Having never faced serious consequences during a lifetime of shady dealings President Donald Trump did as expected and began to punish individuals who testified against him in the impeachment inquiry and trial.
While Lt. Col. Vindman, a Ukraine expert and Purple Heart recipient, was set to rotate out of his national security council post this summer, he was abruptly fired and escorted out of the White House on Friday.
For me, two statements summarize the situation. The first is by Ambassador David Pressman, who represents Vindman:
“Today, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was escorted out of the White House where he has dutifully served his country and his President. . .
“There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth. His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful.
“During his decades of service to this country, LTC Alexander Vindman has served quietly but dutifully, and he has served with honor. He came into the public eye only when subpoenaed to testify before Congress, and he did what the law demanded.
“In recent months, many entrusted with power in our political system have cowered out of fear. And, yet, a handful of men and women, not endowed with prestige or power, but equipped only with a sense of right borne out of years of quiet service to their country made different choices. They courageously chose to honor their duty with integrity, to trust the truth, and to put their faith in country ahead of fear. And they have paid a price.
“The truth has cost LTC Alexander Vindman his job, his career, and his privacy. He did what any member of our military is charged with doing every day: he followed orders, he obeyed his oath, and he served his country, even when doing so was fraught with danger and personal peril. And for that, the most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit – has decided to exact revenge.
“LTC Alexander Vindman leaves the White House today. But we must not accept the departure of truth, duty, and loyalty that he represents.
“In this country right matters, and so does truth. Truth is not partisan. If we allow truthful voices to be silenced, if we ignore their warnings, eventually there will be no one left to warn us.”
The other statement was by Congressman Seth Moulton, an Iraq War veteran, in a television interview last Friday:
“[Trump] is trying to create a cult where the only requirement, the only requirement to be part of this administration, frankly [to be] part of the Republican Party, is to be loyal to Donald Trump.
“And the reason why this is dangerous is because it puts lives at risk. The reason why this is dangerous is because back in the George W. Bush administration people did not have the courage to question Colin Powell at the U.N. People did not have the courage to question George Tenet when he came with this supposedly perfect intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As a result, people like LTC Vindman and I went to Iraq. We saw friends wounded and killed because people weren’t willing to find the truth.
“If you have an administration where there is no dissent, where there [are] no conflicting opinions, where there is not any interest in finding the truth, where there is only one thing, doing what the President wants, then mistakes like Iraq will happen again, and Americans will lose their lives. That’s why stakes are so high with what’s going on tonight.”
High stakes indeed.
