The Courage of Jan. 6 Witness Cassidy Hutchinson - Noonan WSJ (realy good)

[question everything]

Only a woman would have done what Cassidy Hutchinson did because only a woman, in a place of such power and prestige, would have registered everything and taken such close notes instead of spending that time swanning around being important.

Here she was, all by herself, 26 years old, in front of the whole country. I found her testimony to the Jan. 6 committee entirely credible. If she lied I see no motive. Any who know otherwise, who can rebut what she said, should come forward and, like her, testify under oath.

She was steadily promoted in Donald Trump’s White House, rising from intern to primary assistant to chief of staff Mark Meadows. She was by all accounts professional and discreet, a conservative, a Trumpian committed to the higher political mission. The powerful men around her appear to have been undefended in her presence and spoke freely—she’s only a kid, a girl, what can she do? She helps the steward clean ketchup off the wall after the president has a tantrum and throws his plates and silverware. In the scheme of things she’s nobody. And yet such people can upend empires.

By being there this week, she showed a lot more guts than the men of that White House. Mr. Meadows, counsel Pat Cipollone and others—her testimony made them sound like a bunch of jabbering hysterics. You tell the president not to do that! No, you tell him! They worried about legal exposure. Ms. Hutchinson paraphrased Mr. Cipollone: “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable!”

You get the impression she, on the other hand, was worrying about what was right.

(snip)

I end with Ms. Cheney. When the boys in GOP congressional leadership stripped her of her position and threw her over the side, they were, as usual, making a mistake. She was far less dangerous inside the tent fighting Mr. Trump than outside the tent bringing him to justice. It would have been easy for them to put Republicans on the committee, but when Nancy Pelosi rejected their first two choices, they withdrew, calculating Republican absence would damage the committee. It made the committee—less obfuscation, less sowing of chaos.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/courage-cassidy-hutchinson-testify-ketchup-wall-steering-wheel-meadows-jan-6-11656626001 (subscription)

[vanlassie]

1. Wow. Peggy sobered up long enough to write that.

[cilla4progress]

2. I hate to sound like a sexist, but...

yes, a woman.

Women, people of color, LGBTQ+, other marginalized populations..who else is going to speak truth to power? The powerful?

Never.

The rare truthteller, for example, John Dean - himself a co-conspirator...

This is why the only way to equity is through inclusion.

[scarletlib]

3. That was good.

She hit the nail on the head with the men swanning award being important.
In every place I worked that is exactly true. Everyday the men spent an inordinate amount of time TALKING about their accomplishments. They spent more time talking than doing.

Meanwhile the women were hard at work doing the actual job they were hired to do.

Also the woman was listening. Since we have always been inferior to them and “frightened “ of their power to subjugate us, we became very good listeners. It was a matter of survival.

[question everything]

5. I had to look up the meaning of swanning..

And I agree with you that men often shoot the breeze while women come to a meeting all ready to get going.

And it never stung more during the 2008 campaign when the candidates were sitting, not on a podium and Hillary had to "justify" that she was friendly.. or something, I do not recall the exact term...

[Paladin]

4. Best column Noonan's ever done.

And I say that as a long-standing Noonan critic.