Re: Wolf Hall and Vought

[robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

I never even heard of Russ Vought.  Certainly, Cromwell was a scoundrel.
Vought sounds like a good villian to which direct our ire.

 > From: Noelle <noelle>
 > Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2025 10:03:43 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > from electoral-vote.com:
 > 
 > J.G. in Farmington, CT: I submit Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Thomas 
 > Cromwell was overdue for a reevaluation, and Tudor England, The New 
 > York Times's reviewer writes, is as "fecund [a] breeding ground of 
 > British historical fiction as the American Civil War is of ours." 
 > And yet Mantel's novel stands out, for depicting Thomas More as the 
 > actual tormentor of history, using flames and the rack to 
 > manufacture utopia ("not a place," Mantel's Cromwell notes, "that 
 > one can live"). And yet it is sympathetic to both its protagonist 
 > and his enemies, because all villains think they are heroes. It is 
 > lyrical, "spellbinding and believable," depicting ugliness and 
 > beauty in a society undergoing violent transition and molding itself 
 > anew.
 > 
 > I'll go further, if I may, to explain my choice. Historical fiction 
 > is appealing and successful in part because readers can't help but 
 > draw parallels between the past and the present, and certainly 
 > Cromwell has his fans today. Steve Bannon said explicitly that he 
 > was Cromwell to Trump's Henry, breaking rules and wrecking orders. 
 > But he was a pretender, a dilettante, if an obese reptile as 
 > disgusting as he could be called that.
 > 
 > No, the real Cromwell is Russ Vought. Like Cromwell, Vought is a 
 > radical in bureaucrat's clothing whose expertise is in who to tax 
 > and from whom to borrow in order to pay for things. But while 
 > Cromwell sought to expropriate Church influence and money for his 
 > sovereign, Vought seeks nothing more fanatically authoritarian than 
 > the neutralization of Congress, and therefore the people, as a 
 > center of power.
 > 
 > Some might lie that Vought is merely finding creative ways around 
 > legislative blockades for chosen policy ends. But the real end goal, 
 > telegraphed on Day 3 of this disastrous presidency, is the White 
 > House and OMB unconstitutionally usurping the power of the purse, 
 > the most important power Congress has.
 > 
 > As Georgetown law scholar Steve Vladeck memorably put it: "If 
 > presidents can impound appropriated funds at any time and for any 
 > reason, then there's not much point to having a legislature."
 > 
 > If successful, Vought will not have his head separated by an axe: he 
 > will be the most celebrated and reviled unelected power broker in 
 > history.