Opinion Today: The thin line between foreign policy critic and “traitor”

Calling Tulsi Gabbard and Tucker Carlson traitors on Russia only grows their appeal.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story March 28, 2022 By Vanessa Mobley Op-Ed Editor How far can critics of American foreign policy go before we call them "traitors?" It's no surprise when there's a backlash against critics who raise conspiratorial policy and political questions at a time of immense human suffering. But in a guest essay today, Peter Beinart makes the case that attaching the label "traitor," even to those whose comments have drawn bipartisan jeers, is a mistake. "It's wrong morally because rhetorical intimidation can easily become legal persecution," writes Beinart. "And it's wrong conceptually because domestic dissenters are rarely the marionettes of foreign foes." In this essay, Beinart shares a nuanced, historical understanding of why "telling Americans they're being duped by a warmongering, globalist elite" has remained a popular charge for over 200 years. The former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard and the conservative commentator Tucker Carlson have reaped attention at home and in Russia for their outsize claims. Beinart explains that "Americans who don't share Mr. Carlson's racial views still find it galling that politicians and pundits who lauded America's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya can appear on television to promote their latest hawkish stance without being reminded of the disasters those wars became." Beinart's latest essay is in the tradition of others he has written for Times Opinion, which offer new ways of understanding the increasingly urgent relationship between American policy in the United States and abroad. Read the full essay here. 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