Politicians who praise the courage of those who stand up to authoritarians overseas show cowardice at home.
Jimmy Lai, Mahsa Amini, Alexei Navalny demonstrated a bravery that Republicans refuse to.
One of the tried-and-true visuals of foreign policymaking in Washington is to stand in solidarity an opposition leader, dissident or activist and extol their courage in standing up against an autocratic leader and for the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights.
Think of all the times Administration officials and/or Member of Congress stood side-by-side with, or spoke out publicly on behalf of:
Mahsa Amini (died in custody after protesting restrictions on women in Iran)
Vladimir Kara-Murza (exiled Russian activist and former political prisoner)
Jimmy Lai (jailed Hong Kong newspaper publisher)
Peng Lifa (disappeared after protesting Xi Jinping on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge)
Alexei Navalny (Russian opposition leader, poisoned, and died in prison)
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (exiled Belarusan presidential candidate)
Dhondup Wangchen (Tibetan filmmaker imprisoned for documentary film)
Li Wenliang (Chinese doctor jailed for sharing information about COVID-19)
Republicans are among the officials and politicians are who have extoled the bravery of these individuals who stood up to authoritarians who intimidate media outlets into submission, punish acts of free expression and assembly, attack the independence of the judiciary, corrode rule of law, dismantle democratic institutions and use state power to persecute domestic political opponents.
And where are these same Republicans as President Trump intimidates media outlets into submission, punishes acts of free expression and assembly, attacks the independence of the judiciary, corrodes rule of law, dismantles democratic institutions and uses state power to persecute domestic political opponents?
Silent. Or complicit.
Where is their courage? Why don’t they live by the values that they praise others for?
Perhaps they fear retribution if they go against the Party Leader. They can point to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as examples of those who lost their jobs and their place in the Party for opposing their Leader. That’s a risk that Republicans have learned not to take.
Contrast that with Vladimir Kara-Murza, who returned to Russia knowing he would be jailed by a government that had already poisoned him. Or Alexei Navalny, who did the same and died in prison for his stance.
Contrast that with Mahsa Amisi, who stood up for personal liberty in refusing to wear a hijab in defiance of Iran’s religious police and was beaten and died in prison.
Contrast that with Jimmy Lai, who persisted in a principled defense of press freedom despite knowing it would land him in a Hong Kong jail cell.
Republicans praised Kara-Murza, Navalny, Amisi and Lai who were willing to risk their lives and freedom in standing up to tyranny. But these Republicans sit silent today for fear they might lose … their jobs.
We can anticipate their response: “That’s different. Over there is tyranny, here is not.” If so, why are they afraid to speak up? Their fear of retribution proves the point they deny.
Or maybe they think what Trump is doing is good. Maybe they too, like their Party Leader, are authoritarians at heart. If so, however, why were they saluting the courage of Tsikhanouskaya, Lai and the others? Was it just empty words for politics’ sake? Were all their statements about freedom and liberty and rights just rhetorical bullshit?
I find it helpful to apply the “what would we say if this were happening in another country” test. I gives us perspective on our own behavior. If the Trump agenda were happening in another country, wouldn’t we be praising the courage of judge that ruled against the president’s corrupt behavior? Calling for the release of the protestor who was disappeared for exercising his freedom of expression? Condemning the crackdown on civil society organizations? Or would be praising that country’s sycophantic enablers of the Leader’s authoritarian agenda, the role that Congressional Republicans are playing today?