With the arrogance of the unelected and the power of the unaccountable, these witnesses to nothing revel in their veto over foreign policy.
When a member of the military pulls rank on a ranking member of Congress, when he politicizes his service by admonishing a public servant, when he acts as if the ribbons pinned to his jacket are more legitimate than the pin every congressman wears, when he uses his uniform to command attention—and attempts to commandeer authority—he indicts no one but himself.
When the man in question is Alexander Vindman, his opening statement is a closing argument for the opposition.
When the women in question are Fiona Hill and Marie Yovanovitch, their statements are nothing more than dross in a diplomatic pouch.
All three statements read like dispatches from the administrative state.
With the arrogance of the unelected and the power of the unaccountable, these witnesses to nothing—neither present at the creation of presidential policy nor privy to the president’s conversations about policy—revel in their veto over foreign policy. They testify to their Americanness by condemning the chief executive of the American people.
To Vindman, Hill, and Yovanovitch the personal is political.
