Ben Sasse, Barbara Comstock, and the State of the Union

On today’s podcast, Steve is joined by Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of ...

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On today’s podcast, Steve is joined by Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our response to it, and his thoughts on the State of the Union. Steve is then joined by Barbara Comstock, former representative of Virginia, for a conversation about President Joe Biden’s speech last night and the future of the Republican Party.

Show Notes:

–French Press: “Questions and Answers After Six Days of War”

–Jonah “Gradually, Then Suddenly: How the World Stood Up to Putin”

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  1. Rod Bean

    Steve, I sent this email to a few friends this morning. I'm sure you are way ahead of me on this and have already taken notice of Bob Gates' article.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/03/why-ukraine-should-force-a-total-overhaul-of-our-national-security-strategy/

    I hope that the carefully chosen recipients of this email will read this slowly, pausing to ponder each point, rather than speed reading through.

    Bob Gates is eminently qualified to articulate these thoughts and I'm grateful to him for taking the time to do it. I can only hope that the common purpose of his message will be recognized and acted upon by a critical mass of people, in and out of government, who see themselves as Americans first and political warriors second.
    Rod Bean

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    Ben Connelly

    Good interviews! I think your questions were fair and both of their answers were good. Sasse’s critics say more about themselves than they do about him to be honest. I’d say he should run for president, but we need him in the Senate, just like we need Liz Cheney in the House.

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    Compared to other times I've heard him speak, Sen. Sasse sounded tired and distracted. From which I infer that he is tired and distracted, but indispensably so, and in a good cause. Even tired and distracted, he's an intriguing fellow. Kudos to Mr. Hayes for the invite and the interview.

    I'm guessing he had a notepad in front of him with the formulation of the one specific question which he's suggesting that the press put to Biden (my close paraphrase, not an exact quote) — "Is your Administration doing everything it can to put all of our most actionable and lethal intelligence information in real time directly into the hands of the Ukrainian defense forces?" The comparative zest with which he delivered this bit makes me pretty sure that he privately believes that the truthful answer is, "No, we're not, and haven't really made any plans to do that yet."

    Rep. Comstock was also a congenial and thoughtful guest. I'm tickled, frankly, that she was following the Texas GOP primary for Texas Attorney General. Her reactions — that Paxton's failure to avoid a runoff, despite both incumbency and Trump's enthusiastic support, suggests that neither Trump's attacks nor his endorsements are proving terribly potent — paralleled my own. Look for more headlines from this race between now and the May 24 runoff election. She was a refreshingly uninhibited guest.

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  4. Matt M

    I dont understand senator Sasse's arguments. He seemed very adamant on blaming the administration, but when I took a step back, I couldn't even discern how his proposed alternatives would have made any substantive impact. And I have a very hard time believing his argument wouldn't have completely reversed if this were a republican administration given his conduct during the Trump years.

    Very disappointed in general, and I think this was a real disservice in a time when level-headed and fair journalism is needed more than ever.

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    The Stray Goose

    Sen. Sasse and Representative Comstock just drive home the point that we need a new party.

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    The Stray Goose

    Reading through the comments, it's been fun to watch the lefties complain about Sasse being partisan. Welcome to politics. You guys never seem to mind when Democrats do it (oh, because you always think that anyone who isn't a Democrat is 'EEEVVILLL'.

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    The Stray Goose

    I'll be blunt: Sasse sounded like he was on the can.
    I like what he says, I just hate how he says it. Somebody needs to sit Sen. Sasse down and tell him to fix his diction.

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    AC Kansas

    I enjoy hearing from Sen. Sasse nearly every time he speaks, because it doesn't sounds like canned, planned political soundbites. He understands that what America has isn't easy and we need to be prepared to work and sacrifice for it. He seems to be someone not afraid to try and tackle the big problems we face, even if that means he would fail. I fear the growing ugly nature of politics means he will hang it up in 2026 and seek an easier path at a college or think tank. Until then, more Sen. Sasse whenever we can is appreciated.

    Barbara Comstock is interesting, but she seems to meander in her answers and it feels far afield once she answers the question.

    I think Steve has a very conversational hosting style that I like, similar to Dan Senor's Call Me Back podcast.

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    The Bell Tower

    The state of the union is strong. The state of the government is weak. Or rather, the state of the people who currently appear to be running the government is weak - and I don't just mean Joe Biden or Democrats. The clown car of performative jackasses, as Senator Sasse accurately described them, are everywhere you look.

    I think free government is a lot like a homeowners association. It attracts the kind of people who want to make me paint my house or weed my flowerbed. They enjoy telling other people what to do and they love being in the pseudo spotlight that comes with it. Most people don't give much of a fig what their homeowner's association is doing or who is running it so long as it's not presenting problems or issues.

    However, as soon as you present a real obstacle or challenge, they pay attention. The last thing that the enemies of free societies want is that attention. Whether Admiral Yamomoto's words about awakening a sleeping giant after Pearl Harbor are real or apocryphal, the gist is true enough. You arouse the wrath of free men and women at your peril.

    The pandemic provided a good example of this. We bitched and moaned at each other and took a little longer to get off the couch than anyone wanted but the ingenuity of free, private citizens ultimately emerged. And we did that with two of the most incompetent fools in American history sitting in Washington's chair. We're seeing it again in Eastern Europe right now. It's not just Americans, it's the West. Free societies.

    Vladimir Putin is getting a small taste of what unified consensus among free societies means. Say what you want about "these kids today" but if you make them put down their video game controllers and start building tanks and bombs, the results will not be good for anyone - least of all, Vladimir and his frenemy to the east.

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      AC Kansas

      This is an interesting take.

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        The Bell Tower

        Should have referenced my favorite Edmund Burke quote:

        “Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.”

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        The Bell Tower

        Look at Zelensky. He was a comedian who voiced Paddington Bear and now he’s a giant thorn in Putin’s behind. I can’t be the only one who thinks of Hans Gruber’s brother throwing tables around while John McClane climbs through the air conditioning duct.

        My grandfather was a plumber, the son of Italian immigrants. When the call came, he left his two young children and spent 8 months in combat behind enemy lines in Southern France. When he came back, he went back to plumbing. We could never repay him for what he gave to us, except to enjoy the freedom and opportunity he helped facilitate.

        We don’t show nearly the gratitude we should for the sacrifices that generation endured, as Jonah is fond of saying. But if you read Churchill leading up to the conflict, you will get an idea of just how reluctant and unprepared the west was for Hitler.

        We didn’t want a war. We didn’t even want to be at our estranged wife’s Christmas party! And when war did come, the Americans took longer than anyone wanted to get going.

        I’m not saying we shouldn’t be more vigilant than we are. I agree with most of what Senator Sasse said, we need to get moving on defense. But I think anyone who conflates the incompetence of our current leadership with a weakness of the American people in total is making a massive miscalculation.

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    Steve Hayes

    Thanks all for the feedback. A few responses/stray thoughts:

    I can understand why Sen. Sasse's criticism might have struck some of you as partisan, but I didn't hear it that way. I think these are genuine concerns about the conflict and what the US is doing -- or not doing -- to help Ukraine. I don't think he's taking potshots at President Biden just to score political points. But challenging the commander-in-chief during a time of war -- or heightened tensions, at least -- is a delicate balance. That's why I asked him the question about offering criticism at a time when it's important for the U.S. to show the world a united front. And I thought his answer was a good one. Perhaps that's because I share his concerns about the U.S. not doing enough, early enough.

    There's a disconnect, in my view, between the way the Biden administration has talked about the conflict and the lack of urgency with which they've responded to it. I think the administration deserves credit for intel transparency as a way of preemptively establishing accountability and highlighting Russia's various pretexts for the invasion. And I agree w/the president and his advisers who believe this is a global challenge with significant implications for all of us.

    If we knew what was coming - and the intel we shared publicly suggests we understood much of it - why the delays on arms then? Why are we behind Europe on some of the easy things -- SWIFT, sanctioning Russian leaders, munitions, realtime battlefield intel, restricting Russian oil, etc? These are legitimate questions to ask -- and I worry that the answers will tell us much about the way the Biden WH is approaching the conflict. I'm encouraged every time I hear that the U.S. is stepping up in some new way, but I wonder with each piece of news why we weren't doing these things earlier.

    It's worth noting that Sen. Sasse isn't the only one frustrated by the delays. When Zelensky was asked this morning if he was disappointed that some of this support didn't come earlier, he said:
    "“It’s a pity it began after the beginning of this war, but we have it. My appreciation to [Biden] and to his team. We can speak now often."

    But even that isn't as straightforward as it might seem. Zelensky, after all, spent the weeks before the invasion began downplaying some of what was coming from the U.S. side as alarmist.

    Anyway, I'm glad we had Sen. Sasse, who sits on the intel committee, even for a short interview and even with the audio trouble.

    My two cents.

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    1. linda

      I know I'm late coming to this pod. I didn't notice it until tonite. Just listened to the Sasse portion and I would willingly vote for him as president. You can tell the nutters from the none nutters. Dare I say it? He's Reaganesque.

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        Ben Connelly

        It’s never too late. Dispatch content is evergreen.

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      Ben Connelly

      Thanks for your response, Steve. I think you’re correct - Sasse’s comments did not at all strike me as hypocrisy. His criticisms came off more as “I stand with the American President but here is what he could do better,” than as “I’m not a partisan but Let’s Go Brandon.” Sasse gave a principled response.

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      The Stray Goose

      These were two very good interviews. I miss your columns. If you can't write (due to a lack of time), I recommend more one-on-one interviews w/o the other Dispatch team. They're good, but having just you is also good.
      You're a nice guy. Everyone likes you. Let's see if you can convince some Democrats to come on for a discussion. Greet them warmly and then...

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      Taylor

      Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I really appreciate that The Dispatch authors interact with the comments.

      The Dispatch has rightly criticized Biden for running on and talking a lot about unity, but then making divisive speeches. It exacerbates negative partisanship when politicians make statements like "before I begin I believe in unity and we should work on these things together, now let me tell you why my opponents screwed everything up and I would have done it differently."

      I think the concerns Senator Sasse raised are genuine and I agree with most, but there is an extra heaping of partisanship layered into the criticism that is off-putting to independents like myself. I would feel different if there were specific actions he would list in these interviews, or if he could weave in some more nuance about the implications of being more aggressive with Russia in 2014.

      Anyway, I appreciate the work y'all are doing with these interviews and the thoughtful questions you ask. Looking forward to more!

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        Nathan

        I agree. I was waiting for the point where he said more about what he actually agreed with beyond a dependent clause here or there. I agree with his takes and would love to hear his actual suggestions about the convoy since he sees a gap for him to fill with his insight. Also if the Biden admin is lazy and slow, I haven’t seen it. Show me with something I can’t find outside an opinion piece; you’re the insider Ben, show us don’t tell us, else this looks like partisan grump you said you weren’t going to do.

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