Look At What They Make You Give
Nancy Mace and Katie Britt lied and misled in service of Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda. It's worth asking why.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.
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The Price You Pay
On Sunday morning, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace appeared on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos and spent approximately ten minutes trying to explain how as a woman — and a rape survivor — she could justify her endorsement of President Trump.
It didn’t go well.
Repeatedly, she accused Stephanopoulos of trying to shame her, which was indirectly true. Mace should feel shame, as a rape survivor, for endorsing a man who has been found guilty of sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll. But if she looks in the mirror each night and questions her life decisions that were not apparent during her combative appearance with Stephanopoulos.
In defending Trump, she repeatedly disparaged Carroll, even though, like Mace, she is a rape survivor. Mace suggested that Trump was somehow less liable for sexual assault because he was found guilty in a civil trial and not a criminal one. That’s the old “it’s not rape if it’s not a crime” or “don’t shame women who have been raped unless their attacker was found guilty in a civil court.” She also criticized Carroll for joking about what she would do with the money the court had awarded her from Trump, which, truth be told, feels a bit like shaming
At no point did she condemn Trump for physically attacking Carroll and sexually assaulting her. Nor did she condemn Trump for repeatedly defaming Carroll, which one might suggest is a form of shaming.
As I watched this pathetic display, I couldn’t help but think of this scene from the “Bourne Identity.”
As he is dying, one of the film’s Deep State assassins, played by Clive Owen, says to Jason Bourne, “Look at what they make us give.”
To be clear, this is a clumsy and inexact analogy since Owen’s character, along with Bourne, are manipulated by their CIA handlers (though they still had a free element in choosing to become assassins). Nancy Mace has decided to carry water for Donald Trump. No one is putting a gun to her head — or shooting her in a wheat field.
But, at the same time, if she wants to hold elected office as a Republican, she needs to “give” a lot — and that means defending a convicted rapist who has been credibly accused of committing multiple sexual assaults. The whole exchange with Stephanopolous is humiliating (you can watch it here), but to be a Republican member of the House of Representatives, this is what you must give.
Then there is Alabama Senator Katie Britt, who gave the GOP State of the Union response on Thursday night and turned herself into a national laughingstock.
Before being elected to the Senate, Britt traveled the professional trajectory of a traditional Republican politician. She was president of the student body at the University of Alabama and went to law school. She got a job on Capitol Hill for Senator Richard Shelby, became CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, and then ran for Senate, beating former MAGA House member Mo Brooks. In an ordinary political world, Britt would be a member of the Republican establishment.
But as we saw on Thursday, the price one must pay to become a national Republican figure is to pledge allegiance to MAGA. So in her SOTU response, Britt had to play the role of an “American Mom” perched in her kitchen, breathlessly delivering her remarks and trying, as best she could, to scare the shit out of voters about the alleged threat from undocumented immigrants. She told the horrific story of Karla Jacinto Romero, who was sex trafficked at the age of twelve, and strongly implied that her tale was somehow the fault of President Biden’s border policies. Britt says Romero’s story should never have happened in the United States — and as it turns out, it didn’t. It occurred between 2004 and 2008 when Biden was a US Senator and George W. Bush was president. Oh, and also, it took place in Mexico, not the United States.
It bears noting that while Britt clearly believes Romero’s story is tragic if she had become pregnant while being sexually abused, Britt thinks she should be forced to bring that child to term. Britt also used Romero’s story to justify more robust border controls, which would harm women in similar situations by making it more difficult for them to escape their horrific treatment by seeking asylum in the United States.
From all accounts, Britt isn’t a MAGA warrior at heart. From what I’m told, she is a relatively bright and normal person. But the modern GOP is not interested in bright and normal. It wants bigoted attacks on undocumented immigrants that scare Americans into voting for Republican politicians. In short, Katie Britt can’t be Katie Britt, former corporate lawyer and CEO; she has to be Katie Britt, an American Mom and a mini-Donald Trump who uses the tragic mistreatment of women to score cheap political points.
It makes you wonder: is it worth what they ask you to give?
What’s Going On
Claire Potter’s take on Britt’s performance is brilliant.
Karla Jacinto Romero is none too happy about how Britt lied about her story.
Abraham Wyner makes a compelling argument that the casualty numbers in Gaza are severely inflated.
Democrat Katie Porter claimed that her third-place finish in the California Senate primary resulted from a rigged election. In a quintessential example of the difference between the two parties, Democrats were the loudest in condemning her.
Musical Interlude
Thanks for the hat tip, Michael!
That is a great clip from a great movie.
BTW: If you like Clive Owens, he is the lead in a new short series called "Monsieur Spade"
The premise is that after The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade moves to France, and years later there is a lot of drama. Fabulous show, and Clive does Bogart justice.
Great post BTW