“I have faith in the American people to eventually put a stop to this. But we here in this body also have a responsibility to the truth. After all, it is the only thing that truly sets us free.”
Herrera Beutler, of course, told the truth in being one of 10 Republicans to vote in favor of Donald Trump’s second impeachment. She correctly saw that Trump violated his constitutional duty.
It cost her politically; after six terms in Congress, she did not advance out of the August primary. Voters instead chose a Republican who echoed Trump’s lies about election fraud, along with a Democrat.
The result of Republicans’ hell-bent desire to burn heretics at the stake was the flipping of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District to the Democratic ledger. Which calls to mind the expression about cutting off your nose …
But that is beside the point. The focus for now, weeks before Marie Gluesenkamp Perez takes office, is on Herrera Beutler’s 12 years of representing Southwest Washington — and her obvious weariness with performative politics.
Regardless of how you feel about her politics, at least Herrera Beutler never embarrassed her constituents. She did her best to represent Southwest Washington, focus on legislation she thought was important to us, and not become embroiled in the theatrics that too often are mistaken for governing these days.
In truth, most people in Congress do the same; but there are enough clowns on both sides of the aisle to make the body look like a second-rate circus.
With the circus spinning around her in January 2021, Herrera Beutler said, “The president of the United States incited a riot aiming to halt the peaceful transfer of power … Hours went by before the president did anything meaningful to stop the attack.”
It was the truth. And despite the legislation that she voted for or against and the constituents she helped, it will stand as Herrera Beutler’s legislative legacy. If you read between the lines, you can see it is a legacy that has served Southwest Washington well.
