A couple of weeks ago, Dick Cheney made an ad for his daughter, Liz: here. In all likelihood, it will be his last political ad. Concerning that ad, a few observations from me.
• It seems to many of us that Dick Cheney did not make that ad to help his daughter win her primary — that appears to be hopeless. Rather, he made it to make a statement.
• The ad reminded me why so many of us conservatives admired, and even loved, Dick Cheney: as a congressman, as defense secretary, as vice president. Cheney has not changed at all. But the Right has, dramatically.
Consider CPAC alone. The crowd used to roar for Ronald Reagan. Jack Kemp. Dick Cheney. Mitch Daniels. Daniels gave a speech on the menace of the federal debt. He was introduced by George F. Will. Can you imagine? Today, the crowd roars for Donald Trump, and Viktor Orbán, and Steve Bannon, and so on.
In January 2009, in the transition from Bush 43 to Obama, Cheney had a long sitdown with a group of conservative journalists in the vice-presidential residence. When he saw Charles Krauthammer, he said, “I’m honored.”
I wrote up the discussion under the heading “‘Darth Vader’ Speaks.” Cheney had said, “Hillary Clinton referred to me as ‘Darth Vader.’ I joke that I asked my family if they were offended by that, and they said, ‘No, it humanizes you.’”
• One of the things I liked most about the Cheney ad is that there was no pussy-footin’ around — no pussy-footin’ around Donald Trump. I am so sick of pussy-footin’, I could . . . choke.
• Cheney begins, “In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.” I take issue with this: What about the leading Confederates? Still, Cheney has a point, and a case.
• Of Trump, Cheney says, “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.” Doesn’t everyone know this is true? Somewhere inside himself? Don’t even those who mouth support of Trump, or excuses for him, know it?
• “He is a coward,” says Cheney. “A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters.” There has been a good deal of discussion recently about what constitutes real manhood. In a speech, the chairman of the Claremont Institute said, “Trump is a manly man.” A lot of people think that about Putin as well — swaggering around bare-chested and so on.
Jonah Goldberg has had a go at this subject: here. So has Kevin Williamson: here. I agree with them, as usual.
Harvey Mansfield wrote a book on the subject. I podcasted with him about it, and other important matters, a couple of years ago. (For a write-up, go here.)
In a column yesterday, Dan Hannan had a striking passage, I thought. He was talking about Trump and the Trumpification of the GOP. “There was something unmanly about the way his erstwhile conservative critics rushed to abase themselves before him, abandoning their previous convictions and raging at the handful of Reaganite commentators who stuck to theirs.”
On Sunday, Kari Lake, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, rallied with Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. Here is what she said of DeSantis:
“I’ll tell you what he’s got — I don’t know if you’ve heard of this — but he’s got BDE. Anybody know what that means? Ask your kids about it later.”
I had never heard of “BDE.” Turns out the letters stand for “big d*** energy.”
Coyly, Lake continued,
“I call it ‘big . . . DeSantis energy.’ Right? He’s got the same kind of BDE that President Trump has. And frankly, he has the same kind of BDE that we want all of our elected leaders to have.”
All right: What is a man? A real man? A genuine man? I could give you chapter and verse — literally cite the Bible — but I will say merely that the men I have admired in my life would never cheat, lie, steal, bully, brag.
When you talk this way, people accuse you of “moral preening.” “Sanctimony.” “Virtue signaling.” What can you do? You just have to let them, and obey your highest sense of right.
• Says Cheney in his ad, “Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so.”
Do not underestimate the degree of fear among Republicans — both in electoral politics and in the media. If you are anti-Trump, a lot of people will tell you that they agree with you, in whispers. But raise their voice, they are unlikely to do.
There is a threat of violence, of course. Here is a paragraph from a piece that Tim Alberta wrote about Peter Meijer, the Michigan congressman, last year. The subject is January 6.
On the House floor, moments before the vote, Meijer approached a member who appeared on the verge of a breakdown. He asked his new colleague if he was okay. The member responded that he was not; that no matter his belief in the legitimacy of the election, he could no longer vote to certify the results, because he feared for his family’s safety. “Remember, this wasn’t a hypothetical. You were casting that vote after seeing with your own two eyes what some of these people are capable of,” Meijer says. “If they’re willing to come after you inside the U.S. Capitol, what will they do when you’re at home with your kids?”
• There is something I dislike about the Cheney ad, strongly: the music. Any music at all. One video after another — in politics, sports, etc. — is spoiled by music. Dick Cheney’s ad does not need music. A soundtrack. A soundtrack can only detract. The man and his message are potent on their own.
• All of us have politicians we admire (though I know some people who have sworn off politicians altogether). My list is pretty darn short, I’m sorry to say. These days, a great many people on the right — young and old — admire Trump and his countless imitators. Dick Cheney is my kind of pol, my kind of conservative. He is a dinosaur. But I hope that America produces more like him, for coming generations.