Say this for Cassidy Hutchinson: She's brave as can be.
Since her book Enough came out, she's been on with Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, and Jimmy Kimmel (as far as I know). They are letting her hawk it. She needed the money.
Here's the part that's fascinating, though: There's been no screaming from the right-wing, and not even from ex- himself. Nothing, at least not as far as I've heard. Barely a peep since she appeared in front of the Jan. 6 committee last fall.
This is an anomaly. Any critic of ex- is usually the subject of a massive, exaggerated, disingenuous put-down as soon as he learns of the criticism, regardless of the verifiability of the accusation. The point is, of course, not only to divert your attention back to the one who can't get enough of it, but in its exaggeration to make something about it rub off and suggest that the opposite is true or that the accuser has skeletons in their closet that haven't been revealed--yet.
Makes you wonder why. I have some suggestions:
She's a female. Ex-'s chauvinism is working against him. Too, he also knows that verbally abusing a young woman seems over the top all by itself, regardless of the lies that underly it.
They've already tried to intimidate her to no avail. Recall that in addition to the 'insider' information that Hutchinson supplied to the 1/6 Committee, she also added, upon Liz Cheney's prodding, that nefarious (Can there be anything else?) members of ex-'s entourage called her and gently encouraged her to remain a member of "the team" in her testimony--that is, not to say anything that would shed poor light on him. But the point of her appearance was to do exactly that, because she had already tried to dodge or hold back significantly damning information--and her conscience had bothered her too much. That is, contrary to ex- and most people working for him, she has one.
Her position wasn't very important so not enough people will pay attention. To be a helper to ex-'s Chief of Staff, the obsequious Mark Meadows, seems minor enough. But proximation suggests insider-ness, and the fact that Hutchinson sought out Alexander Butterfield, the revealer of the Nixon White House tapes, shows that though the public might not even know of you or your position, your strategic presence can't be hidden. And in this case, it shouldn't be.
She hasn't turned Democrat. Not by a long shot. She declares herself a solid Reaganite, which to me is what got her in this trouble to begin with. What she's left out of her narrative, in fact, prompts some questions, especially about her support of ex- during the 2016 campaign. Such as: She writes about ex-'s so-called "moderate" positions, but what about his bloated, inflated, lying rhetoric about lots of other things? That didn't have an impact?
And echoing her clear dislike for Mike McKenna, who she insisted was horribly sexist and who she says she had a hand in firing from the White House staff, what about the Access Hollywood incident where ex- discusses grabbing women in the crotch and being able to do anything men want to do to them if you're "a star"? There's no comment about that. Does she mean to say she was, like millions of others, willing to overlook that? To brush it off? Plenty of men have said and done far less and been castigated thoroughly for sexism (see: Al Franken, Jimmy Fallon). Really? She didn't mind that? She didn't take that seriously?
But she stays in her own lane for the most part. She doesn't comment about policy matters much. She's not there to do that. She's there to tell you what happened--what almost happened--to her. She admittedly was drawn in by the atmosphere of the White House and the somehow magical personality of its then most famous resident. To quote her directly:
I had adored the president. I'd been very close to Mark Meadows (Chief of Staff, of whom more down below). I had loved working in the White House (as Meadows' chief assistant). I deeply cared for the people there. I believed sincerely that we were serving the interests of the American people. I regretted the belligerence and crudity of some of the president's messaging: the inappropriate, unpresidential tweets. But you can become inured to it, and I did. I often laughed with colleagues at his communications, when I should have seen them for what they were--mean-spirited. Politics is a team sport, and I was a willing teammate.
Even [ex's] tantrums hadn't made me angry. Whenever I witnessed or heard about him losing his tamper, it hurt me to see him upset. My first thought was why had people let it go so far. Couldn't we have done more--could I have done more--to serve him better, to avoid upsetting him.
My views of [ex-] would change as I witnessed his selfish recklessness threatening the country's constitutional order. My resolve only strengthened when my loyalties to him and my former colleagues were put in direct conflict with my obligation to the country.
Her ambition must have blinded her. Wouldn't be the first time that ever happened. Being that close to ultimate power has its undeniable lure. And she never explains what it is that attracted her to ex- that much--something I'd like to hear from people. What she didn't know--what she couldn't have known until it was too late--was that that approximation has its price. The more she knew, the more uncomfortable she got with paying it.
Mark Meadows became very uncomfortable, to the point at which he was trying to do anything to avoid being held responsible for the chaos and complete disregard for the law that came crashing down around him. Hutchinson's youth, her willingness to please, and her (right up until the end) blind loyalty made her the perfect pawn for Meadows to jettison acts he should have taken on himself.
Clearly, according to Hutchinson's account, Meadows knew what was being planned for January 6. He knew it was wrong. He knew it would threaten members of the same Congress that until very recently he had been a member of, and still knew many of those members. But he did nothing, or next to nothing. His neglect makes him blatantly complicit in the terrible assault on the Capitol. He could have stormed into the Oval Office and had the confrontation that was needed that afternoon; he didn't. He could have resigned on the spot and walked away; he didn't.
While none of that might have changed the outcome, it would have established Meadows as enough of a patriot for people to conclude that he, too, put country over dangerous, ridiculous personal loyalty. Instead, he comes off as an obsequious, repulsive leaker, a non-entity with a title that becomes more absurd by the moment. During his legal machinations, he has claimed that executive immunity rubbed off on him because of his proximation to the rogue president. Not only is that absurd, he must know deep inside that the legal claims cannot eclipse personal failings.
Cassidy Hutchinson could have resigned, too, but she didn't, either. After ex-'s term mercifully ends, she gets caught up in the clutches of what she called [Ex-] World, in which loyalty is rewarded as long as it is absolute and personal. She is given a lawyer within the realm who guides her around having to say things that might incriminate her bosses--that "I don't remember" does not constitute perjury, even though she did remember many things and quite well. She seems to survive that potential prosecution, but not that of her conscience, which knows that she has not served her country the way she originally promised--to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Maybe her youth and idealism blocked the jadedness that political experience tends to engender; maybe she finally understands that she is but a pawn in a much larger game, though one closer to he who wants to be king than she finally realizes; once used thoroughly, she will be given a token job for a token fundraiser, disappearing into an almost invisible, continuously corrupt wheel. Maybe, like her drifting, shambling father, she surmises that she has again run into a supposedly strong male who is quite the opposite, who is nothing more than inflated rhetoric inside a windbag, who needs her far more than she needs him.
Regardless, she finds the strength to pit her tormentors against each other, to beat them at their own deceptive game. She manages to find lawyers who are genuinely interested in her story and for whom they will work pro bono. Nearly broke, she has found the key that opens the door. She must still walk a tightrope, but she does so by using some of the skills she has learned.
Eventually, it brings her back to the Capitol's Cannon Building, where she had spent lots of time in her original job working for Congresspeople, to perform the live testimony that she wants to dodge but increasingly knows she can't. Considering all that she writes about leading up to that moment, all the personal fears and attitudes that she must handle alone, her near-flawlessly poised testimony is all the more remarkable. As she approaches that daunting moment, she has unforeseen help and encouragement from then-Congresswoman Liz Cheney, whose support and gravitas serve as bracing ballast and without which I doubt that Hutchinson would have been so successful.
She found as inspiration none other than Butterfield, left in a similar position in the Nixon White House, and whose testimony began the downhill slide that culminated in Nixon's resignation in 1974. He was 97 when Hutchinson read Bob Woodward's biographical account of Butterfield's odyssey from fudging to truth. Hutchinson read that book endlessly, found sufficient inspiration from it, and resolved to meet him to compare experiences. Her book ends on that note.
I fear for her now. What we don't know, what we probably shouldn't know, is where she now is, who she now works for, how she earns a living. After all, she's only 25. Having been catapulted into unwanted fame, she runs into unknown supporters and detractors haphazardly. I can't help but wonder if one of the latter will have worse things in mind for her, especially if ex- winds up in jail.
For the time being, though, the receipts from this work are likely to pay her bills nicely. I couldn't find her book at Milwaukee's best independent bookstore, located just a block away from my residence. Nobody could. It had to be back-ordered. It has already hit the New York Times best seller list. I can't call it brilliant, but it's honest. Coming from a land in which honestly was at a near-deficit, it makes her quite the standout, brave as brave can be.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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