“She became a celebrity,” I was told by a colleague of Mrs. Stefanik’s Bush administration, who asked for anonymity so that this person could speak freely about what is still a very sensitive subject. Up to that point, this person said, “She wasn’t fully on board the Trump train yet. Then she was sent to first class and couldn’t get out. And first class is quite luxurious.”
I contacted Ms. Stefanik’s communications director twice, asking for the congresswoman’s comment, but received no response. Ms Stefanik has argued in her defense that she reflects the opinion of a majority of the people in her district, and it does. Mr Trump carried her district by 14 percentage points in 2016. “I represent farmers, manufacturers and hardworking families who want someone to stand up for them, and President Trump spoke to those people,” she told Bannon on his show.
But even if you believe that it is the job of an elected representative to vote according to the will of the voters, rather than owe the voters your “judgment and conscience,” as British parliamentarian and conservative political theorist Edmund Burke put it. at one point or another that carrying out the will of the voters may become indefensible. That’s certainly true when it requires a member of Congress to support an incendiary president.
Watching what happened to Ms Stefanik is sad and disturbing because people who know her say she knows better. She was willing to be shaped by circumstances, even if circumstances drove her to ugly places and embrace conspiracy theories. Compare this to Ms. Cheney, who was stripped of her position in the Republican leadership and replaced by Ms. Stefanik. Ms. Cheney represents the people of Wyoming on many issues that matter to them, but she drew a line when it came to a fundamental attack on our democracy. She wouldn’t cross that line. Mrs. Stefanik did.
Ms. Stefanik’s story is important in part because it mirrors that of so many other Republicans. They, like Ms. Stefanik, are opportunists who live fully in the moment and shift their personas to further their immediate political self-interest. A commitment to ethical conduct, a commitment to the common good, and fidelity to the truth seem to them to have no intrinsic value. These qualities are mere tools, used when they are useful, but discarded when they are inconvenient.
The politicians and former Bush administration officials I spoke to feared that Republicans in Congress would conclude that Ms. Stefanik’s path to power is the path we should follow. The fast track to leadership is to deploy figures like Mr. Trump, Mr. Bannon, and what one of my interlocutors called “the army of the base” made up of QAnon supporters, Christian nationalists, right-wing talk radio enthusiasts and those who are determined to undo the elections.