Saying the quiet part out loud.

March 28, 2022

[Audio version here]

Reminder: Renewal season for annual subscribers who followed me to Substack last April.

          If you are one of the readers who followed me to Substack last year (April 2021) and supported the work of Today’s Edition Newsletter with an annual subscription, your renewal will come up in April 2022. You will receive a reminder email from Substack about a week before the charge will appear on your credit card. So, if you see a $50 charge on your credit card statement, remember that the name of this newsletter is “Today’s Edition.” (That is not a great name, I admit, but when I started sending my nightly email to eight people in 2017, the email’s subject line didn’t make much difference.) Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions about your subscription by hitting “reply” to this email.

          Thanks to all who support the work of Today’s Edition with paid subscriptions. You allow me to spread the word that “We have everyone reason to be hopeful, but no reason to be complacent.”

President Biden’s speech in Poland.

          On Saturday, President Biden gave a historic speech in Poland in the tradition of American presidents speaking to Russian dictators from their Western flank. The speech was a call to the nations of the world to defend democracy across the globe. As noted in Heather Cox Richardson’s excellent analysis of the speech, Biden said the world’s democracies were once again

in the great battle for freedom: a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.

          Biden rightly qualified that statement by saying that democracy has “always been under siege,” and called upon the world’s democracies to rally in support of Ukraine during this moment of crisis.

          By any measure, the speech was remarkable, both in content and tone. Biden’s delivery was defiant, even fiery, as he attempted to rally the free world against Russia. But it was the last line of the speech that has attracted the most attention. Biden delivered a line that did not appear to be part of his prepared remarks. Referencing Putin, Biden said,

For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power.

          Those words reverberated through the halls of the Kremlin and Fox News alike, prompting GOP Senators to criticize Biden for making a “gaffe” that (allegedly) increased the likelihood of confrontation with Russia. To be clear, those would be the same Senators who voted to acquit Trump for extorting President Zelenskyy in 2019 with an “arms for political dirt” proposal and who remained silent when Lindsey Graham called for someone to “take out” Putin. Hypocrites!

          Although it is a truism that presidents should refrain from ad-libbing during major policy speeches, let’s not fool ourselves: Biden said what everyone is thinking. And despite endless questions from reporters, Biden did not call for “regime change” in Russia. Rather, he made an observation of fact: That a man who is committing genocide and crimes against humanity “cannot remain in power.” By engaging in war crimes, Putin is sealing his fate as an outlaw leader who can remain in power only through ever-increasing repression and violence. That formula never has a happy ending for the tyrant.

          The White House immediately backpedaled from Biden’s statement, offering a mealy-mouthed interpretation that no one believes. Biden spoke the truth, and he should stand by it. Max Boot has it right in his essay in The Washington Post, Biden’s support for Ukraine and opposition to Putin were no ‘gaffe’. Boot writes,

          Biden’s words give hope not only to Ukrainians but also to Russian dissidents fighting to build a freer country, and it is hard to see how they could make Putin fight any harder than he already is. I would rather have a president who is fearless in calling out Putin’s war crimes than one who toadies to the Russian tyrant.

          Even those who criticized Biden for making the comment recognize that Biden was speaking the truth. Tom Nichols writes as follows in his essay in The Atlantic, Biden’s Comments About Putin Were an Unforced Error:

          What Biden was doing, of course, was being Joe Biden. He was speaking for all of us, from the heart. One of the more endearing things about the president—at least for those of us who admire him—is that he has almost no inner monologue and regularly engages in the kind of gaffe where a politician says something that is impolitic but true. This was not the time for such a moment . . . .

          Before Republican Senators “get the vapors” from clutching their pearls too tightly, we should remember that Putin has twice attempted to cause regime change in the U.S. (2016 and 2020) and succeeded once (2016). Moreover, Putin’s private army (the Wagner group) currently has a team of assassins combing the streets of Kyiv in search of President Zelenskyy. So, do not be taken in by the faux outrage of hypocritical Republicans and Fox News.

          Biden’s statement recognizes that a leader engaged in genocide has chosen an untenable path that can have only one end. Plain spoken Joe Biden spoke the truth in words that people understand. His comments may turn out to be prophetic. Let’s hope so.

Zelenskyy turns up the pressure on the West.

          President Zelenskyy issued a series of sharp criticisms of the West over the weekend, questioning whether NATO leaders are “afraid” of Moscow and comparing their courage unfavorably to the fighters defending Mariupol. See Business Insider, Zelenskyy Asks If the West Fears Moscow, Ukraine Needs Tanks and Planes, and AP, Zelenskyy: West needs more courage in helping Ukraine fight. Zelenskyy is right to advocate forcefully for more aid for his people in their fight against Russia. But NATO leaders are right to withhold support that might lead to a catastrophic escalation for Ukraine and the world.

          NATO leaders are not demonstrating “fear” or “lack of courage,” as charged by Zelenskyy. Predicting Putin’s intentions is tricky business, and the cost of getting it wrong could result in a regional or global conflagration. Zelenskyy is a wartime leader of exceptional courage and skill, but only six weeks ago, he made a monumental miscalculation about Putin’s intent to invade Ukraine. Zelenskyy is the world’s expert in resisting Putin on the battlefield, but his failure to anticipate the invasion last month demonstrates how challenging it is to predict Putin’s moves.

          The U.S. intelligence committee was eerily accurate in predicting the scale, tactics, and timing of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, we should give the U.S. intelligence community the benefit of the doubt when they urge extreme caution in avoiding steps that might provoke an escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine—even if it means refusing some of President Zelenskyy’s requests. That difficult judgment is intended to protect the hundreds of millions (or billions) of people who would be affected if Russia’s war on Ukraine escalated to a nuclear conflict.

Yale School of Management compiles a list of companies that have remained in Russia.

          The Yale School of Management has created a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of companies that withdrawn, suspended operations, and remained in Russia. See Yale School of Management, Over 450 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia—But Some Remain. Check out the spreadsheet to see if you are a customer, executive, or employee of a company that has decided to remain in Russia despite its war of attrition on the Ukrainian people.

          To contextualize the decision of the companies that have decided to remain in Russia, Putin has inflicted $63 billion in damage on Ukrainian infrastructure, has damaged 730 educational institutions, killed 1,139 civilians, including 136 children, caused 3.2 million refugees to flee Ukraine, and is razing major metropolitan areas such as Mariupol and Kherson—all which constitute war crimes. By remaining in Russia, the companies are helping to support the Russian economy, which is (in turn) funding Putin’s war effort. Let them know what you think.

The Clarence Thomas scandal.

          The scandal over Justice Clarence Thomas’s failure to recuse himself in a case involving texts from his wife to Mark Meadows about the attempted coup is going to get worse. The current state of play is outlined in Politico, The Ginni Thomas story grows larger. If Justice Thomas knew that his wife was involved in efforts to overturn the election (a safe bet based on references in Ginni Thomas’s texts about informing her “best friend”), Justice Thomas should have recused himself.

          As explained in Politico, it is likely that Justice Thomas violated the federal law on recusals, which provide:

[A]ny justice, judge or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

Judges should not participate in proceedings in which their spouse has ‘an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.

Justice Thomas (or Chief Justice Roberts) should announce that Thomas will no longer participate in matters relating to the insurrection and attempted coup. Otherwise, the only remedy is impeachment of Justice Thomas.

Defenders of Democracy Against Disinformation.

          On Saturday, I interviewed Julie Greenberg, one of the Board Members of Defenders of Democracy Against Disinformation (DDAD). Listen to the podcast here: Defenders of Democracy Against Disinformation | Today’s Edition Podcast. DDAD is currently focused on campaigns that are directed at the primary source of disinformation in American media—Fox News.

          DDAD has campaigns focused on (a) removing Fox News from cable packages, (b) encouraging retailers, gyms, medical waiting rooms to “switch the channel” away from Fox News, (c) forcing the military to stop including Fox News on television programming available on military bases, and (d) recruiting attorneys willing to explore suing Fox News for injury and death caused by Covid disinformation. DDAD discusses these campaigns and others in this newsletter: DDAD & Robert Hubbell talk Fox “News”.

          Disinformation is a foundational threat to our democracy. Check out the good work of DDAD at Stop Disinformation.

Concluding Thoughts.

          My wife and I had the privilege of attending a small event with retired Lieutenant Colonel Vindman on Sunday. He is a national hero and patriot. In person, he is a regular guy—casual, friendly, and humble. As we were waiting to speak with him, he suddenly broke away from the group and said, “I will be right back.” What was the emergency that called him away? He went to help two kids who were struggling to re-assemble the safety net on a backyard trampoline.

          He spoke eloquently and knowledgeably about the situation in Ukraine. But what impressed me the most is that he is just like you and me. He had the courage to do the right thing when our democracy needed help. We can do that, each in our own way. If we all do our part, we cannot fail.

          Talk to you tomorrow!