nonfiction, politics
Jamie Raskin suffered the loss of his only son, Tommy, by
suicide on December 31, 2020 and then faced unimaginable danger by being in
the Capitol on January 6, 2021 during the certification of the
Presidential election results when the insurrection took place. Not only was he
in danger, but one of his daughters and his son-in-law were also in the Capitol
to support Raskin, who had insisted he do his job so soon after the trauma of
losing his beloved son. Unthinkable is not only a tribute to his beautiful child
but a detailed account of his preparation for and experience during the day of
the insurrection as well as his management of the second Donald Trump impeachment
trial in the Senate.
I really don’t like politics but have been forced to pay
more attention the last five years due to the negative climate in the US. As someone
who was so impressed by Raskin’s brave handling of a personal trauma and his
ability to carry on his professional role with such grace so shortly after
losing his son, I was compelled to read his book about this period in his life.
I already respected him from watching him speak in news interviews and seeing
him in his role as a member of the House. I thought I might get to know
him better by reading Unthinkable. My
expectation was met. Raskin was a former college law professor and is a
constitutional law expert. Therefore, his ability to create a clear narrative,
along with evidence where needed, was evident. His feelings were open and raw
at times, understandably.
Stories of Tommy were woven throughout the narrative about Raskin’s
desire to save our democracy. Some sections were more Tommy-centric and some
were more politics-centric but I was impressed by how much the father was
influenced by the son in his approaches to meeting daily work and life
challenges and decisions. Tommy may have been a young man (he died at age 25),
but he was extremely intelligent, caring, and thoughtful. He made an impression
on people and always strove to improve life for others. Raskin used to discuss
case studies with his children along with telling them bedtime stories, and his
kids were raised to be fair-minded, intelligent critical thinkers. Raskin often
consulted Tommy on legal issues to get his impressions and views because he was
a great thinker and often saw things from a different perspective than Raskin.
Reliving many of the traumas to our nation leading up to the January 6th insurrection, like George Floyd’s murder, the Black Lives Matter movement, and
COVID-19 pandemic, helped to set the stage for the feelings within the country. These
things were also described as Tommy interpreted them and how they affected his
mental well-being. Tommy had suffered from depression and obsessive compulsive
disorder. He was being treated but, sometimes, situations were worsened by
outside and internal forces. Stories about Tommy’s childhood, education,
passions, experiences, and discussions with Raskin were set within historical context and
Raskin’s own work life.
I was shocked to learn that many members of Congress didn’t
know there were gas masks under the seats in the Capitol, let alone how to use them, and that
the Senators and Representatives had to keep being moved around the Capitol on
January 6th since no one seemed to know where it was safe to hide from the mob.
This shows that Congress needs crisis drills. In my opinion, if Kindergartners
must have active shooter drills, it seems logical that our governmental
employees should also have drills.
Raskin also laid out his disappointment as he came to the realization that many GOP representatives were losing all interest in real public policy and, instead, doing whatever Trump willed them to do. He pointed out many of Trump’s pernicious maneuvers during his presidency and was self-critical for not seeing the signs that Trump and his sycophants would wreak such havoc on this nation nor the signs that Tommy was planning suicide .
I also learned that
Raskin is a cancer survivor, that his father worked in Presidential
administrations, and that a big part of the reason he went into constitutional
law, especially when it comes to powers of the President, was because his own
father had been targeted by President Nixon and threatened with jailtime when
Raskin was young. I enjoyed Raskin's portrayal of other current politicians and learning
a little of their personal side. I was particularly struck by the compassion of
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. Raskin claims that she threw him a lifeline by making him the
manager of the second impeachment trial.
Regarding the reason for impeachment, Raskin stated “Trump… brought 62 absurd lawsuits completely devoid of all legal or factual merit in federal and state courts across the land…up to the Supreme Court of the US. All of them failed miserably save one tiny partial victory in PA that had nothing to do with fraud.” The only examples found of people voting illegally were Trump supporters. Raskin also stated how these lawsuits had been the legal and correct way to challenge the election results. But after not liking the outcomes, Trump moved to illegal activities of trying to overturn election results.
He goes into detail about his desire to impeach Trump even
earlier than the first impeachment trial based on Trump’s emoluments violations
alone. I was so glad to know that someone was as upset about that as I was. I
kept wondering why no one was forcing Trump to quit enriching himself. But Raskin's fellow Representatives never bought into it, thinking they had bigger fish to
fry. I applaud Raskin, once again, and only wish he’d had the chance to hold
Trump accountable. I hold even greater respect for Raskin than I did before.
On the down side, the information was sometimes repetitive
and there were a couple times that got too deep into constitutional law. But it
was overall understandable and educational. Plus, I was glad to know there are
people like Raskin who are excited and knowledgeable about this stuff and can
be counted on when needed.
I listened to the audiobook and Raskin, himself, narrated
it. That was terrific! He’s an excellent speaker with all those years of
teaching, and the amount of love he had for his son was obvious. He usually
held it together but sometimes sounded, understandably, upset.
I’m amazed there were very few sad-sounding sections. Raskin’s passion in his
own work was also evident in his tone. He was authentic and interesting. I give
him an A.
Below, I’ve listed a few great quotes from the novel (which
I translated from audio, so please forgive any punctuation and capitalization
errors):
“…the threat that Alexander Hamilton warned us of in
Federalist No. 1: the threat of an opportunistic demagogue unleashing a violent
mob and primitive impulses against the Constitution to override the political
and constitutional infrastructure of representative democracy. The demagogue
panders to the negative emotions of the crowd, pretending to be the champion of
the people, only to wage war against the Constitution, the legal order, and the
democratic process, all of which belong to the people."
“The [impeachment] managers understood that ‘Can’t we all
just move on?’ was the go-to mantra of abusers and bullies who got caught.”
“Too many radicals love humanity in the abstract but don’t
like people concretely, while too many conservatives like the people in their
group but don’t care about anybody else and can’t stand humanity generally. We
could take the best from both the radicals and conservatives and show love for
everybody or we could take the worst from both and just hate everyone. And
that’s Donald Trump for you.” – Tommy Raskin
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