Republican Rusty Bowers was America's newest hero. It didn't last 24 hours. [View all]

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/rusty-bowers-jan-6-testimony-was-powerful-he-still-backs-n1296499?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma

Arizona House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers’ voice wavered as he spoke to the House Jan. 6 committee Tuesday about his belief in a divinely inspired Constitution. His conviction was clear when describing the offense he took at former President Donald Trump asking him to break the law. In testimony that’s being likened to Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Bowers said violating the Constitution “because somebody just asked me to is foreign to my very being.”

Like the fellow Republicans who joined him on Tuesday’s panel, Bowers was willing to speak the taboo that has condemned so many of Republicans: Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and tried to persuade officials like Bowers to help him illegally stay in office. But Bowers stood out for his simple yet eloquent musings on the nature of courage and democracy.

Three short sentences burn away the patina of bravery that Bowers had cloaked himself in.
It was easy to get lost in the moment that Bowers created — but then reality comes crashing in. In an interview with the Associated Press, Bowers said of Trump: “If he is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again. Simply because what he did the first time, before Covid, was so good for the county. In my view it was great.”

Those three short sentences burn away the patina of bravery that Bowers had cloaked himself in and undoes any of the admiration I’d had for him as he testified on Tuesday. Because what is the point of a principle if it is only adhered to in moments of extreme duress? What does it say that once the moment of danger has passed, the driving force behind that danger is once again welcomed with open arms? How can there be such forgiveness without any atonement or repentance from the person who has done you wrong?

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