A True American Hero Just Risked His Life For Us—Again

Heather Cox Richardson reported today that Elon Musk publicly called Alexander Vindman a traitor and accused him of being on Ukraine’s payroll. If Vindman’s name sounds familiar, is because of his earlier heroism, disclosing Donald Trump’s attempt to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Vindman struck right back:

“Elon, here you go again making false and completely unfounded accusations without providing any specifics,” Vindman posted back. “That’s the kind of response one would expect from a conspiracy theorist. What oligarch? What treason?

“Let me help you out with the facts: I don’t take/have never taken money from any money from oligarchs Ukrainian or…otherwise.

“I do run a nonprofit foundation. The HereRightMattersFoundation.org to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s unprovoked attack on Feb 24, 2022. I served in the military for nearly 22 years and my loyalty is to supporting the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That’s why I reported presidential corruption when I witnessed an effort to steal an election. That report was in classified channels and when called by Congress to testify about presidential corruption I did so, as required by law.

“You, Elon, appear to believe you can act with impunity and are attempting to silence your critics. I’m not intimidated.”

Let’s make it perfectly clear: Vindman is taking enormous personal risks. Trump is an admirer of Vladimir Putin, and an awful lot of Putin’s enemies “wake up dead.”

I’m not accusing Trump of killing his adversaries. But he has made it abundantly clear that he will use the entire power and might of the US government to go after his perceived enemies. And he has shown repeatedly that he has no loyalty to anyone other than himself, that everything is transactional with him, and that he doesn’t place a value on things like truth, functional government, or policies that benefit ordinary working- and middle-class people. So at the very least, Vindman faces risks of imprisonment, financial losses, tax audits, and more.

But Vindman understands something Trump’s and Musk’s apologists either don’t realize or don’t care about. When you give in to threats, you enable bullies and thugs to push for even more power and status. When you grovel at their feet, you empower them. And when you stand up to them, especially if you are putting yourself at risk, they shrink. They withdraw. They lose status.

Vindman is denying Musk, and by extension Trump, the power to make him voluntarily capitulate.

And meanwhile, when we see someone bullying someone, especially if the victim is showing fear, we are not powerless. We can intervene. If we know of people caught in immigration roundups or arrested as dissidents, we can bring visibility, tell the media, organize support. There are many resources and trainings to help with this. The important thing is to show the bullies that we do not approve and will not cooperate, that we will nonviolently defend the defenseless and withdraw support from the power structure.