On the former VP, the Republican Party, Arlington Cemetery, Iran, Venezuela, the schoolyear, pickleball, the English language, and more
A few weeks ago, a prominent Republican endorsed Donald Trump. “Big deal,” you say. “Dog bites man.” Yes, but this Republican is basically anti-Trump. And every time I see an anti-Trump Republican — Nikki Haley and the rest — endorse Trump, I appreciate Mike Pence all the more. I realize how unusual he is, in today’s environment.
Think of it: Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president, cannot bring himself to support Trump’s candidacy this year. “But Pence has no future in the GOP!” you say. “He has nothing to lose! Haley and the rest want to run again!” Correct. Nonetheless, it is extraordinary that Pence, having been Trump’s vice president, will not support Trump.
Neither will at least one of Trump’s defense secretaries (Mark Esper). Neither will at least one of Trump’s national security advisers (John Bolton).
If I were the Democrats, I would make hay of all this.
On January 6 (2021), Pence did something very important. He was a “guardrail.” A human guardrail. People speak of America’s “guardrails,” protecting our democracy from malefactors. But I have come to understand, as never before, that these “guardrails” are not paper instructions or rules or laws. They are human beings, flesh and blood — people willing to do the right thing, especially under pressure.
Pence had the choice of obeying the Constitution or obeying Trump. He chose the former. And that cost him his political career.
On and immediately after January 6, many Republicans were shocked and appalled. (I am talking about Republicans in politics and in the media, both.) They spoke with unwonted clarity. “Never again,” some of them said. “Never again should this man, Trump, be near power.”
Remember Lindsey Graham: “All I can say is, count me out. Enough is enough.”
This feeling, this conviction, among Republicans lasted about four days. The wagons circled. There would come a great forgetting, and, worse, a great revising. The January 6 defendants and convicts are now “patriots,” “political prisoners,” and “hostages,” in the parlance of Trump and other Republicans.
Here is a headline from Tuesday: “First rioter to enter Capitol during Jan. 6 attack is sentenced to over 4 years in prison.” (Article here.) Will he be pardoned come January? I would not bet against it.
Something else about Pence: When he was running for president last year, he went to Ukraine. He didn’t have to. Republican primary voters are strongly against U.S. support of Ukraine. But Pence went anyway, to show his solidarity with people under siege, struggling to keep their country, their independence, their freedom.
That went a long way with some of us.
In recent days, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have locked arms with Trump and his campaign. The GOP put out this poster:
— GOP (@GOP) August 28, 2024
This says a great deal about the Republican Party and its transformation. RFK Jr., Gabbard, and Elon Musk can support the ticket — but Mike Pence, a lifelong conservative Republican, cannot.
You may think this is a good thing, and cheer it. You may think this is a bad thing, and boo it. But it is a fact.
• Trump and J. D. Vance are running on tariffs. Therefore, the Republican Party of Smoot and Hawley is back. (By “Hawley,” I mean Willis C., not Josh.) “Everything old is new again” — for better or worse.
You recall: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act became law in June 1930. For most of my life, Republicans spoke of this act with a shudder. With horror. I believe they were right.
• Something else that is back? “You burn an American flag, you go to jail for one year,” said Trump. “Gotta do it. You gotta do it. They say, ‘Sir, that’s unconstitutional.’ Well, make it constitutional.”
I remember, with some vividness, this debate from the 1990s. (I appreciated arguments on both sides. Emotionally, I was for a constitutional amendment. Depending on the week, and what I had just read. Also, I thought the Supreme Court was overbroad in its interpretation of the First Amendment and ought to be rebuked.)
We all have our opinions about how the American flag should be treated. I don’t like a U.S. flag with Trump’s face imprinted on it. I wouldn’t like a flag with anyone else’s face imprinted on it. I like my American flags au naturel, and flown right side up.
• “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” said Trump. Forget policy and arguments for a moment and concentrate on language. The older I get, the less I like euphemisms. “Reproductive rights”? Are you talking about abortion? Then say “abortion.” As a pro-lifer, I don’t even like “pro-life.” Euphemistic. The term I prefer is “anti-abortion.” Now we can have a conversation, straight.
• Much has been said about Trump, his campaign, and the “incident” at Arlington Cemetery. (For a report, go here.) I would like to say one thing.
I don’t think Arlington should be used for political events — partisan political events. I don’t think candidates should shoot campaign video there. Etc.
In May 2020, President Trump did a Fox News interview inside the Lincoln Memorial. I thought this was gross — bordering on desecration.
The 2020 Republican convention was held on the White House lawn. In my view, this was a gross abuse of that house.
Virtually everything in America is tribal — red jerseys, blue jerseys. If the Democrats used Arlington Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House in the ways that Trump has used them, Republicans would cry bloody murder.
And they would be 100 percent right.
• Masih Alinejad is an Iranian journalist and human-rights activist in exile. I have written about her, and podcasted with her, many times. (For a 2021 profile, go here.) Lately, she has been talking about The Handmaid’s Tale. This is a 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood. It has been made into a movie, a play, a TV series, an opera, and so on. It is about the subjugation and torment of women.
What Masih says is essentially this: “All over the world, people buzz about The Handmaid’s Tale. But women are really enduring such an existence in Iran and Afghanistan — and there is barely a peep about that.”
Recently, she circulated a couple of pictures, gruesome. (In Iran and elsewhere, they disfigure women’s faces with acid.) To see this, go here. Regardless, Masih makes an excellent and urgent point.
• Something else to be aware of:
Venezuelan parents cry for their children behind the gates of new “re-education” camps set up by Maduro.
“Son, I love you!”pic.twitter.com/RbsMzqlW9y
— Daniel Di Martino 🇺🇸🇻🇪 (@DanielDiMartino) August 27, 2024
• Matt Labash has written a surpassingly beautiful piece: “A Strange Encounter with a Stranger.” (I am honored to make a guest appearance in it.) I hope it will wind up in an anthology someday. It ought to be between hard covers. Find it here.
• A few days ago, in New York, I noticed lots of kids in school uniforms: first day of school. Man, was it hot. A scorcher. My longstanding opinion is this: Kids should not go back to school in August, when it is hot outside. That might as well be summer school! The year should begin in, oh, mid-September, when the weather is more reasonable.
If I had my way, school would be from, like, September 15 to June 15. But when do Papa get his way?
• You’ve heard of “Florida man”? Well, I give you his counterpart: “Florida woman kills wild boar with mango.” (Article here.)
• Rudy Franchi led a colorful life. For his obituary in the New York Times, go here. “My claim to fame,” said Franchi, “is that I’m the only person who ever slept with both Andy Warhol and Ava Gardner.”
And to think, some people just win bake-offs and such.
• “Does American tennis have a pickleball problem?” That is a good question. It is also the headline over this Associated Press report. The president of the U.S. Tennis Association, Dr. Brian Hainline, said the following: “Quite frankly, it’s obnoxious to hear that pickleball noise.”
I recall the time, decades ago, when I was alarmed that baseball diamonds were being grassed over for soccer fields . . .
• No one can speak English anymore. That is a perpetual complaint of this column (meaning, mine). (Also, I exaggerate.)
In a golf article, we read, “However, despite being good friends, Thomas admitted that he’d have liked to have seen Homa play a bit worse to help his own cause.”
You know how you can write that sentence? “Thomas admitted that he’d have liked to see Homa play a bit worse”; or, “Thomas admitted that he’d like to have seen Homa . . .”; but not that “he’d have liked to have seen.”
Thomas himself — Justin Thomas, “J.T.” — said, “I wish he would have shot 4-under instead of 5-under.” Almost all the young people around me say that: “I wish he would have shot.” They never say, “I wish he had shot.”
“Kids today”? “Get off my lawn”? No, just a simple appreciation, and defense, of the English language.
• At the range earlier this week — the golf range — there was a dad and his two sons. The sons were, like, 14 and 10. Real New York kids — open, frank, bold, unshy. The 10-year-old asked me some things about the swing and the game. I obliged (without wanting to step on the father’s toes).
As the family was leaving, the 10-year-old turned and said, “Thanks for the wisdom!” Then, big grin — as if he knew he had said something sort of funny, and adult-sounding.
Wish you had seen it. Made my day, and week.
Hope you’ve had a good one (week that is). All the best, and see you next time.
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