In the large category of things that justice demands but will never come to pass: The elected Republicans who voted against the impeachment and removal of President Trump owe Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman a public apology.
The National Security Council staffer, Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient obeyed a lawful subpoena, gave truthful testimony and was rewarded by his commander in chief with unceremonious removal from the White House and vicious criticism designed to destroy his life and career. A pathetic smattering of Trump’s congressional enablers criticized this calumny. But most winced, fidgeted and said nothing. All of them knew that Trump unremoved would be Trump unbound. And that utter predictability makes them personally responsible for all that has followed.
Cowardice on this scale is not a single act; it includes all the guilty silences that complicity continues to require. And the consequences of Republican cravenness are still unfolding.
Vindman’s treatment was part of the Great Purge of 2020, in which Trump has fired, attacked or vilified anyone with the audacity to expose or oppose his corruption. The president has checked off his enemies list one by one: Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman (dismissed for his last name), European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the four federal prosecutors who quit the Roger Stone case and past leaders of the FBI.****