This is the second installment in the Believe, Fight, Win series I launched last week. It is a six-week series where, once a week, I’ll give you a reason to feel some hope, stay engaged in our country and your community, and some steps we can take to make a difference. You can see Part 1 HERE.
In the video above, I talk about the red line I finally reached with Donald Trump. For me, it was January 6.
Trump had already crossed plenty of lines. I criticized him publicly and often voted against him, but I remained a Republican member of Congress who believed that eventually there would be a point when enough Republicans would finally say: That’s too much. We can’t defend this anymore.
I didn’t realize soon enough that every time Trump crossed a line, Republicans would simply draw a new one.
After the 2020 election, Trump claimed an election he had lost was stolen. Bill Barr, Trump’s own attorney general, said the Justice Department had found no fraud that could have changed the result. Republican officials in the states certified Biden’s victory, and members of Congress knew Trump had lost. Some still tried to help him overturn the election, while others admitted privately that he had lost but refused to say so publicly.
On the night of January 6, after we returned to the Capitol, 147 Republicans still voted against certifying the election results. Nobody started out by saying that Trump should be able to stay in office if he yelled loudly enough about nonexistent fraud. They excused lies because they liked Trump’s judges or because they were scared of a primary. When confronted with one of Trump’s outrageous tweets, they could easily dismiss it as just a tweet. They could say the press was exaggerating, or that Democrats were worse. They got there one excuse at a time.
By January 6, breaking with Trump also meant admitting that you had defended things you shouldn’t have defended. For Republicans in Congress, it could also mean a primary challenge or the end of your career. That was when another excuse became easiest to make.
Which brings me to the point of today’s Believe, Fight, Win piece: Decide where your lines are now, before keeping them in place costs you something.
And I am not going to just talk at you here. I want you to really think about this and write them down.
Pick a few red lines and actually memorialize them on a piece of paper or on your computer, before there’s a candidate you feel obligated to defend or an old argument you feel compelled to explain away.
If you’re a Democrat, it’s easy to list things Donald Trump could do that would outrage you. Instead, think about a Democratic president you voted for and wanted to succeed. Decide what would make you stop defending that president, at least on that specific matter. Republicans should do (and should have done a long time ago) the same with a Republican president.
You may wonder what picking your red lines for your own side has to do with the Believe, Fight, Win series. Well, I’m glad you asked. The short answer is that I saw Republicans win a lot of elections and then immediately lose their integrity once they took office. Trump is the obvious example, but it happened for years, starting with embracing Fox News and the scam artists who sprung up during and after the Tea Party wave. Put another way, what’s the point of winning elections if you lose your soul?
Kevin McCarthy drew a clear line after January 6, then moved it almost immediately. After January 6, he said Trump “bears responsibility” for what happened at the Capitol. Less than three weeks later, McCarthy was at Mar-a-Lago posing for a photograph with him. Mitch McConnell said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for provoking the attack. Three years later, he endorsed Trump for president.
I don’t think either man suddenly decided January 6 didn’t matter. They just realized that sticking to what they had said about Trump could hurt them politically. They didn’t have to admit all at once that they had been wrong. They just had to come up with one more reason to stay with Trump.
Most of us don’t have a seat in Congress to lose, but we can make the same kinds of excuses. Maybe you’ve defended a politician for years and hate the idea of admitting that the friend you argued with had a point.
Having a red line doesn’t mean you should never change your mind. I changed mine about Trump, and I’m glad I did. If the facts prove you wrong about a politician, admit it. Don’t keep defending him by lowering the standard you once held him to.
And decide in advance what crossing that line will cost him. Next to each line, write down what you’ll do if your candidate crosses it.
Maybe you stop donating. Sometimes it may mean voting for somebody whose views on taxes or immigration you dislike because the person you normally support crossed a line you said mattered.
Otherwise, it isn’t much of a red line.
One of the things that frustrated me most in Congress was hearing Republicans say privately what they refused to say publicly. They knew Trump had lost. They just weren’t willing to risk the backlash that came with saying so publicly.
You can decide now, before a candidate you support crosses the line. Decide what you won’t excuse from a president you support. Then decide what you’ll do if he or she does it anyway. Because you don’t actually win if your side abandons every promise and principle that you once stood for once you take power.
After your side crosses the line is the worst possible time to decide where you meant to put it.
