It’s a fair bet that combat vet Alexander Vindman never imagined that after dedicating his career to defending his country, and fighting and bleeding for his country, that he’d wind up in front of Congress as some pissant conspiracy loon tried to strip away his military rank.
Devin Nunes, earlier today: “Mr. Vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower – “
Response: “Ranking member, it’s Lt. Col. Vindman, please.”
It was a moment, during the House Intelligence Committee’s latest hearing, that perfectly encapsulated the Trumpist Republicans’ detestable ‘tude. Their doomed bid to save Trump from impeachment apparently requires them to dis and slime the nonpartisan fact-witnesses who have exposed his blatant abuses of office. And Vindman, who went public today, is Exhibit A.
Trump’s flying monkeys on Fox and social media have swooped down on him, questioning his loyalty and insinuating that he’s a foreign mole. For doing his duty, he may even have put his family’s safety in jeopardy; according to The Wall Street Journal, the Army has done threat assessments, and “is prepared to move Col. Vindman and his family onto a military base in the area to ensure their security if it is determined that they are in physical danger.
Well, how do ya like that: Vindman’s parents fled Soviet totalitarianism when Alexander was three years old, in order to secure their kids’ physical safety. The kid grows up here, dedicates his life to defending American democracy, and, as a reward, he gets targeted by totalitarian wannabees.
Ever since he testified in a closed-door deposition shortly before Halloween, the usual suspects have tried to assassinate his character, Soviet-style. Fox propagandists Brian Kilmeade and Laura Ingraham implied that Vindman, from his perch in the National Security Council, is a double agent working for Ukraine and against the United States. Torture advocate John Yoo seconded Ingraham, declaring: “Some people might call that espionage.” CNN’s paid resident Trumpist, Sean Duffy, weighed in with baseless aspersions: “I don’t know that (Vindman) is concerned about American policy…We all have an affinity for our homeland, where we came from.”
It’s no accident that Vindman is being scurrilously assailed for being foreign-born and thus insufficiently patriotic. Two other key witnesses in the impeachment scandal – Marie Yovanovitch (ambassador to Ukraine, fired by Trump for not supporting his Biden dirt scheme) and Fiona Hill (Vindman’s former National Security Council boss, who quit this summer) – have been hit with similar insinuations. Those kinds of attacks date back to the 19th century, when immigrants eager for a slice of the American pie were commonly targeted because of their places of birth. Tinpot patriotism, as we’ve long known, is often the last refuge of scoundrels.
And, sure enough, Vindman was compelled today to withstand more of the same. Steve Castor, the hapless Republican counsel (who spent most of his time fishing in vain for anything of value) got all excited about a well-reported factoid – that when Vindman traveled to Ukraine earlier this year for President Zelensky’s inauguration, as part of the American delegation, he was offered the job of Ukraine defense minister.
Dual loyalty alert! Castor had all sorts of questions. Was the offer made in English or Ukrainian (Vindman speaks both languages)? How many times was Vindman offered the job? Who else knows about this?
Well, for starters, we know about the absurd job offer because Vindman reported it through the proper military channels. (Did Castor not know that?) And the offer was delivered in English, so there was no perfidious secret talk. And, lastly, Vindman said this: “I’m an American. I came here as a toddler. I immediately dismissed these offers. Did not entertain them. The whole notion was rather comical…I did not leave the door open at all.”
Castor and his fellow bitter-end Republicans surely knew that Vindman would set the record straight, and he did so. But that gang doesn’t care a whit about the truth; their goal was to tarnish Vindman’s medals. If their double-agent insinuation plays well with Trump’s base (and sufficiently terrify Senate Republicans to vote for exoneration), they will consider it a job well done. One random comment, which I saw today on social media, says it all: “Vindman looks like he’s gonna cry like the bitch he is.”
That’s America in 2019.
At the tail end of Vindman’s opening statement, he gave a shout-out to all the patriots who have factually documented Trump’s impeachable acts: “I want to state that the vile character attacks on these distinguished and honorable public servants is reprehensible. It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate – this has been our custom since the time of our Founding Fathers – but we are better than callow and cowardly attacks.”
If we truly are better than that, it’s past time we prove it.