The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly…Republican Style

The Good:

Adam Kinzinger said recently that when he first ran for Congress in 2010 in a swing district in Illinois, if at some point he was asked to speak at a national convention, “I would have assumed that my political career had taken off.”  Georgia’s Geoff Duncan surely felt the same way.  While both were indeed asked to speak, and in prime time, the effect was quite the reverse. 

Their problem was that they spoke at the wrong convention.

These two men, with outstanding resumés and unimpeachable conservative credentials, should have been rising stars in the Republican Party, Kinzinger a potential candidate for the Senate and Duncan an obvious successor to Brian Kemp as Georgia governor.

Kinzinger, only forty-six, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan as an Air Force pilot in elite units and returned to serve in the House, gaining a reputation for ideological integrity but as someone who would participate in bipartisan initiatives that made sense for the country.  He remains a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard and was deployed to the Mexican border in 2019 while still a member of Congress.

Duncan, also under fifty, was a star college pitcher who spent six years in the minor leagues and then became a successful entrepreneur in the health care industry.  He rose quickly through Georgia state politics and served as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023.  His bio adds, “Geoff is an instrument rated private pilot, has coached 23 youth sports teams and leads a couples Bible study every week with his wife Brooke.”

But rather than the stardom each deserved, both almost certainly ended their political careers by choosing to speak at the Democratic, not the Republican, National Convention.

Kinzinger was unequivocal as to why.   “The polarization, the rise of extremism, and the erosion of our democratic norms has reached a critical point. I’ve seen colleagues, once dedicated to the Constitution and our democratic institutions slowly compromise those values for the sake of political expediency.”  About his decision to speak, he added, “I never expected to do it, I paid a personal price for it, and I would definitely do it again.”

Duncan, after urging his fellow Republicans to reclaim their party, held up to the cameras a small piece of wood that he had given to his son, on which was burnished “Doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing. Love you, Bay.  Dad.”

And the right thing for each man was to denounce a political party that had betrayed both its principles and the country and to urge his fellows to refuse to vote for Donald Trump, thus becoming what every conservative already claims to be.

A patriot.

The Bad:

Like Kinzinger and Duncan, Scott Jennings was hired as a contributor by CNN to represent the Republican right.  Unlike them, however, Jennings has carved out his niche on the network by being reliably, often ludicrously partisan.  Also unlike the others, Jennings did not come to politics after military service or a stint in minor league baseball, nor was he ever elected to public office, but rather has been involved in the business end of politics his entire adult life. 

A native Kentuckian, Jennings has worked for George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, and Karl Rove.  He was a founding partner of RunSwitch, Kentucky’s largest public relations firm.  He is affable, relatively low key, and seems to be well-liked by ideological adversaries, such as Van Jones. 

But Jennings, who has parlayed that seeming reasonableness into a highly successful career—he is even on the faculty of the Kennedy School at Harvard—incessantly defends Trump and denounces any Democrat, regardless of the issue, and, in that true public relations spirit, dissembles, equivocates, and lies to put forth his positions.  When another commentator accused his old boss, McConnell, of stealing two Supreme Court seats, a statement that was not only true but one that McConnell himself bragged about, Jennings rolled his eyes and dismissively sniffed, “Oh, come on.”

But it was in his reaction to Geoff Duncan’s bravery that Jennings revealed just who he is.

“Geoff said something in his speech that actually hit,” Jennings began, denying it was a personal attack.  “He sort of inferred that if you don’t vote for Harris, you’re not a patriot.”

Duncan didn’t infer it—he said it.  And it should have hit, Scott.  In addition to his fellow Republicans in the audience, he was talking about you. 

Jennings’ righteous indignation did not end there.  “And I have to tell you how profoundly poorly that’s gonna hit a lot of Republican ears. To be told that your patriotism is dependent upon your choice…I thought that was a poor argument.”

No, it wasn’t.  It was precisely the right argument.

What is patriotism if not the willingness to put aside personal interests for the sake of one’s country, something Jennings apparently will never, ever do?

The Ugly:

Lame as it may be, Jennings at least has an excuse.  His gig on CNN will likely be the best job he ever gets, and the most lucrative, and giving that up for the sake of honesty, integrity, and patriotism is just too much to ask.

H. R. McMaster, on the other hand, has no excuse at all.

Chosen to be Trump’s second national security advisor, McMaster was a three-star general and a “a widely respected military strategist known for challenging conventional thinking and helping to turn around the Iraq war in its darkest days.”  He is a graduate of West Point and holds a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina.

McMaster was feared and respected among military brass for speaking his mind.  He “made a name for himself as a young officer with a searing critique of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their performance during the Vietnam War and later criticized the way President George W. Bush’s administration went to war in Iraq.”  In something of an irony, “He came to prominence with his 1997 book, ‘Dereliction of Duty,’ which critiqued the Joint Chiefs for not standing up to President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War.”

An irony because he exhibited the same behavior with Donald Trump.

Although he toiled thanklessly to try to gently deter some of Trump’s most harebrained foreign policy ideas and was generally thought of as one of the adults in the room, McMaster left the job in April 2108, after only fourteen months.  While by all accounts, he behaved honorably as a member of Trump’s cabinet, after he left, in the face of what he has since acknowledged to be a grave threat to America’s national security, he said and did…

Nothing.

Military officers do not comment on civilian leadership, you see.  They respect the authority of the commander-in-chief, even after they have left his service.

Until they have a book to flog, that is.

Now McMaster is all over cable news, discussing what the New York Times called a “blistering account of the Trump White House.”  The Times reported that he described meetings in the Oval Office as “exercises in competitive sycophancy” during which Trump’s advisers would flatter the president by saying stuff like, “Your instincts are always right” or, “No one has ever been treated so badly by the press.” Meanwhile, Trump would say “outlandish” things like, “Why don’t we just bomb the drugs?” in Mexico or, “Why don’t we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?”

So, one might ask, where was McMaster for six years when he could not profit off Trump’s dangerous idiocy?  Busy writing his memoir, no doubt.

Even more, what about now?  Did he, like Adam Kinzinger and Geoff Duncan, urge Americans of all stripes…or stars…to vote for Kamala Harris to save the nation, as the consummate patriot he claims to be?  He did not.  All he said was that he would not serve in a second Trump term…as if anyone would ask him.

Kinzinger and Duncan are correct.  True patriotism demands sacrifice.  Neither Scott Jennings, H. R. McMaster, nor all the other Republicans hiding their self-interest behind one excuse or another, qualify.