The spies who are loved
One consequence of Trumpism has been the open entry of America’s national security state into politics. Former spies and generals such as Mark Milley, James Comey, Elissa Slotkin, Robert Mueller and Alexander and Eugene Vindman are all offered to us as stately and apolitical figures who have, in extremis, bestirred themselves in defense of the republic. America’s governing class increasingly relies on such people to lead it, as Virginia’s new Governor Abigail Spanberger shows. They have evolved a distinct rhetorical style. With the exception of Milley these people pose as scrupulously neutral bureaucrats who have, in a quivering way, finally raised a voice in protest. “This president is unethical, and untethered
