‘This is My Call to Arms,’ Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman Urges MSNBC Viewers to Be ‘Active in Defending This Democracy’
Asked by MSNBC’s Anand Giridharadas about Republican officials “who appear to be going in this direction of overturning democracy as a litmus test,” Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman said Sunday. “We recognize the threat that you pose, and we are watching you and will take action against you.”
“When I say this, this is my call to arms,” said Vindman. He went on to say that “all of the people that failed to live up to their obligations, that were complicit in January 6th, that failed to hold accountable a president that was corrupt and was abusing his power” need to be held accountable.
Vindman continued: “We know who those people are — and I’m going to doing everything in my power — and I encourage everybody that’s watching this show, everybody that cares for this democracy to be equally as active in defending this democracy and voting in people that will live up to their obligations, voting in people that take their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and preserve this democracy seriously.”
Vindman, who was formerly the Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council, provided key testimony in Donald Trump‘s first impeachment hearing about his role in the Ukraine scandal.
He joined Giridharadas, who is filling in for Mehdi Hasan, to discuss his book Here, Right Matters, which details his decision to speak out in the impeachment proceedings.
“You mentioned in the book your father’s decision to leave the Soviet Union. You wrote that the more he rose in that system, the more he realized that the whole thing was a complex of quid quo pro, back-room deal-making,” Giridharadas said. “Your family came to the U.S. as refugees to escape that, but you found yourself witness to America’s own version of quid quo pros. Talk to me about how your family history informed your choice to be a whistle-blower, how your father’s experience of truth-telling in one system informed yours in another.”
“In fact, I didn’t necessarily recognize that I was going to be a whistle-blower,” Vindman responded. “My intent was to report wrongdoing and live up to my oath of office and my oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States, and I was doing what so many other public servants have done repeatedly.”
Although Vindman encouraged viewers to be “active in defending this democracy,” he still expressed optimism about the country’s future.
“We are not out of danger, but this country is under threat,” he said. “I still have faith that we’re going to continue to move towards that more perfect union.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
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