Don't Underestimate the Courage of a CODEL

The last member of Congress killed intentionally on foreign soil was Rep Leo Ryan (D-CA-11). He went to Guyana to investigate the activities of Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple and was shot on an airstrip as he was leaving. (No shade on Larry McDonald, D-GA-7, who was on KAL 007.) The last Senator to be assassinated was RFK. Another interesting political fact: Jackie Speier, who was one of Ryan’s aides, was wounded when Ryan was killed. She later served in Congress from 2008-2023, retiring at the appropriate age of 72.

Ryan was doing the right thing when he was assassinated, and good for him. He was traveling to a place where his constituents were in trouble, and attempting to figure out what was going on.

So when Chris Van Hollen says he’s going to El Salvador to see what’s up with his constituent Kilmar Abrego García, good for him, too. Garcia is a resident of Prince George’s County, so perhaps Rep Glenn Ivey (D-MD-4), who represents that county, can be convinced to tag along. And maybe newly elected Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks can go, too.

Trump and his nazi contingent have only been around for 3 months. El Salvador, as Josh Marshall points out, is a tiny country (742 square miles, 6 million population). It’s smaller than Rhode Island, and has about the same population as Missouri. They need to be reminded that Trump won’t be in power forever, and when Democrats get back in office, they can fuuucck with El Salvador in a way that the country truly understands, since they’ve been a pawn in US geopolitics since forever, and certainly since the Reagan years.

And, yeah, when Van Hollen applies to get a military VIP jet, Trump is going to fuck with him. Claudia Sheinbaum generally flies commercial and apologizes when she has to fly on a military jet due to scheduling, and she’s the president of a 130 million person country with the 13th largest GDP in the world. So, maybe, Van Hollen and a couple of aides can book a ticket on United, Avianca, Copa or any other airline that flies to San Salvador. Take your phones: they can record video, I’ve been told by reliable sources.

Jay Rosen’s definition of journalistic authority, I’m here, you’re not, let me tell you about it, can apply to Senators and Representatives as well as it can apply to ordinary people. Get down there and tell us what you see. Failure — defined by not getting into the prison — can be as instructive as success.

Members of Congress have a lot of authority in foreign countries. They need to use it with regular trips to El Salvador. I hear it’s nice this time of year, unless you’re in the gulag.