then that would become a way of
life for our country.
Many of your members, especially
after the Mueller report, were eager
to impeach, but you resisted. Why?
There is plenty of grist for the mill in the
Mueller report. But not the actual, “What
was the obstruction of justice about?” With
Ukraine, we had what his violation of the
Constitution was about. It just made all the
difference in the world. It was the dawning
of a new day, crossing the Rubicon, any
analogy you want to use or metaphor you
want to use. We had no choice, I had no
choice but to go forward. Especially after
the president admitted it to me on the
phone without even any embarrassment
about what he did and got caught doing.
Compare Trump to other presidents
you worked with.
While we had our differences of opinion—
even with President George W. Bush—they
believed in governance. Trump doesn’t
believe in governance. So it’s very hard to
see what would motivate him to do
something really good and transformative.
The only thing that he has accomplished,
and it’s sad to say for our country, is a tax
cut that will give 83 percent of the benefits
to the top 1 percent. And he thinks that’s
an accomplishment.
Have you been at all surprised by the
behavior of the broader Republican
party in the Trump era?
No. I’m not surprised. I mean, their
oath of office is clearly to Donald Trump
and not to the Constitution of the
United States. Forgetting his personal
grotesqueness, there is nothing he is
about, in terms of the issues, that they
haven’t been there longer and worse.
How do you keep your finger on the
pulse of your caucus?
I do consider myself a weaver. That I’m
at this loom and I’m weaving and
I want every thread to be in the tapestry.
Whether it’s the big tent of where we
are—generationally, gender, gender ID,
philosophically, ethnically—all of
that adds strength to it. And in order to
take advantage of all that strength, it’s
important to respect what the difference
is that it brings to the tapestry. That’s what
we are, the Democratic party. We are
not a rubber stamp, lockstep party as the
Republicans are. We have our beautiful
diversity and that, again, is our strength.
One thing people say is that I can
bring people together. I don’t unify them;
our values do. —ABIGAIL TRACY
92 VANITY FAIR