Jennifer Rubin has been one of the best WaPo columnists for years. Yes, she's definitely on the conservative side, but she has been forcefully anti-Trump from the beginning, pro-gay marriage, pro-environment. I've heard her described as a Moynihan Democrat.
The headline of her latest column is so important:
Republican denial: They think tyrants won't come after them
It's always always always the same — some "in" group goes along with the crazy and the fascism because, even though they are not true believers, they think they'll be protected — after all, they helped enable the fascist takeover in the first place.
Many Republicans, including many business leaders, downplay the threat posed from Trump's potential return to the White House…[M]any Republicans arrogantly insist things would be fine in a second Trump term. They roll their eyes at the real potential for grotesque cronyism and corruption, use of the Justice Department against Trump's enemies, demolition of the professional civil service, and international disorder.
Industry titans consistently — be it in 1930s Europe or in present-day Hungary or in Gen. Augusto Pinochet's Chile or in Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil — imagine they can cut deals with autocrats or that persecution of disfavored groups will have no impact on the business environment. The economic and political upheaval an autocrat brings never fails to surprise those who insisted they could control him.
To that end, I'm inaugurating my first annual Hindenburg Award, which is NOT named after the dirigible that famously crashed and burned, but the man the dirigible was named after: Paul von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany in the Weimar Era. Hugely famous and a respected war hero, Hindenburg was an old school Junker, a conservative who hated Hitler… and was instrumental in bringing Hitler to power. In today's parlance, this was a wiser choice than siding with those damn dirty libs.
I was so torn. There's so many worthy recipients/enablers for this award. Mitch McConnell was certainly in the running. So was Rupert Murdoch. The list is long. But the winner of the first annual Hindenburg Award goes to… Lindsay Graham, who knows better but has decided to turn a blind eye in a craven effort to stay in with the in-crowd. A consummate flip-flopper, he's like a compass at the North Pole — he has no direction to point, so he points in all directions and hopes no one will notice.
They never learn.
