Thursday, October 29, 2020

Compare And Contrast


San Antonio mayor and former head of HUD endorsed Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination, and the other guy does good reporting on this issue. Nonetheless, I'm definitely not on board with this:

This issue is not the most immediate crisis, nor is destruction of our environment; gun violence; threats from Russia or mainland China; terrorism; gun violence; reduction of reproductive rights; racism; homelessness; consolidation of corporate power; corruption of the political process by dark money; 86 other things.

Every one- every one- of these has been made worse by President Donald J. Trump. While Castro and Soboroff are focused on the Administration's cruel immigration policies, they're missing the big picture, which is that President Trump is a severe threat to ameliorating these problems, and to the continued existence of the world.

One of the individuals who has not lost focus is Miles Taylor who, whatever his faults  

was the anonymous author of The New York Times Op-Ed article in 2018 whose description of President Trump as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective” roiled Washington and set off a hunt for his identity, Mr. Taylor confirmed Wednesday.

Mr. Taylor was also the anonymous author of “A Warning,” a book he wrote the following year that described the president as an “undisciplined” and “amoral” leader whose abuse of power threatened the foundations of American democracy. He acknowledged that he was the author of both the book and the opinion article in an interview and in a three-page statement he posted online.

Mr. Taylor resigned from the Department of Homeland Security in June 2019, and went public with his criticism of Mr. Trump this past summer. He released a video just before the start of the Republican National Convention declaring that the president was unfit for office, and he endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee.

Miles Taylor resigned. There are too few individuals who resigned from this Administration without at least a little pressure too leave. There are fewer still who have done that and written an op-ed and a book (albeit anonymously) blasting the President- and endorsing his opponent.

One of those individuals who serves Donald Trump and has done none of this- despite ridicule from the President- is Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Fauci remains employed, remains ineffectual, and remains relatively silent about his ultimate boss, who never misses a chance to belittle the fellow. 



Fauci, as someone who has warned about the danger of SARS-CoV-2 (at least since he discouraged mask-wearing), remains trusted and admired by the public. Yet, he is silent about the presidential election (and congressional elections). He has maintained his job to little effect, while a public resignation with an accompanying statement weeks ago (before early voting began) may have had a conclusive impact on the election.

In the last few months, Dr. Fauci has periodically expressed frustration with the lack of interest in the federal government in face masks, social distancing, avoiding large crowds, and other measures which would stem the growth of the novel coronavirus.  However, as of a few weeks ago (even now), Dr. Fauci has avoided taking the one step, or series of steps, which would have the greatest impact in curbing illness and death.

Resignation, explanation, and endorsement of Joe Biden is obviously the most patriotic- and effective- move that could be made. Instead, Fauci demonstrates that he is little more than a careerist, country be damned.

Compare that with the actions of Miles Taylor, who may not be a good person but has put it on the line for Joe Biden. He has, in this moment,  in the runup to the most important election since the Civil War with the fate of a democratic republic in the balance, done the right thing.

But yeah, his immigration policy was bad.

 


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