Letters from an American - December 23, 2024

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

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December 23rd, 2024. Today, the House Ethics Committee released its report on its investigation of widely reported allegations that while in office, former representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican of Florida, had engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate videos on the House floor, misused state records, diverted campaign funds for his own use, and accepted a bribe or an impermissible gift. The report says that the committee found substantial evidence that Gates had, in fact, regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him, engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl, used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions,

accepted gifts in excess of permissible amounts, arranged official help for one of his sexual partners, whom he falsely identified to the State Department as a constituent in getting a passport, tried to obstruct the committee's investigation, and acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House. The committee concluded that there was substantial evidence that Representative Gates violated House rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.

It did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that Representative Gates violated the federal sex trafficking statute. Although Representative Gates did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel. Gates is a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to put Gates in charge of the Justice Department. That appointment would have him responsible for law enforcement across the United States. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, tried hard to keep the

report hidden once Trump had tapped gates for Attorney General, saying he strongly requested that the Ethics Committee not issue the report. The Ethics Committee at first deadlocked over releasing it, but Andrew Solander of Axios reported today that two Republicans on the committee, Representative Dave Joyce, a Republican of Ohio, and Andrew Garbarino, a Republican of New York, switched their votes to join the Democrats supporting the release of the report. Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, a Republican of Mississippi, and Representatives Michelle Fischbach, a Republican of Minnesota, and John Rutherford, a Republican of Florida, all

opposed releasing the report, saying that they lost jurisdiction after Gates resigned, which he did when Trump announced his intention of putting him in the office of Attorney General. In their comments in the report, they said they do not challenge the committee's findings, but object to their disclosure. they do not challenge the committee's findings, but object to their disclosure. Republican party leaders were willing to put a man their own committee says likely violated state and federal laws into the position of the nation's highest law enforcement officer.

That scenario reflects the extraordinary danger of a country in which one party's supporters see themselves as the country's only legitimate governing party. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon's team worried that the Republican Party would hemorrhage voters in the upcoming midterm elections. That spring, Nixon announced that rather than ending the Vietnam War, he had sent ground troops into Vietnam's neighbor, Cambodia. the Vietnam War, he had sent ground troops into Vietnam's neighbor, Cambodia. In the protests that followed, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd at Kent State University, killing four protesters. Nixon's clumsy suggestion that the protesters were responsible for the shooting began to

turn middle-class white Americans, his key demographic, against him. So Nixon's advisors turned to a strategy they called positive polarization. They believed that dividing the country was a positive development because it stoked the anger they needed to get their voters to turn out. They deliberately turned against what they called the media, the left, and the liberal academic community, drawing voters to Nixon by accusing their opponents of being lazy, dangerous, and anti-American. This polarization became a key technique of the Republican Party in the Reagan years

when talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh began to fill the airwaves with attacks on feminazis, liberals, and black Americans, who they claimed were trying to impose socialism on America. By 1990, a Republican group associated with then-Representative Newt Gingrich, a Republican of Georgia, compiled a list of words for Republican candidates to use

when talking about Democrats. They included decay, sick, greed, corruption, radical, and traitor. In contrast, candidates were encouraged to refer to Republicans using words like opportunity, courage, principled, caring, and peace. Over the past 30 years, Republicans appear to have come to believe that nothing is more important than making sure Republicans control the government. Less competition has given rise to states like Florida that are essentially controlled by the Republicans.

This in turn means there is very little oversight of the party's lawmakers, making obviously problematic candidates able to survive far longer than they would if there were opposition to highlight poor behavior. It also means that party members appear willing to overlook deeply problematic behavior in their own lawmakers, who come to feel immune while attacking Democrats for what Republicans claim is the same behavior. Notably, in February of this year, in a closed hearing before the House Oversight Committee,

Gates badgered President Biden's son, Hunter, over his drug use. Hunter Biden responded that he had been absolutely transparent about his drug use and asked, "'What does that have to do with whether or not you're going to go forward with an impeachment of my father, other than to simply try to embarrass me? The answer is that while the drug use of private citizen Hunter Biden did not affect the U.S. government, the drug use of Congress member Matt Gaetz did.

In a healthy political system, political opposition would have called out his behavior long before he was tapped to become one of the most important figures in the government. Crucially, in such a system, state law enforcement would have pursued Gaetz and his own party would have dropped him like a hot potato long before it had to face commentary like that of progressive journalist Brian Tyler Cohen, who today wrote, congratulations to Mike Johnson for trying to pressure the House Ethics Committee

into burying a report that found the then nominee for attorney general had engaged in sexual activity with a minor. Party of family values, am I right? The Republicans' determination to hold on to the government at all costs showed in a different story that broke this weekend. Representative Kay Granger, a Republican of Texas, has been absent from Congress since mid-summer. On Sunday, Carlos Tercios of the Dallas Express reported

that he found the 81-year year old representative in a memory care and assisted living home. In the months since she went missing, her staff continued to submit material to the congressional record, making it look like she was still active. Chad Pergram of the Fox News Channel reported that a senior Republican source explained why Granger retained her seat despite her incapacity. Referring to what Pergram called the paper-thin Republican House majority, the source said, frankly we needed the numbers. Granger's condition has reignited the national conversation about the age and capacity of our lawmakers, an issue very much on the table for the 78-year-old president-elect, whose own behavior has been erratic for a while

now. On Sunday, Trump spoke at Turning Point's America Fest in Phoenix, where, as Aaron Rupar of Public Notice recorded, he entered as if he were at a professional wrestling event. He proceeded to deliver a speech much like his campaign speeches. It had an important new element in it though that he had pioneered on social media the night before. He claimed that Panama is not treating the U.S. well and threatened that he will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full,

quickly and without question. On Sunday he posted on social media that he wants Greenland too. For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. Panama's President, José Raúl Molino, responded that, "...every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zones is part of Panama, and it will continue to be. Our country's sovereignty and independence are not negotiable." Prime Minister Mut B. Uylu of Greenland said, Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not

lose our long struggle for freedom. To my knowledge, Trump never mentioned taking the Panama Canal or Greenland during the campaign and such dramatic action will likely undermine the principle that countries can't just take over weaker neighbors. This principle is central to the United Nations which holds that territorial integrity and sovereignty are sacrosanct and that members shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. David Sanger and Lisa Friedman of the New York Times note that Trump's aggression reflects the instincts of a real estate developer who suddenly has the power of the world's largest military to back up his negotiating strategy. In a healthy political

system, pronouncements from an elderly president-elect that could upend 80 years of foreign policy would spark significant discussion from all quarters. Letters from an American was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.