Outlaw nation.

February 24, 2022

[Audio version here]

          Russia’s war on Ukraine has commenced, and Russia has sealed its status as an outlaw nation. Every action taken by Russia over the last week has violated international law and undermined the framework for peace in the post-Cold War world. President Biden has been warning for months that Putin planned a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately, Ukraine dismissed those warnings, and GOP critics mocked Biden’s transparency about Russia’s plans. Sadly, the U.S. intelligence community correctly assessed the scale of the threat and the malignancy of Putin’s intentions. As I write, Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv is under attack by cruise missiles.

          We are witnessing a tragedy of generational proportions unfold before our eyes. We look away at our peril. Yes, it is complicated and unfamiliar. Yes, it is half a world away. Yes, it requires weighing distant future consequences against immediate pain in the U.S. economy. But hiding behind isolationism and a refusal to acknowledge historical antecedents will only increase the risk that a tragic situation will become catastrophic.

          President Biden successfully united the Western allies against Putin’s aggression. That achievement was neither easy nor a foregone conclusion. See NYTimes, Inside Biden’s Race to Prevent War Between Russia and Ukraine. But the fruits of Biden’s efforts were on display during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday evening. Every member of the Council—save for China and Russia—condemned Russia’s actions and urged Putin to reconsider. In the difficult days and months ahead, that unity will be one of the most significant assets of the alliance arrayed against Russia.

          Despite unity among Western allies, division roils the American political landscape. The Republican Party is split between factions alternately urging appeasement or armed confrontation. The GOP is united only in its conviction that whatever President Biden has done or will do is wrong. Worse, some factions of the GOP cheer Putin as he unleashes an illegal war that will kill tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians lawfully defending their nation.

          Biden’s task will be complicated by the fact that many Americans will suddenly view themselves as experts on how best to constrain Russia. Email in response to yesterday’s newsletter contained dizzying variations of reactions:

Give Putin whatever he wants.

Who cares about Ukraine?

Sanctions won’t stop Putin.

Sanctions will hurt Americans.

Sanctions announced by Biden do not go far enough.

Biden should have given more weapons to Ukraine.

Biden must send troops to fight on the ground in Ukraine.

          It is understandable and reasonable for people of good faith to hold differing views about responding to an impossibly complicated situation. But as we express those views, let’s recognize that Biden’s ability to conduct successful foreign policy is affected by the degree to which the American people support him as he makes decisions that will never satisfy everyone. Let’s give Biden the best chance of achieving a satisfactory outcome: support the president as he navigates a difficult situation with no easy or obvious answers. As in all things, Joe Biden is doing his best to protect the interests of all Americans. We cannot ask for more.

Redistricting victories? Positive developments.

          Legislatures and courts continue to wrestle with redistricting maps ahead of the 2022 primaries. On Wednesday, it appeared that Democrats secured gains in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Please note that the situation remains fluid, but these developments are promising. See Politico, State courts shake up Pennsylvania, North Carolina with new House lines. Per Politico,

          In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court adopted a map that made few changes to the current districts but erased one Republican-held seat, while in North Carolina, a panel of judges adopted a map drawn by a special master that would likely split the congressional delegation evenly, a big boost for Democrats, who currently hold five out of 13 seats.

A bad sign for the criminal investigation into Trump business practices in Manhattan.

          Per the NYTimes, two lead prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office have resigned from the criminal investigation of Trump’s business practices. See NYTimes, Prosecutors Leading Trump Fraud Investigation in N.Y. Resign. Per the Times, the prosecutors resigned after District Attorney Alvin Bragg expressed doubts about obtaining an indictment of Trump. Bragg recently replaced Cyrus Vance, Jr. and has had a brief but tumultuous tenure. He made dramatic changes to New York’s enforcement policies for a variety of crimes but quickly reversed those policies after public outcry.

          There is no good interpretation for the resignation of the two lead prosecutors. They resigned in protest because D.A. Bragg said he did not want to indict Trump after a lengthy investigation. Whether Bragg’s decision is final is not clear. But if he believes that the evidence is not strong enough to support a conviction, it would be wrong to bring political pressure to force him to indict Trump against his prosecutorial judgment. If we want to live in a nation that respects the rule of law, we must respect the rule of law ourselves.

          I hope that Bragg is still evaluating the evidence. Let’s allow him to do so and refrain from calls to indict Trump without regard to the weight of the evidence. [BTW, my criticism of Merrick Garland is that there is no evidence that he is investigating Trump. In contrast, the N.Y. District Attorney’s office has conducted an extensive investigation into Trump’s business practices.] Let’s wait to see how this turns out.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott calls for investigation of parents of transgender children for child abuse.

          Texas Governor Greg Abbott has asked healthcare professionals and “concerned citizens” to report parents of transgender children for child abuse. See NBC News, Texas governor calls on citizens to report parents of transgender kids for abuse. Abbott’s move follows an opinion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that classifies gender-affirming medical procedures as “child abuse.”  Abbott compounded his grotesque policy by threatening medical professionals with criminal penalties if they fail to report parents of transgender kids for child abuse.

          Abbott’s policy is monstrous. It is inhuman. It is ignorant. It is discriminatory. It is unconstitutional. It is unenforceable and contrary to Texas law. And it was released days before the Texas primary in which Abbott is being challenged from the right. In other words, Abbott has decided that persecuting transgender kids and their parents is fine as long as it helps him cling to power.

          We cannot let this stand. Texas has declared war on LGBTQ people and their parents. It has also declared war on women. And yet, Texas is trying to entice corporations from other states to move into Texas by claiming it is a “business-friendly” state. To the contrary, Texas is hostile to employees of companies who are not white, male, and straight. Let’s send a message to Texas that no business or tourist will enter Texas until it returns to 21st Century and abides by the U.S. Constitution. I urge you to read Jessica Craven’s  Chop Wood, Carry Water 2/23. Please take the actions included in her post. Please. This is important.

Help The Civics Center if you live in Philadelphia.

          I received the following note from The Civics Center. If you live in Philadelphia, please help:

          After years of advocacy, the School Board of Philadelphia has finally placed on its agenda for its February 24 meeting a policy to encourage voter registration in district high schools.  

          The policy is urgently needed. In Philadelphia, 19,000 young people turn 18 every year. But according to The Civics Center’s recent research report, as of November 2021, fewer than 3000 of them were registered to vote. That’s only 15.2%.  Every year, the vast majority of high school seniors in Philadelphia are eligible to register before they graduate. Young people who were registered to vote turned out in high numbers in the midterm elections in 2018, and we can expect that to happen again in 2022.  

          The Civics Center has organized more than 20 national, state, and local youth and democracy organizations to support this policy, and now they are asking anyone who lives in Philadelphia to complete this two-minute digital letter-writing campaign through which Philadelphia residents can urge their school board to act.  For your readers who live outside of Philadelphia, they can help by forwarding this message to a friend to encourage them to sign. 

Concluding Thoughts.

          Yesterday, I described the “list of grievances” released by Senator Rick Scott as the GOP 2022 platform. The response to the “platform” was devastating. How devastating was it? It was so devastating that Rick Scott took to the airwaves on Fox to deny that his platform meant what it said. One plank in the platform said—and I am quoting here—that

          “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount. Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”

          In other words, Rick Scott would have the 50% of Americans who pay no income tax pay an income tax—also known as “raising their taxes.” Scott’s proposal was such a disaster that he went on Sean Hannity’s program and denied that his plan would raise taxes for 50% of Americans. See Axios, Avlon calls out GOP senator for denial on Fox.

          That is only one example of the stupidity included in Scott’s GOP platform. Other proposals will come back to bite GOP candidates in 2022. For example, GOP candidates will be forced to explain whether the Republican Party really supports the proposal that the “federal government must stop spending money on non-essential state and local projects until the budget is balanced.”

          Uh, okay. Does Scott really mean that the federal government should stop supporting local hospitals, installing internet broadband in rural areas, and building flood control levees until the federal budget is balanced? Mother Jones aptly described the Scott GOP platform in its article, Republicans Aren’t Even Pretending They’ll Make Your Life Better Anymore.

          Here’s my point: It is easy to criticize from the back benches between elections. But on the campaign trail, Republicans will be forced to say whether and what they will do to help the American people. Rick Scott’s initial effort was a disaster. Starting with a plan that implies that 50% of Americans are freeloaders who don’t deserve federal investment in their communities was a bad start. But it was the best the GOP could come up with—and it isn’t going to get any easier. If Democrats step up their communications game, they have every reason to be hopeful about their chances in 2022—but no reason to be complacent.

          Talk to you tomorrow!