Here’s what we need to do if we want more Mitt Romneys and fewer Josh Hawleys.
By Peter Beinart
Jan. 15, 2021
Two of the few Republican senators willing to defy President Trump: Mitt Romney, left, and John McCain.Credit.Brooks Kraft/Corbis, via Getty Images
Now that Donald Trump has been defanged, leading Republicans are rushing to denounce him. It’s a little late. The circumstances were different then, but a year ago, only one Republican senator, Mitt Romney, backed impeachment. In a party that has been largely servile, Mr. Romney’s courage stands out.
Why, in the face of immense pressure, did Mr. Romney defend the rule of law? And what would it take to produce more senators like him? These questions are crucial if America’s constitutional system, which has been exposed as shockingly fragile, is to survive. The answer may be surprising: To get more courageous senators, Americans should elect more who are near the end of their political careers.
There’s no real reason for the Senate not to try him immediately.
By Steven G. Calabresi and Norman Eisen
Mr. Calabresi, a Republican, is a professor at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law. Mr. Eisen, a Democrat, is a senior fellow at Brookings and outside counsel for the nonpartisan Voter Protection Program.
Jan. 13, 2021
Credit.Doug Mills/The New York Times
One of us is a Republican who proudly served in the Reagan administration and voted for Donald Trump in 2016; the other is a Democrat who worked for President Barack Obama and served as a special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment and trial.