On Orbán, Salvini, and Ukraine; the political drama of Springfield, Ohio; the sensational Caitlin Clark; and more
Last Sunday, some startling news came over the wires: “Italian Deputy PM Matteo Salvini to face kidnapping charges over migrant ship case.” (Story here.) There is much to say about this case. But I would like to comment on a statement made by Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian leader:
Europe’s bravest patriot punished for stopping #migration. Those who defend Europe are constantly penalized. What is going on? @matteosalvinimi is our hero!https://t.co/mZdgXchH9X
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) September 16, 2024
Orbán and Salvini, of course, are closely aligned. In 2020, Salvini was scheduled to be a star speaker at the “National Conservatism Conference” in Rome. Shortly beforehand, he begged off — but Orbán was a star, as usual at such events.
Salvini is one of the most ardent Putinists in Europe. In 2014, he and his party established a “Friends of Putin” group in the Italian parliament. Three years later, they signed a “friendship and cooperation” agreement with Putin. In the European Parliament, Salvini wore a Putin T-shirt. He also wore one in Red Square.
This is true believing, true commitment.
Orbán calls Salvini “our hero.” In that world — Orbánite, Salvinian — he is. But “Europe’s bravest patriot”? No, Europe’s bravest patriots are the Ukrainians — fighting and dying to save their country from annihilation by Putin.
• Dan Hannan had an interesting column (as he does every time he writes one): “One thing is driving the far-right surge in Europe.” Hannan is writing about Germany, primarily. And what is driving this “surge,” he says, is crime.
An old point, but one that cannot be stressed enough: If liberal parties fail to keep law and order, people will turn to illiberal parties to do the job. The first job of government is the physical security of the people.
• Nana Gongadze works at the German Marshall Fund. She is the daughter of Georgiy and Myroslava Gongadze. Her father was a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and filmmaker, murdered in 2000 — murdered by a post-Soviet Ukrainian regime that was not very “post-Soviet” at all. Her mother, too, is a journalist: the Eastern Europe chief of the Voice of America.
Brave woman, whom I interviewed in 2016. (That interview is in two parts: here and here.)
On Monday, Nana Gongadze published a piece that began,
My heart always aches on September 16th, the anniversary of the disappearance and murder of journalist, and my father, Georgiy Gongadze in Kyiv. I mourn the father I never knew and the dedicated journalist Ukraine only briefly had. This year, and for the last several years, I have also mourned the talented journalists that we have lost since then. The war has taken the lives of dozens in the profession. But our grief reminds us why we hold a free press so dear.
Her piece, in full, is here. An extraordinary family, the Gongadzes.
• For the Wall Street Journal, Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw have written a fascinating report: “The Kids Who Didn’t Know Their Parents Were Russian Spies.” This is the kind of story we read during the Cold War. It is also, obviously, a story very much of the present day. These stories inspire novels and movies. Unfortunately, real people, including children, have to live them.
• By now, you have probably read a lot about Springfield, Ohio — the drama surrounding that town. The Trump-Vance ticket has made Springfield a symbol of What’s Wrong with America.
I think of the phrase “poster child.” Springfield is a “poster town”?
Kevin D. Williamson has traveled to the town in question to produce “The Exotic Cat-Eaters of Springfield, Ohio.” His piece, his report, is instantly “anthologizable.” (That is a word I borrow from William F. Buckley Jr.)
Here in Impromptus, I would like to single out three men. (Can you “single out” more than one person? We will have that discussion another time.) Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio, is a Republican not afraid to swim against his party.
“What we know is that the Haitians who are in Springfield are legal,” said DeWine. He continued,
They came to Springfield to work. . . . What the companies tell us is that they are very good workers. They’re very happy to have them there, and frankly, that’s helped the economy.
Now, are there problems connected? Well, sure. When you go from a population of 58,000 and add 15,000 people on to that, you’re going to have some challenges and some problems. And we’re addressing those.
Governor DeWine strikes me as a mature leader — the kind we need more of.
He further said,
There are hate groups coming into Springfield. We don’t need these hate groups. I saw a piece of literature yesterday that the mayor told me about from, purportedly, the KKK.
The mayor is Rob Rue, another Republican — and another swimmer against his party. He said,
Any political leader that takes the national stage and has the national spotlight needs to understand the gravity of the words that they have for cities like ours, and what they say impacts our city. And we’ve had bomb threats the last two days. We’ve had personal threats the last two days, and it’s increasing, because the national stage is swirling this up. Springfield, Ohio, is caught in a political vortex, and it is a bit out of control.
Etc.
It took guts for Governor DeWine and Mayor Rue to say these things, in my opinion.
Speaking of guts . . .
The third man I would like to mention is Nathan Clark. I don’t know what his party affiliation is; don’t care. He is a resident of Springfield whose son, Aiden, was killed in a traffic accident last year. Aiden was eleven. Responsible for the accident was a Haitian driver.
On X, JD Vance wrote that “a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant.”
In response, Nathan Clark said, “My son was not murdered. He was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti.” Reacting to a cluster of politicians, Clark said,
They have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain. They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even untrue claims that fluffy pets are being ravaged and eaten by community members. They are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.
A father’s indignation can be a powerful thing.
• I would like to make a general statement: It is perfectly possible to be an immigration “hawk” — favoring tighter controls, a more orderly process — while refraining from mocking or disparaging immigrants. To say nothing of demonizing them. Immigrants are some of the hardest-working, most enterprising, most admirable people we have. It was once natural for Republicans to say so, and it should be again.
Firmness about public order and decency in expression and behavior: These are not mutually contradictory things.
• Our spooks — our intelligence agents — seldom get the recognition they deserve, which stands to reason: They work in the shadows, and must do so. All the same, it was inspiring to read the obituary of Edward Johnson, “C.I.A. Hero in Iran Hostage Crisis,” who has died at 81.
Regular readers are familiar with the dedication of Silent Missions, a memoir by Vernon Walters — they are familiar with it because I have quoted it so often: “To the brave men and women who have laid down their lives on the invisible battlefield that we might live free.” I read Silent Missions in high school and was affected by it.
• It has come to my attention — it has perhaps come to yours, too — that some people harbor resentment of Caitlin Clark’s fame and the hoopla surrounding her. They think that the hoopla is unmerited. (Clark, as you know, is the WNBA’s rookie sensation.) You know what I think? There’s not enough hoopla.
That’s what I thought after watching her highlights of one game.
• I like names. (Does he ever, regular readers can tell you.) Names of people, names of businesses — names. Below are three names of business that have caught my eye, and tickled my fancy, of late:
“Gumption” — isn’t that a wonderful word, all around? Thanks for joining me, y’all.
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