Listening to Cassidy Hutchinson
I’ve been shut off from the world with nothing to photograph and nothing exotic to report and so I’ve stopped writing posts. But for an old man writing a daily post, whether anyone reads it or not, is a good exercise. It keeps me going, and in this week it can keep me going until I get on the first of four flights next Tuesday for my 24 hour trip to Sri Lanka.
What I am writing about today didn’t happen today but it is part of my catching up on the daily posts and could have as easily happened today.
Susie and Todd watched a You Tube interview by Ken Burns with Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked for Mark Meadows when he was Chief of Staff For Donald Trump in the last year of his presidency. She had access to everything that was going on in the White House and finally testified to the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.
The first thing that has stood out for me is that the Republicans in government who felt the attack on the Capitol to keep Biden’s confirmation as newly elected President from happening was wrong, was truly and insurrection were women, Liz Cheney, and along with Cassidy Hutchinson, who was 25 at the time, two other young women. Except for Adam Kissinger, where were the men?
The second thing that stood out was that Cassidy was a committed Republican who believed in the goals of the Trump administration and who felt that she was serving her country well by working in the Trump White House. Her father is an extremely hard worker who distrusts big government. Her parents felt that Donald Trump was the first president to truly represent them. She was the first person in her family to go to college. Her life experience made her a Republican. She was a good, principled person who felt she was doing the right thing.
And the third thing that struck me was how well she spoke, how intelligent she was, how carefully she thought things out, how nuanced she was and how she admitted that she wasn’t a hero but a person who slowly came to see the light. I had tremendous respect for her. For me she was very much worth listening to and a person who makes me think in a new way.
When asked what she could do to convince others that democracy was in danger she replied that she wouldn’t try to convince die hard Maga people. She wouldn’t argue with anyone or reject anyone for supporting the attack on the Capitol. She would listen to the people who had the same Republican strong feelings as she has and point out to them that the issue at this point wasn’t whether Republican or Democratic policies were right, but a much larger issue was one that really mattered, whether democracy would survive or be crushed by Donald Trump.
I think she would have a much bigger chance of being heard by MAGA people than I would. But I feel that her approach is very helpful to me as well. She helps me to deal with polarization in a new way. I will wonder about that tomorrow.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 