It was with great satisfaction that I watched Former Lt. Governor of Georgia Geoff Duncan take the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night. Duncan is a lifelong Republican and a staunch conservative, but he was welcomed and applauded by the very blue audience, because he is one of the rare Republican elected officials who threw away his promising career to speak hard truths that today’s Republican party does not want to hear:
– Donald Trump is an authoritarian demagogue
– Donald Trump has no allegiance to our Constitution or to the foundational principles of our nation
– Donald Trump is a criminal and a danger to the future of our country and our world.
Looking straight into the cameras and addressing his fellow Republicans, Duncan emotionally declared:
“Just because you vote for Harris in 2024, doesn’t mean you’re a Democrat. It just means you’re a patriot. You’re doing your duty as an American to step up to the plate and reclaim this country’s future.”
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I had that same feeling of hope and pride as I watched Republican Olivia Troye, a Homeland Security advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence and a whistleblower about Trump’s COVID failures. She gave a rousing speech about the principles that she shared with Duncan, and compellingly voiced the grave national security threat posed by a second Trump presidency, a concern expressed by literally dozens of former Trump officials.
I am a former Republican. I left the party long ago over policy issues related to the Iraq War that seem almost quaint now, against the backdrop of what the Republican Party has become in the past decade. And over the past several years I have felt shame, seeing what my former party has made of itself, in its subservience to the cult of a single man, a convicted felon and abuser of women who only looks out for himself. I still feel that shame, but on that night it was outmatched by the pride I felt, seeing Duncan and Troye stand faithfully for their principles, in the face of great personal danger and ongoing threats to their safety. They are the best of us.
READ: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick Is A Loyal Soldier in the Crusade to End Reproductive Freedom and Ban Abortion
That pride was tempered with a different emotion, anger. Because we have another Republican, right here in our community, who could have been (and should have been) up there with them. Our Congressman, Brian Fitzpatrick has tried, unsuccessfully, to separate himself from Donald Trump. But instead of standing with courage and defending American principles, our cowardly Representative has relied on silence and evasiveness.
Fitzpatrick does everything in his power to avoid any mention of the former president. You can call his office to ask directly about his position on Trump and will always get the same reply, a non-committal “no comment.” There are videos of him scurrying from reporters who ask for his position on other important issues of our time. Local, regional and national media have all commented on Fitzpatrick’s unresponsiveness. Fitzpatrick also famously refuses to hold town halls, to face his own constituents who have questions about what he feels and where he stands on issues of principle. Meanwhile, he votes in near lockstep with his MAGA colleagues, and promotes their legislative agenda to the district, even as he touts himself as bipartisan.
Instead of standing on principle and defending the constitution, Fitzpatrick cowers in his office, hoping that enough of Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District will be swayed by his communications team’s output and his big campaign signs. Unlike Duncan and Troye, our Congressman has decided to put career and re-election over the preservation of our democracy.
John F. Kennedy wrote an acclaimed book “Profiles in Courage,” which told the stories of patriotic political leaders prepared to sacrifice careers for the greater good. Duncan, Troye, Cheney, Kinzinger and many others will deserve an honored place in a new edition. Sadly, Congressman Fitzpatrick will not.
