Politics
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September 18, 2024
Why are the Dick Cheneys of the world endorsing Harris—and why is she embracing their assist?
Not too long ago, lifelong Republican and torture fanatic Dick Cheney joined his daughter Liz and endorsed Kamala Harris for president, citing the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump. Harris mentioned she was “honored” to have the backing of such “revered” individuals, and touted the Cheneys’ assist finally week’s presidential debate.
However there was extra to return. Final Thursday, former Bush lawyer common and—you guessed it—torture apologist Alberto Gonzales additionally endorsed Harris, expressing his “religion in her character and judgment” and calling her opponent “probably the most critical menace to the rule of regulation in a era.” (Trump responded to Cheney by calling him an “irrelevant RINO,” however he didn’t point out Gonzales in any respect, which tells you all the pieces you must find out about his relevance.)
As somebody who has represented tortured purchasers at Guantánamo Bay, the sight of those two males, each of whom performed such key roles in advancing the Bush administration’s embrace of torture, endorsing Harris is distasteful sufficient. To see Harris embrace the assist of such individuals is even worse.
These developments elevate sure questions, amongst them: What does it say about our present political surroundings that males who endorsed torture can’t maintain their noses and vote for Trump? What are democracy and the rule of regulation good for, if not stopping the type of torture regime they’re accountable for? And what ought to it inform us about Harris that the Dick Cheneys of the world have discovered a welcoming political house together with her marketing campaign?
I feel that what’s actually taking place right here is that the very public vulgarity of Trump and the individuals surrounding him is what really offends these basic institution figures. In different phrases, it’s not what Trump does however how he does it. Medieval-style sexualized barbarism is OK so long as it’s hidden away in secret CIA black websites; misogyny and overt racism, out within the open on a debate stage, will not be. Worldwide torture networks, the destruction of civil liberties, wars based mostly on lies, even stolen elections (bear in mind 2000?) are advantageous so long as they are often contained inside sure institutional bounds. Assaulting democracy by sending the rabble to storm the Capitol, alternatively, is a nasty look.
It jogs my memory a little bit of the response of the institution “white-shoe” regulation companies to the gleeful lawbreaking of the Bush White Home within the early years of the World Struggle on Terror. Hardly any of the massive companies wished to assist us combat our circumstances, particularly those at Guantánamo, for the primary two years after 9/11. (There have been exceptions.) The Bush administration officers on the opposite facet of these circumstances seemed like competent technocrats simply doing their thuggish greatest to maintain us protected, authorized niceties be damned. In distinction, with Trump the mainstream bar was able to file circumstances in opposition to him from day one.
Having watched every scenario play out in actual time, I can’t assist pondering that, for institution authority figures like Cheney, Gonzales, and certainly the massive regulation companies, the inept, déclassé nature of the Trump administration appeared like extra of a menace than something Trump really had an opportunity to perform.
Present Difficulty
Notably, most of these companies once more appear unwilling to become involved with representing college students, college, and organizations doing Palestine advocacy on college campuses—a problem on which there appears to be zero daylight between the Republican and Democratic institutions. What the white-shoe companies are to capitalism, the “nationwide safety institution” is to overseas coverage. And one additionally suspects that the Cheney sorts—the crew who introduced you the Iraq conflict, and wholeheartedly assist the genocidal conflict in Gaza—discover Trump poses a grave menace to their imaginative and prescient of “nationwide safety.” Once more, the irony is wealthy—however maybe the extra vital level is that Harris doesn’t pose a elementary menace to their imaginative and prescient for projecting American energy on the earth.
There are fairly a number of different Bush Republicans for Harris. J. Michael Luttig introduced in August that he would vote for Harris, apparently mad that Trump needs to “terminate” elements of our sacred Structure—the identical Michael Luttig who, as a choose, terminated fairly a number of provisions of the Structure in 2005 by deciding {that a} US citizen may very well be held as an “enemy combatant,” even contained in the US. There may be additionally a letter signed by a veritable Military of Darkness—200 figures in previous GOP administrations and campaigns, principally notable as a result of I’ve by no means heard of any of them (“Nobodies for Harris”?). Harris even acquired a posthumous endorsement from Ronald Reagan over the weekend. (We haven’t heard from Undead Kissinger but; he may be holding out for extra genocide).
It’s honest to ask why different Bush administration legal professionals—most of whom additionally fancied themselves authorized intellectuals, members of the dignified institution elite—haven’t endorsed Harris. Is Torture Memo creator (and present Berkeley Regulation College professor) John Yoo ready for Harris to make clear her place on crushing the testicles of a suspect’s baby? Is former lawyer common (and present white-shoe regulation agency associate) Mike Mukasey ready for her to say waterboarding won’t be torture in spite of everything? What about former president Bush himself, a person clearly disturbed by Trump, however by no means actually all that elegant himself? Is he holding off to see the place the wealth tax factor goes? Or is he fearful he’s simply two seats on the Supreme Court docket away from shedding constitutional conflict crimes immunity?
Because of our sacred Structure, my vote right here in New York doesn’t actually matter, and for the primary time in my life I received’t be casting it for the Democratic candidate—due to Gaza. However there’s one other situation of surpassing significance to me on which neither Harris nor the Democratic platform has mentioned something: closing Guantánamo. The jail at the moment nonetheless homes 30 males whose presence there’s a legacy of torture.
The vast majority of the 16 males at present cleared for launch would have left years in the past however for the truth that they carry of their heads a document of what occurred in these secret CIA darkish websites. 4 presidential elections in the past, there was additionally bipartisan consensus on the destiny of Guantánamo: Bush, Obama and McCain all agreed that it must be closed as a result of it hurts our nationwide safety. Certainly, ISIS tortured its personal hostages on video in Guantánamo-orange jumpsuits. Now that he’s a lame duck with little to lose, Biden can shut the jail down, if—not like seemingly everybody else—he remembers it’s nonetheless open. Doing so could be an vital step in putting assist for torture again outdoors the boundaries of respectable political debate.
The opinions expressed herein are solely Shayana Kadidal’s personal and don’t specific the views or opinions of his employer.
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