A conversation with Rep. Conor Lamb—and why so many Trumpy Republican Marine politicians are crazy.
by Jim Smith, senior editor at The Bulwark
For a host of reasons—including some that are unjust—the public perception of U.S. Marines is that they are hard-core right-wingers. In part this is due to years of Hollywood depictions, sometimes distorted. Whether it’s R. Lee Ermey’s unforgettable drill sergeant “Gunny” in Full Metal Jacket or Damon Wayans in Major Payne, or the darker portrayals of active-duty and veteran Marines in such post-9/11 productions as Jarhead and Generation Kill, you get the sense that Marines, whatever else they may be, tend to be conservatives.
The reality is much more complicated. There are Marines on both sides of the political aisle, and many who don’t care for politics or who have political views that defy categorization. Certainly some of the Marines now serving in Congress don’t fit the conservative stereotype: Iraq War Marine veterans Seth Moulton and Ruben Gallego, respectively from Massachusetts and Arizona, are among the more liberal members of the House Democratic caucus.
And in some cases, the political conservatism of Marine veterans is only tenuously connected to their military service. In Ohio’s Senate race, we see former Marine reservist Josh Mandel, who served in Iraq as an intelligence specialist, and former Marine enlistee J.D. Vance, who worked in public affairs in Iraq, trying to out-crazy one another in an effort to win over the state’s Republican voters. Their kooky MAGA bidding war has less to do with their Marine service than with the blight of the Trumpian GOP.
Sticking with Ohio for a moment, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a high school classmate of mine, announced last month that he won’t be running for re-election. Gonzalez voted for Trump’s impeachment; his retirement is part of a trend in which the last few remaining good Republicans, or at least those marginally compromised by Trumpism, have decided to call it quits. Gonzalez will likely be replaced by Max Miller, who grew up a few blocks away from me. He’s another Marine reservist. He worked for Trump, has a troubling police record, and is batshit crazy.
Read more at The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/the-rise-of-the-moderate-marine