9.5.24

Election Countdown
ANOTHER GOOD MAN WADES INTO THE TRUMP SEWER. WHY?

SPENCER COX, Utah governor. CREDIT: Cox campaign

  IT'S WORTH REMEMBERING that there are some really good Republicans, including those who saved democracy when Donald Trump sought to overthrow the 2020 election.
     Among the most admirable GOPers has been Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, whose decency, compassion  and willingness to defend the underdog set him apart from his party’s extremists, including Trump.
     Until last month.
     That’s when something terrible happened.

      It was sort of a miracle in reverse, if you think of miracles as astonishing, unexplainable events that change people and society  for the better.
     What happened? On July 14, a day after an assassin attempted to kill Trump, Cox declared Trump’s survival a miracle, and that as a result, only Trump could unite the nation.
     “I will do my best to help and support you,” Cox wrote to the nation’s most dangerous and deranged politician.
     It gets worse.
    The following month, Spencer accompanied Trump on his infamous visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where 13 soldiers, one of them from Utah, were to be “honored” for losing their lives during the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.  
     Federal rules prohibit using the burial grounds as a backdrop for political purposes; nonetheless photos were taken of Trump and Cox; later, they were used in Cox reelection fundraising emails. The governor apologized, and seemed to blame staffers for using the materials.

TWO MONTHS UNTIL
NOV. 5 - ELECTION DAY
    Nothing is certain.
   Election outcomes in a divided nation are difficult - if not impossible - to predict.
   Are the polls accurate? If so, they show only that the race is "close."
   But  a landslide is possible for either side.
   Clearly, Kamala  Harris has improved the position of Democrats, since she replaced President Joe Biden as the party's nominee.
   Inconceivably, Donald Trump remains a strong contender, despite his record as an insurrectionist, a bigot, a liar, etc., etc.
   Catastrophe looms.
   But so does the chance for a  newprogressive era in American history.
   Democracy continues at the cliff's edge.

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    Cox’s embrace of Trumpism was now complete. Not only did he endorse Trump, he was acting like him. The Salt Lake Tribune described Cox’s fall from grace in a scathing editorial:

 … in a macabre sort of way, a photo of Trump and Cox in a cemetery is appropriate. It was where they came to bury Spencer Cox’s honor.

AT THE CEMETERY: Two photos of the Arlington incident. They are from the Axios news site.

WE ARE NOW JUST TWO MONTHS from  Nov. 5, Election Day. And once more, we are confounded by the essential treachery  of Donald Trump, a psychopath, liar, bigot and criminal who should not even be on the ballot: how does he attract and corrupt decent Americans like Spencer J. Cox? 
     I became a Cox fan two years ago when he came to the defense of school athletes who had transitioned from their at-birth genders.
     The Utah legislature had passed a bill banning their participation. Cox personally explored the issue, then vetoed the bill – knowing that his move would be both unpopular and unsuccessful.
     Cox concluded that the proposed ban was a vast overreaction to a small group of young persons, whose struggles with gender identity left some open to suicide.
     Here’s what he said:

    Four kids and only one of them playing girls’ sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships.
     Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day.
     Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.

     Many people across the country were astounded by Cox’s courage and common sense. I wrote a blog piece about it, headlined:
                       We're betting that you'll
                       Wish to borrow this guy
                       To be your governor
      Here's a link to that essay:
     Cox was lionized nationally as one of the rare Republicans willing to stand up to the bullying of MAGA Trumpism. He did not vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and earlier in July, said he wouldn’t vote for Trump this year, based on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection that attempted to overthrow Joe Biden’s election.
      Overall, Cox was concerned about the wide political and cultural divisions in the U.S., and as head of the National Governors Association last year, he backed a program called “Disagree Better.”
     But on July 13,  a would-be assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, and missed his skull. Donald Trump would go on being Trump, but Spencer Cox underwent a drastic change.
     Why? Was Cox’s U-turn just one more example of political opportunism? Had aliens taken over his being, as in the old horror movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”

I HAVE BEEN WARNED against spending even a millisecond worrying about Trump’s effect on his supporters, because defeating Trump and electing Kamala Harris are the only things that matter.
     Jody McPhillips, a friend who knows how to focus on the desperate stakes in the election, put this elegantly in a comment she made on one of my recent blog posts:    

 I don't care why so many continue to support Trump; it's like pondering why we all die or why dogs have such short lifespans when they are so much nicer than we are. If we all keep doing what we're doing to defeat him, we will. We can worry about understanding it all later.

     But I can’t help it. I’d even argue that understanding the Trump Effect may help determine the outcome of the election.
     Let’s deal first with the theory there's been mischief  by aliens from outer space.
    When I read about Cox’s about-face, I was reminded of the 1978 science-fiction film, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” in which aliens drop down to earth and turn humans into scary pod-like replicas.
      It’s a nice metaphor, but of course it’s malarkey, as Joe Biden would say.
     Also fiction, but in a more serious way, is the assassination “miracle" theory. Lots of people believe that God intervened, so that the assassin’s bullet struck Trump’s ear, but spared his brain.
     Governor Cox buys Big Time into the "miracle." In his letter to Trump, Cox wrote:

  I want you to know that I truly believe that God had a hand in saving you.
                                                            * * *
Your life was spared. Now, because of that miracle, you have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save America.”

     Why didn’t Cox look deeper into the miracle? If God wanted to spare Donald Trump, why did She allow the assassination attempt to happen in the first place?  And how come God decided no miracle was needed for Corey Comperatore, the rally-goer,  Army reservist and volunteer firefighter, who was killed by the assassin?
     The miracle theory is bunk. And for that matter, so is the secular theory that old-fashioned political opportunism was at work:  that Cox, like so many other Republicans,  was making nice with Trump to help his reelection bid.
     A number of news stories cast doubts on that, saying that after an unpleasant, but successful primary, Cox seems safely headed for reelection in November, without need of Trump’s blessing.
     Further, Cox’s letter declared it that he didn’t want any favors:

 Mr. President, I know we have some differences and you probably don’t like me much. And that’s OK. I get it. I’m not writing this letter looking for a position in your Cabinet or a role on your team.

     Instead, he later acknowledged that by supporting Trump, he had a better chance of his long-time goal of unifying the country – concluding that was something he couldn’t do as a Trump skeptic.
     That’s what he told McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic magazine, who rushed to Salt Lake City to find out why Cox had veered off course. Coppins talked with the governor for 90 minutes.  He wrote:

 … Cox was surprisingly transparent about the calculation he was making. He told me that the Never Trump movement had utterly failed, and said he’d come to realize that he couldn’t have any influence on the modern GOP “if I’m not on the team”—that is, Trump’s team. “It’s absolutely a litmus test. I don’t think it should be. I wish it wasn’t that way. But it is.”

JAMES COMEY

      Finally, we get to the crux of why otherwise rational people pledge allegiance to Donald Trump, and pay an awful price when they do.
     James Comey, the former FBI director, whom most people dislike, but who I believe has a cop’s insight into how the underworld works, outlined the process long ago, in a 2019 essay for the New York Times.
     Comey said that well-meaning people – generals, lawyers, fellow politicians - think that despite Trump’s flaws, they can steer him in the right direction. But he noted the risks involved:

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   You can’t say this out loud — maybe not even to your family — but in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, this will be your contribution, your personal sacrifice for America.

    You are smarter than Donald Trump, and you are playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet.

    Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values.

   And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.

     I hope that Spencer Cox, who has been a good citizen and an inspiring politician, finds a way to resurrect his honor and reclaim his soul.
     He surely has the personal resources and intellect to wake up tomorrow  morning and say: “How silly of me. What was I thinking?”
    It’s not likely, of course. It’s hard to change one’s mind; and much harder change it again.
     That would amount to a miracle.
     But it would be the kind of real-life miracle a country needs on the eve of the most important election of our lifetime.