I was elected to Congress as a Republican ten years ago—after college, I had worked on the Hill as a staffer and the experience instilled in me a strong desire to serve myself. It was an honor and privilege to represent the people of Michigan and, although it was frustrating at times, I enjoyed the work.
But today the most common question I get from people curious about my experience is: “Was it this bad when you were there?”
Most of my peers were more capable and intelligent than the media portrayed them, although the place was completely dysfunctional. It still is. And it’s gotten worse. More toxic. The focus is on winning—i.e. beating the other party—and playing the blame game, not solving problems. (I was not very good at this game; I got a few bills across the finish line but mostly focused on helping constituents. Listening to and helping the people in my district was the best part of the job.)
Members I have kept in touch with are miserable, and the deplorable state of affairs in our Capitol today is certainly a driving factor behind many recent lawmakers’ resignations. One senior Republican recently told Punchbowl that ““This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage… And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen.”
Republicans in particular have an untenable choice—stand up to President Trump’s unconstitutional actions or fall in line and accomplish nothing.
One of the most unfortunate changes in our cultural echo chambers now is that hate and violence is not only expected, but acceptable. Trump’s ability to energize his MAGA base against any Republican who demonstrates independent thinking has only exacerbated this problem, as has the impact of social media (on both sides of the aisle). I remember asking one of my conservative colleagues about the Freedom Caucus back in 2018. He told me he had dropped out as the group’s only goal was “to use social media to fundraise off our dysfunction.”
I was not in Congress when Reagan was President, but I do remember more than once sitting on the House floor and listening to older members romanticize about the good old days when Reagan and Speaker Tip O’Neill would have lunch, trade a few jokes and work together for the benefit of our country.
“Even when I disagreed with President Obama, I never had to worry about him upholding the Oath of office.”— Former GOP Rep. David Trott
Apparently, Speaker Mike Johnson has forgotten that the Legislative and Executive branches are co-equal, so he is fine letting the President run the country through executive orders. Under his “leadership,” the GOP seems comfortable viewing the Constitution as a helpful but optional reference guide as opposed to the bedrock of our democracy. President Obama used executive orders, but King Donald has taken it to a new level, blowing up Article I of the Constitution just like the East Wing of the White House. I was there during some of his first term, yes, but Trump was not as adept at abusing his power back then—I can’t imagine serving today just waiting for him to tell me what to do or how to vote.
Let’s be clear, Trump’s executive branch is being run by a bunch of sycophants, felons and idiots. (Well, former felons—they’ve all been pardoned.) Break the law, go to prison, cut a check and become a special advisor to the president—what a great country we live in! The Senate confirmed Trump’s picks for key Cabinet roles, ambassadorships and many more positions of power with blind loyalty being the only criteria.
I served with several of these sycophants—Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem, Doug Collins and Lee Zeldin—and they were smart ten years ago. What happened? Obviously they’ve had to stop thinking to keep Trump happy and secure their jobs. I’m just not sure it’s worth it.
We fought under Obama, but members were less likely to judge, condemn and threaten our colleagues. Today the goal far too often is to not just win, but to destroy anyone who looks, thinks or acts differently than we do. I am not sure anymore, but I hope most Americans do not think this is right.
One of my close friends while I was in Congress was John Delaney, a Democrat from Maryland. Delaney wrote a good book, The Right Answer, which addressed Congress’ inability to solve problems—and argues, correctly, that “the cost of doing nothing is not nothing.” Partisanship was there ten years ago, and the bad news is I am not sure anything is going to improve anytime soon. Maybe ten years from now in a post-Trump/Vance world—if such a world exists—our elected leaders will focus more on results than job security. We deserve it.
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