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NEWS | POLITICS “THE LAST TRUMPTATION OF McMORRIS RODGERS,” CONTINUED...

“She’s not on the side of democracy,” Riccelli says “And future generations will judge her harshly.”

Either way, her statement is an artifact representing the contradiction that McMorris Rodgers has been trapped in during the Trump years. She kept calling for politics to be more civil. But the rhetoric of the president she supported was calling for something closer to civil war.

THE TEARS AFTER TEAR GAS In her own impeachment comments, meanwhile, Herrera Beutler detailed how the president had thrown a match onto a tinderbox, inflaming a mob that beat police officers, shattered Capitol windows and raided congressional offices.

“During the president’s rally on January 6, he repeated phrases like ‘fight like hell,’ and ‘we’re going to have to fight much harder,’” she tweeted. “Many coming to the rally did intend to fight, with physical violence. Leading up to the rally, specific threats were numerous. Hundreds of TikTok videos promoted violence. Thousands... used hashtags promoting a second civil war.”

The morning after the riot, the sun was shining down on a nearly empty National Mall. The tear gas had dissipated. The gallows and noose had been dismantled. The rioters were gone — four of them dead — and the chants of “Hang Mike Pence” were no longer echoing through the halls of Congress.

And McMorris Rodgers, says Miles, “was alone in the Capitol.”

“No one on the mall; no one out there at all,” says Miles, who exchanged texts with McMorris Rodgers that day. “Totally beautiful, totally peaceful. And she sat down and cried.” Trump defender to the end. In the same impeachment

“Today, I find myself weeping for my country,” statement in which she decried Trump’s behavior during McMorris Rodgers wrote in a text message, according to the riot, she praised the president for having “supported Miles. the rule of law.”

Miles describes McMorris Rodgers as someone with a deep, “almost palpable” sense of empathy. So when “It’s not like she just stood by. She fanned the the country is wounded, Miles says, she feels that wound as well. flames of the fire. She poured gasoline on it.”

“She’s brokenhearted,” Miles says, “about the corruption she sees, about the brokenness “That’s quintessential McMorris Rodgers,” says of our government, about the distance between the two Democrat Dave Wilson, who was handily defeated by parties.” McMorris Rodgers in last year’s election. “She’s walking

From the very beginning of the Trump administra- both sides of the fence.” tion, McMorris Rodgers had touted values like “civility” The mob at the Capitol had been united around a and “unity,” and spoke of bridging that divide. single incendiary claim, a lie that had penetrated deep

In a profile with Christianity Today last October, she within the rank and file of the Republican Party: that the proudly recounted how, after she was booed at a Martin election had been stolen through a vast and sweeping Luther King Jr. Day event in 2017, she moved to hold conspiracy of fraud. “Unity Dinners” where a diverse group would share It was a claim that had been extensively debunked, “struggles and heartache and loss in their lives.” decried and dismissed by Republican election officials,

But Trump, meanwhile, kept speaking in terms of Trump-appointed judges and even Trump’s own attorney “losers,” “suckers,” “enemies of the people” and “shithole general, Bill Barr. But McMorris Rodgers didn’t try to countries.” debunk the conspiracy theory.

At times, McMorris Rodgers did critique Trump. She Instead, like many Republicans, she signed on to supobjected to Trump’s family separation policy and slashing port a futile Texas lawsuit that attempted to overturn the of refugee numbers, and she decried his mockery of dis- election, arguing that “President Trump has every right abled people and the video where he bragged about grab- to pursue legal recourse in response to claims of voter bing women “by the pussy.” She voted against Trump’s fraud and election impropriety.” emergency declaration to fund the border wall and, like “It’s not like she just stood by,” Riccelli says. “She most Republicans, defied his demand for Congress to fanned the flames of the fire. She poured gasoline on it.” approve $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks. The day before the Capitol riot, McMorris Rodgers

Yet for the most part, McMorris Rodgers was a loyal had told the Spokesman-Review, she planned to object to

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the Electoral College count as an explicit opportunity to “amplify the voices of millions of Americans who do not have trust and confidence in our election process.”

She cited a debunked claim from some Pennsylvania state Republicans that there had been over 200,000 more votes than voters, calling the alleged disparity “extremely concerning” and that voters “deserve answers on this discrepancy.”

Yet voters — or anyone with access to Google — already had answers. A week before McMorris Rodgers’ comments, the Pennsylvania Department of State had explained in an exasperated response that the “so-called analysis” had apparently been relying on an incomplete database that was missing data from several major counties.

The day of the Capitol siege, Trump used the myth from Pennsylvania as one of many ways to whip up the crowd into a fury before the riot.

“Pennsylvania was defrauded!” he shouted.

For her part, McMorris Rodgers was outraged by the riot, calling it “disgraceful and un-American,” and she was one of the few members of Congress to change her mind about the Electoral College vote as a result.

“I have decided I will vote to uphold the Electoral College results, and I encourage Donald Trump to condemn and put an end to this madness,” she wrote in a statement.

THE REBUILDING YEARS McMorris Rodgers’ last-minute reversal, however, was the sort of half measure that satisfied few constituents.

“I didn’t agree with her vote. I thought she should have stood and voted against [the certification],” says Miles. “But I understand that she was placed in a horrible position.”

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, over half of Republicans think the Republican leaders who tried to overturn the election didn’t go far enough.

Meanwhile, her reversal didn’t stop Evan McMullin, McMorris Rodgers’ former chief policy director in the House Republican Conference, from accusing the congresswoman of being “one of Trump’s earliest enablers in Congress.”

The congresswoman, he charged in a Twitter message to the Seattle Times, had aggressively pressured “Republican leaders to support [Trump] even after the danger he posed was clear,” and “pursued political opportunity for herself in his rise despite that danger.”

Haley Byrd Wilt, a congressional reporter for The Dispatch, a conservative online magazine, says that while McMorris Rodgers’ reversal “goes to show how phony the whole effort was to begin with,” it could put McMorris Rodgers in a slightly better position to reach across the aisle than many of her colleagues.

Still, Byrd Wilt says, with trust within Congress nearly at rock-bottom levels, it would take a lot of work to rebuild those relationships, with some Democrats blaming Republicans for putting their lives in danger.

“A lot of Democrats genuinely fear some of their Republicans colleagues,” Byrd Wilt says.

Two and a half years ago, McMorris Rodgers was celebrating a new sense of hope she credited to Republican leadership, saying at a press conference that “people are dreaming again and they are optimistic about the future.”

But during this season, in the aftermath of the siege on the Capitol, after Republicans lost control of the House, the Senate and the presidency, that sort of optimism has been replaced by something closer to despair.

“The undergirding structures of our country are crumbling — FBI, Department of Justice, intelligence community, courts, Congress, etc.,” McMorris Rodgers wrote in a text message to Miles the day after the riot.

“John Adams said that our government was for ‘a moral and righteous’ people,” she continued. “We have lost our way, with corruption, abuse of power and position, and lawlessness.”

It’s one of those comments that, depending on how you squint, could be read as echoing Trump’s incendiary rhetoric — or condemning it. n danielw@inlander.com

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The vast majority of Republicans in the U.S. House — 197 of them — voted against impeaching President Trump last week. OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO The Dividing Line president in which he encouraged his supporters to fight the certification of the November election, which he lost. When speaking in favor of impeachment on the House floor last Wednesday, Herrera Beutler said, “I am not afraid of losing my job, but I am afraid that my country will fail.”What’s next for the two Washington state Republicans who voted to impeach Trump? For many Republicans in Herrera Beutler’s district, however, that wasn’t a good enough explanation for voting to impeach a sitting Republican presiBY MELISSA SANTOS, CROSSCUT dent. The vast majority of Republicans in the U.S. House — 197 of them — voted against impeachment last week. Two days after U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler voted to impeach President Donald Trump, local Republicans in her southwest Washington district very upset, and they are very angry,” Manjarrez says by phone last Friday. Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, and Herrera Beutler, R-Bat“People are calling her a turncoat, a RINO,” says Christy Tseu, the chairwoman of the Cowlitz County Republican Party, referring to the label: Republican in were busy planning her ouster. tle Ground, were among only 10 GOP House members name only. “She has divided the party, and I think she

“It’s already underway,” says Brandon Svenson, the to vote for impeaching Trump on Jan. 13. Both said they committed political suicide — unless she announced she is chair of the Lewis County Republican Party, who said saw ample evidence that the president helped incite the going to be a Democrat.” dozens of people had contacted him between Wednesday riot that overtook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. On Saturday, the Washington State Republican Party and Friday upset with Herrera Beutler’s vote. Shortly beforehand, Trump had encouraged his approved a resolution condemning Trump’s impeach-

Elsewhere in the state, Republican leaders in Central supporters to march to the Capitol, where members of ment, calling it “rushed” and a “political spectacle.” Party Washington were similarly fuming over U.S. Rep. Dan Congress were certifying Joe Biden’s electoral college officials expressed “particular disappointment” in the Newhouse’s decision to support impeachment of the victory, telling the crowd at a rally, “If you don’t fight like actions of Newhouse and Herrera Beutler. outgoing president. hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Others believe history will judge Herrera Beutler and

Debra Manjarrez, the chair of the Yakima County Last Friday, Herrera Beutler posted a thread on Twit- Newhouse’s votes much differently. Republican Central Committee, says Newhouse’s vote ter outlining all of the president’s actions that she thought Cornell Clayton, the director of the Thomas S. Foley on impeachment would “absolutely” fuel a primary chal- made him culpable for the violent insurrection at the Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, says it’s lenge to the Republican incumbent congressman in 2022. Capitol. “Here are the indisputable and publicly available easier for politicians to defend a vote they made based

“Our members are very upset about it — they are facts,” she tweeted, listing multiple statements from the on principle, as opposed to one where they changed their

12 INLANDER JANUARY 21, 2021

position to match the political winds. “And in that population, impeachment will

“I do think this was one of those where you be popular,” says Hays, noting that the top-two see these representatives taking clear, principled primary lets voters pick “whoever they want,” positions that are heartfelt,” Clayton says. regardless of party, and can serve as a moderat-

He contrasted their actions with those of U.S. ing force in politics. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican For instance, in Newhouse’s district, where from Spokane, who voted against impeachment the top-two primary has yielded Republican verbased on what Clayton called “a technicality.” sus Republican matchups in the past, the roughly

In a written statement, McMorris Rodgers 40 percent of voters who are Democrats are more said she did not believe the president’s words likely to choose Newhouse over a challenger “constitute an incitement of violence as laid out further to the right, Hays says. in Supreme Court precedent.” “To split legal hairs “It’s not courageous to stand up for the misses the point,” says Clayton, who said the Constitution when you have taken an oath definition of impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors” is different than to support the Constitution. It’s what we the standard for criminal incitement. expect our representatives to do.”

Before voting for from Tacoma, says because the top-two primary impeachment, Newhouse gave a speech on the “If you are the minority party in a single House floor in which he characterized Trump’s party district, your consolation prize is you get to behavior as a violation of his oath of office and moderate your elected official,” Hays says. abdication of duty. When confronted with a do- That doesn’t erase the furor that Herrera mestic threat in the form of a mob that invaded Beutler and Newhouse are facing now, however. the Capitol, Newhouse said, the president “did “That anger is part of why these votes were nothing to stop it.” courageous,” Hays says.

Clayton says he suspects that, in the long Tina Podlodowski, the chair of the Washrun, Newhouse and Herrera Beutler’s votes on ington State Democrats, says that may give the impeachment are “going to work out well for two Republican lawmakers too much credit. them.” She called Herrera Beutler and Newhouse’s

“They’re going to look like they behaved like votes “the bare minimum they needed to do for statespeople, as leaders,” he says. decency and democracy.” “It’s not courageous to stand up for the Constitution when you have taken an oath to support the Constitution,” Podlodowski says. “It’s what we expect our representatives to do.” Still, a split is evident in the Republican Party, with impeachment just the latest example of the competing factions. Clayton, the WSU professor, went as far as to call it a “civil war.” “The main dividing lines seem to be between insurgents and institutionalists,” says Eric McGhee, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. He sees the 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment as part of the “institutionalist” wing, who want to preserve “the Jaime Herrera Beutler, left, and Dan Newhouse norms and traditions of governing,” as opposed Some experts think Washington’s top-two primary system made it easier for Herrera Beutler and Newhouse to vote their conof his supporters. He says that dynamic was likely the bigger influence on Herrera Beutler and Newhouse’s science, potentially blunting some of the political vote, rather than the top-two primary. California repercussions they might face in next year’s similarly has a top-two primary system, and only election. In Washington state, the top two vote- one Republican from the state voted to impeach getters in the primary move on to the general Trump. election, no matter their party affiliation. Randy Pepple, a Republican political con-

Dave Wasserman, the House editor of the sultant based in King County, says how Herrera nonpartisan Cook Political Report, wrote on Twitter Beutler and Newhouse perform in their next shortly before the impeachment vote that if more election will most likely depend on how Trump’s states had top-two primary systems, he suspects legacy fares over the coming years. “the tally of pro-impeachment R’s would be His prediction? “I think in two years time it double whatever it ends up being today.” will be clear that Donald Trump was unfit for

“WA’s top-two primary system could shield office,” Pepple says. them somewhat from pro-Trump backlash,” Was- Because of that, Pepple predicted, Herrera serman wrote. Beutler and Newhouse’s votes “will look better

Alex Hays, a Republican political consultant and better as time goes on.” n to embracing the populism of Trump and many doesn’t require voters to register as part of one The article first appeared on Crosscut.com. party or another, it effectively “lets less partisan Visit crosscut.com/donate to support nonprofand nonpartisan voters vote.” it, freely distributed, local journalism.

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JANUARY 21, 2021 INLANDER 13

THE RAMEN ISSUE

RAMEN RULES

Warm up from the inside out with these five tasty and take-out friendly noodle bowls

Although it sounds like the epitome of bad man- sorbed, which alters the entire dish’s flavor and texture. ners at the dinner table, it’s totally acceptable — With origins as a street food, ramen was designed to encouraged, actually — to noisily slurp up those nourish diners on the go, and many ramen stalls in Jalong, starchy noodles from a steaming bowl of ramen. pan feature quick-service bar counters where diners are

Moreover, it’s also OK to pick up the entire soup otherwise silent save for the sound of slurping. While bowl to tip that savory, slow-cooked broth right into there are many more nuances of ramen culture, such your mouth. For confirmation we’re not making this as regional differences in ingredients and preparation all up, ask any chef familiar with Japanese cuisine, or across Japan, those of us stateside can get away with consult the distinguished Michelin Guide. these three basics: slurp, sip and speed.

Another gesture of courtesy to ramen chefs is not Let the ramen eating commence. lingering over your bowl, as the longer those toothy, — CHEY SCOTT, al dente noodles sit in the broth, the more liquid is ab- Inlander food editor

MONARCH RAMEN 1401 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene, 208-966-4230 What we got: Monarch ramen ($15) Steamy windows always remind of that hide-away restaurant tucked into an urban side street, with pungent aromas hitting as you enter — the promise of something warm and hearty on the plate. At Midtown Monarch, that something is in a bowl, and having tried nearly all five of their standard ramen noodle soup offerings since the place opened in October 2019, it’s tough to choose a fave. The signature Monarch ramen hits all the right notes with a spicy pork broth, savory and very tender braised pork, crunchy vegetable toppings like bean sprouts and bamboo, and the creaminess of a fried egg. The pickled mustard greens on top of the soup cuts through the richness and balances the other flavors, making you wonder why pickled goodies aren’t part of every soup offering. Even better, you can build your own ramen ($13), which allows you to explore the various broths, noodles (try kale noodles), proteins and toppings to create the perfect bowl. (CARRIE SCOZZARO) KOKORO RAMEN 509 N. Sullivan Rd. E, Spokane Valley, 309-2992 What we got: Tonkotsu ramen ($12) You might be skeptical about how well ramen can travel, but Kokoro Ramen and Boba Tea Time gives you a userfriendly setup. You’ll find all those tasty noodles, a sheet of nori, sliced pork, green onion, red ginger, bamboo shoots, a soft-boiled egg and other veggies, depending on your ramen choice, perfectly arranged in a travel bowl with a lid. The unctuous, fatty broth is in another container ready to be poured right into the bowl. Many Kokoro fans swear by the black garlic ramen, but their tonkotsu — made with their unique recipe for pork bone broth — is perfectly

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delicious, too. Hitting all the savory notes you can only get from slow-boiled broth, this dish warms you from the inside out, perfect for winter time and that classic ramen craving. For 50 cents more, you can make it spicy. The servings are hefty — you might even get two meals out of it like I did. Plus, if you want some sweet with that savory, Kokoro offers extensive boba tea options (seriously, almost 40 tea options, and that’s not even counting the smoothies) with add-ons like tapioca boba, popping passion fruit boba, lychee jelly and more. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL) ...continued on next page

GLOSSARY

BROTH Miso — A soy-based broth blended with chicken and/or fish stock Tonkotsu — A creamy pork-bone broth; cloudy and tan Shoyu — A soy-based chicken or veggie broth; clear and dark Shio — A salty chicken, veggie or fishbased broth; clear and light TOPPINGS Chashu — Pork Ajitsuke tamago seasoned boiled egg Kikurage — wood ear mushroom Moyashi — bean sprouts Menma/shinachiku — bamboo shoots Nori — dried seaweed Naruto/narutomaki/kamaboko — processed fish “cakes” Negi — Green onion Ninniku — garlic OTHER TERMS Ramyun — Korean-style ramen Ramenya — ramen shop/house Renge — ramen spoon Tsukemen — noodles served separately to dip in soup

JANUARY 21, 2021 INLANDER