You often see these folks on television. Almost everyone gets asked to do media on behalf of the president at some point. Most of those who agree to do so, though not all of them, are the Sycophants. They will happily carry Trump’s toxic water for him, indifferent to the beating taken by their reputations for defending untruths and inventing new ones. To some of the best of them, it might start as a genuine desire to push back against unfair reporting and to promote the president’s better policies. Before long it becomes a way of life. You cross a moral and logical Rubicon to serve Trump’s media cravings. I haven’t seen anyone who has made this journey ever come back.
The Silent Abettor is a lousier form of Apologist than the cheerleading Sycophant. At least the Sycophant, however delusional, believes he or she is acting virtuously, living up to values of Trumpism. The Silent Abettors know what’s happening is wrong. They are aware an impetuous man is presiding over the executive branch. They watch him flip-flop with the change of a channel, or unveil shoddy decisions instantaneously with a few keystrokes, CAPS LOCK on, extra exclamation points for emphasis. And they say nothing. Their motivations are a combination of “power” and “fear,” and they will do what President Trump wants because they have subordinated their beliefs to a short-term, naked self-interest. The Silent Abettor is a species that is all too abundant in the Trump administration.
While it is indeed disturbing that we’ve elevated someone so ill-informed as Trump to the nation’s highest office, what’s depressing is how many people around him and in the Republican Party are remaining quiet when their voices are needed to make the difference between poor policy and good government. They don’t necessarily need to speak out publicly against the president to have an impact. They just need to speak up in his presence, in the meetings that count, or among fellow administration officials. Silent Abettors should realize saying something is in their self-interest because, if they don’t, they’ll be the next ones at a microphone defending an unconscionable decision.
Trump Apologists will be the first sent out to denounce this book. The president will direct them to deny any of the characterizations or episodes contained herein. They are used to it, as they have been denying stories they know are true for years. I wonder, though, would those same people stick by their denials about the reckless and politically charged official actions the president has taken if they were put under oath? I suppose that’s another question for Congress to consider.
Members of the informal Steady State are not guilt-free in this. We all wish we did more to confront wrong-headed decisions early on. There were times we could have acted and didn’t. Still, many members of this cohort have found ways to push back against what’s inexcusable. That might mean sucking it up and getting into an argument with Trump or one of his close allies. It might mean alerting others about what was coming down the line, or it might mean publicly breaking with the president on an issue.
Those who keep their heads down will live to regret it. Cautionary tales are plentiful. Go no further than the president’s homeland security leaders, who, in a sickening display of bad judgment, conceded to a policy that increased the number of children ripped from the arms of their parents at the US-Mexico border. It left a stain on their reputations, their department, and the country. It was a seminal moment of Trumpism gone too far and a lesson for others. Trump’s character rubs off on people who came into government to do what is right. Before long, they find themselves supporting and defending policies they never imagined they would.
I know more than a handful of people who set “redlines” for their time in the Trump administration, boundaries they would refuse to cross or behavior they wouldn’t tolerate from the commander in chief. They would quit, they told friends, if those conditions were triggered. Then I’ve watched the same people breeze right over those redlines, shamefully rationalizing and justifying themselves along the way.
The rise of Apologists inside the Trump administration should matter to voters. These people are his clones, displaying many of the traits we’ve come to detest in Trump and carrying his marching order into all areas of government. They validate him when they should be challenging him to think critically. Voters should take into account the major policy decisions the Apologists will help the president make if he’s reelected, as well as the caustic behaviors and prejudices these aides will be reinforcing in Trump’s ethos. Those who ignore it are effectively joining the death march of thoughtless followers, smiling and nodding along the way.
The Crickets of Capitol Hill
If you’ve walked around the US Capitol Building on a summer night, you know it’s one of the most beautiful sights in America. The grounds are lined with greenery and dotted with hundreds of trees from across the United States. According to the architect of the Capitol, the landscaping is deliberately designed to “hide views of the Capitol except from specific angles to show off the building’s architecture at its most majestic and inspiring vantage points.” It does that and more. During the day this place is frenetic, enveloped by the sounds of our national discussion, but at night, it is quiet. You can hear little more than the crickets as you admire the brightly lit white dome, a citadel rising above the forest around it.
Congress is where the presidency is fiercely examined and ardently debated. Legislators, regardless of party, have an obligation to monitor the executive branch. They should do so fairly and respectfully, but above all they should do so. Unfortunately, on one side of the aisle, it sounds like nighttime on Capitol Hill. All you hear is the crickets. Republicans are hesitant to criticize the president when he deserves it, and if they can’t applaud him, they just go quiet.
More so than Trump’s current and former aides, it is important for voices on Capitol Hill and in the Republican Party to speak up about the president’s conduct. These people will continue to lead the country long after Trump is gone. They should be the umpires of the executive branch, calling the balls and strikes as they see them. Yet Congress has been overtaken by the invasive species, too, the Sycophants and the Silent Abettors.
All of the GOP officials I quoted at the outset of this chapter have since evolved from critics to Apologists.
For instance, Senator Ted Cruz, who once labeled Trump immoral and ill-suited for the presidency, now tells rally-goers that the president’s decisions are “bold” and “courageous”—that he’s proud “to have worked hand in hand with President Trump.” Representative Jim Jordan, who lamented the environment that allowed Donald Trump to rise within the party in the first place, is one of his Capitol Hill attack dogs, taking to cable news to champion the president’s record. Trump returns the praise. “What a great defender he has been,” he said of Jordan, calling the congressman “a brave, tough cookie.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he’d never vote Trump, equating his candidacy with a “dangerous idea” that morphed into an “evil force,” told interviewers a few months after the inauguration: “I am like the happiest dude in America right now.” He said the president and his team are what he’d “been dreaming of for eight years.” The senator was positively giddy about Trump’s foreign policy. “I am all in. Keep it up, Donald. I’m sure you’re watching.”