something we have to fight for every day. So let us fight....And even as we fight, especially in this fight, we must never lose hold of our basic decency.
Be well. Be careful. Get a booster shot, like I am on Wednesday. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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