When the news broke on Tuesday that the White House was declining to participate in impeachment proceedings -- call it the Bartleby approach to a constitutional crisis -- I assumed that the letter saying "we would prefer not to" had been written by some sleazy lawyer. He was ridiculed on Twitter by conservative attorneys, including Gregg Nunziata.
Wow. This letter is bananas. A barely-lawyered temper tantrum. A middle finger to Congress and its oversight responsibilities.
— Gregg Nunziata (@greggnunziata) October 8, 2019
No Member of Congress should accept it, no matter his or her view on the behavior of Pelosi, Schiff, or Trump.
Things are bad. Things will get worse. https://t.co/AesJ6cGHrl
George Conway also came down hard on the writer:
I cannot fathom how any self-respecting member of the bar could affix his name to this letter. It’s pure hackery, and it disgraces the profession. https://t.co/igPGL45oRS
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) October 8, 2019
So I was surprised to see the New York Times coverage of the author in Wednesday's paper. White House counsel Pat Cipollone, author of the bananapants letter asserting that the rule of law is not a thing, has 10 children. He's been an active supporter of Catholic charities, especially of pro-life efforts. He co-founded the National Prayer Breakfast. He introduced Laura Ingraham to the faith.
This is like the Mike Pence maneuver all over again. Remember how that played out in your Facebook feed in 2016? Trump is terrible, said one of my friends at the time, but Mike Pence is trustworthy. Vote GOP, because Mike Pence!
Ah, yes, Mike Pence, lodestar of integrity.
Pence is trying as hard as he can not to go down with the ship. pic.twitter.com/jrA8aoQSfb
— Matt Rogers 🎙🎃 (@Politidope) October 10, 2019
I suspect that the choice of Pat Cipollone as White House counsel was a deeply cynical move designed to shore up Catholic support for Trump. If the National Prayer Breakfast/March for Life guy says it, then it can't be an egregious violation of democratic norms or an attempt to subvert the authority of a coequal branch of government.
Or maybe, actually, it can.
This morning I said to Elwood, "The longer we spend saying to each other, 'This is not normal,' the less true it is." We used to agree that someone who talked unironically about his great and unmatched wisdom would probably need psychiatric intervention. When the person saying it holds the nuclear football, the question of an appropriate response is more urgent. And yet somehow some Catholics are still saying that the current state of the White House is an acceptable flavor of bananas.
Kurdish children are dying because of Trump's determination to carry out Putin's agenda.
I have no words to write to this tweet as I speechless after receiving this video from Syria 😔 pic.twitter.com/JKUrbNW6fh
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) October 12, 2019
Our failure to reckon with climate change is threatening lives around the globe. (My own Alex is in Tokyo right now, weathering the record-breaking typhoon that just pummeled Japan. The tweet below shows footage from an earlier, weaker typhoon. Horrifying, no?)
This Typhoon in Japan last year was 400km wide.#Hagibis is 1400km wide.
— Martin Cross (@MartinXRugby) October 11, 2019
Stay inside.#RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/RtGX2VWrzu
And yet for a vocal subset of US Catholics, the only legitimate way to be pro-life is to focus narrowly on changing US abortion laws and building a judiciary that will uphold additional restrictions. As of this week, when every news source is exploding with stories about Trump's failure to comply with US election law or with House impeachment proceedings, Abby Johnson is still exhorting folks to vote for him in 2020.
To be a universal Church is to see the big picture, the forest and the trees. Truth matters; the law matters. Say no to the bananas. Say it loud.
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