Courageous Atlantic column from Jeremy:
I am a lifelong conservative. For the past 20 years, I have been a leader in the Federalist Society. I was nominated by President Donald Trump three times to serve as a federal judge, though I never secured a hearing, because then-Senator Kamala Harris blocked my nomination. I did not vote for President Joe Biden in 2020, and I hope he is defeated in 2024 by a principled and ethical conservative Republican.
But I also believe that Biden won the 2020 election fairly. Those who are enabling Trump’s ongoing effort to challenge the legitimacy of the election—John Eastman chief among them—should be rejected by all conservatives who love their country. He and others like him pose a clear and present danger to the health of our republic.
Following the election, Eastman represented Trump in challenging the election results on the basis of unsupported claims of fraud, and urged Vice President Mike Pence to block the electoral-vote count in Congress. These actions crossed a serious line because they sought to overturn the will of the voters. Now he is complaining about supposedly being deplatformed by the Federalist Society. He has specifically called me out, writing, “Some of the more vicious attacks on me have come from Federalist Society leaders like Jeremy Rosen, with no rebuttal opportunity afforded to me.” An email I wrote in the aftermath of the events of January 6, criticizing Eastman, was reported in the press, but I was far from the only conservative to make such points. Thus, I am not sure why he is singling me out….
But what Eastman complains about is not cancel culture. Eastman actively sought to help Trump steal an election he did not win. Had they succeeded, the peaceful and orderly transfer of power that is the hallmark of any democracy would have been threatened for the first time in our nation’s history. Seeking to subvert and damage our democracy is not the same as speaking freely, and it does not warrant any platform. Once our nation’s leaders refuse to be bound by the rule of law, the entire underpinning of our liberal democracy is lost.
The 2020 election was bitterly fought. Many people, including myself, had real concerns about the Biden-Harris agenda. But the fact that one is ultimately unhappy with the winner of a national election does not justify overturning the will of the voters. Principled conservatives should accept the legitimacy of the election, actively oppose Biden’s many bad policy proposals, and work hard to ensure that a Republican wins the next election, fair and square.