The 2024 Abdiel Award Winners
Praising Those Apostates Who Call Out Their Side's Blasphemy
The Abdiel Awards were something I started a few years back on Twitter. They are meant to give respect to a certain kind of person. But first, you may be asking, “Who or what is an ‘Abdiel’?”
Abdiel is an angel in Paradise Lost. At first, he leaves heaven with Satan to kind of go along with the crowd of rebellious angels and hear Satan out. But as Satan spouts off about his war with God and Heaven, Abdiel has a change of heart and finds his faith and loyalty. He knows what’s being proposed is wrong, and dangerous. He knows what the right thing to do is. He then berates Satan for his treason. Abdiel called out Satan’s blasphemy among all the angels, but no other angel seconded it, and he was met with silence.
The passage in Paradise Lost provides the best example and description. Abdiel speaking:
And here…
So the Abdiel Awards commemorate this sentiment in public life; those who dedicate themselves to the higher purpose of America and altruism, and who refuse to go along with their own party and support to instead choose to call them out and do the right thing. It’s exceptionally hard to do; it’s so much easier to go with the flow and stay silent, leaving your fate to the whims and emotions of one’s peers. It takes an intense kind of courage to stand firm and say “You go too far.”
Past winners give us a good example of this:
John McCain. The year he died we gave him a lifetime Abdiel Award for the number of times he spurned his own party to do what was good for America, best encapsulated by when he provided the crucial vote and voted “no” on undoing Obamacare. That he left his hospital bed where he was receiving treatment for cancer to do it only underscores how important he saw this vote.
Our 2022 award went to the people at the Bulwark, who spent time building up a centrist/anti-MAGA media group and carve out a more moderate media ecosystem. This was not just someone pointing one way and saying “You’re wrong,” but looking at the media landscape and saying “Nobody has it right, we’re going to try to do it better.” For the most part, they are succeeding.
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. They demonstrated where the entire GOP SHOULD be today. Following Trump’s insurrection, they were outspoken and adamant about how what occured was anethema to everything Constitutional and for which America stands. Kinzinger became particularly outspoken on media, and Cheney worked within the political system to call attention to these unpatriotic acts. Both would serve on the 1/6 Commission and continue to prosper and show good judgment in their post-GOP careers.
Cassidy Hutchinson. Last year’s winner was an Oval Office insider and witness to the events on January 6th, she could have stayed silent and had a very fruitful career in conservative circles. She instead chose to speak up, tell the January 6th Committee what she witnessed that day and describe Trump’s infantile responses in full detail. For her speaking up, she received a multitude of death threats and continues to receive them to this day.
You’ll notice that most of these entries skew towards one way on the political spectrum. That is because one side has become so particularly outlandish and irresponsible. Despite opportunity after opportunity to break their loyalty to a criminal, purely out of fear of repurcussions, they continue to adhere to idiocy. When someone calls out their fraud, it tends to stand out stronger.
What happens when there aren’t people calling out their sides, saying “Don’t do that!?” You end up in situations where a mindless incompetent wins the White House; where inadequate and unintelligent people are appointed to head cabinet departments and are placed in charge of our security; where people are propagandized into thinking the increase in the price of an egg is more important than the health and welfare of the entire economy.
Now, we really can’t nominate people who had previously “switched sides” years before; they’ve thrown their lot with the right side already and are not really “giving up” anything in the current year, but are instead building their brand and base in a new area more receptive to where they were previously. Nonetheless, I do want to recognize that previous winners and nominees had made great sacrifices, and in this past year many have continued to demonstrate the particular reasons we need people to speak truth to power.
Which brings us to our list of nominees and the eventual winner. So without further ado:
Congratulations to the Abdiel Award Nominees for 2024.
George Clooney
Clooney does not get enough credit. A huge Democratic donor, he had an inside look at the lackluster Biden campaign, saw Biden’s frailty and called out Democrats for trying to shield the public from it. He described firsthand what he had seen and basically said that Biden was not capable of serving another four years as President. The backlash was immediate.
Well, he was proven right, as we all witnessed at the candidate debate between Trump and Biden. Trump was his disgusting, insane self, and should have easily been defeated by a true functional candidate. Instead, we saw Biden languish, looking like a deer in headlights, clearly fatigued with age and incapable of even the most basic of retorts. He stumbled on responses and gave one malapropism after another. Clooney was right.
Soon after pressure was put on Biden to step aside. He did so and Kamala Harris made about as good a run at it as anyone could have given the time constraints. If Biden had gotten out sooner could she or whoever Dems put up had a chance? I don’t know, but not providing adequate responses to the economic arguments in 2023 clearly impacted the election.
Everyone Who Cancelled Washington Post Subscriptions
Normally, I would not encourage cancelling a subscription the Washington Post. It’s an important institution (at least it was) and as the main newspaper of our nation’s capital, it’s read by decisionmakers and reports on the comings and goings within government exceptionally well. It generally investigates and holds elected officials to account more than any paper in America really.
But them came Jeff Bezos’s decision to not endorse a candidate this year. Bezos bought the Washington Post and changed the motto of the paper to “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” This year, the week before what was to be a close election, Bezos decided that they were not going to endorse anyone this year and that the paper should not be in the business of endorsing candidates. The problem with that line of thought is that papers routinely endorse candidates, and in particular call out candidates who are unqualified for the job. The fact that there was only one candidate who was justifiably competent to be President should have made this a no-brainer.
Why would Bezos reverse course at the last minute? Because Bezos has substantial other holdings, namely in Amazon and Blue Origin (his space company) and while he would not get blowback from a Harris administration, he most certainly would from a Trump administration if he endorsed Trump’s opponent. It’s the same reason Joe and Mika went to Mar-a-lago. This cynical business decision was appalling for everyone to witness, and Bezos should have known better.
So what did the teeming millions do? They showed their displeasure in the most hurtful of ways they could to the Washington Post— they cancelled their subscriptions. They could have idly kept by, reading the Post and having their money automatically withdrawn regularly, but they didn’t. In fact, the rest of the media-sphere told them not to cancel their subscriptions because it would only make reporting harder; they chose not to condone this kind of falsity. However, if you can’t respect your audience with the truth, you have no business being in business. This was an obvious choice and the Post’s obfuscation deserved the blowback it received.
To those who cancelled, we here at PurpleAmerica salute you.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
The German government played a key role in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, in which Moscow released 16 prisoners in exchange for eight Russians held in the West. The main figure in the swap, which involved several countries, was Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of killing a former Chechen militant in Berlin in 2019. Russia had approached the United States as early as 2022 with an offer to release US prisoners in exchange for Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany. However, because Krasikov was not an American prisoner, US officials did not think the offer was serious.
The decision to release Krasikov was politically complicated for Germany, given the brazenness of the murder. It took place in broad daylight in a Berlin park, just a short walk from parliament and the Chancellery. There was a lot of political power opposing the deal, and overall it was ugly and unliked in Germany. Politically, there was no upside for Scholz to agree. It was not easy for anyone to make this decision to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after only a few years in prison. The state's interest in enforcing the prison sentence had to be weighed against the liberty of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those unjustly imprisoned for political reasons, of which Germany would not receive much for it’s role. Among those released were Americans Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. It was supposed to have included Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but he died in prison before the swap took place. Scholz made the deal anyway, because he felt it was the right thing to do.
How has this played out for Scholz? His coalition has since collapsed and he is facing snap parliamentary elections in February. He expresses no remorse about the prisoner swap.
2024 Abdiel Award Winner
No One
No, we don’t mean that cryptic person/cult who taught Arya Stark to become an assassin in Game of Thrones lore. We mean, nobody deserved the award this year.
That’s right. We’re not giving out the award to anyone this year. We had the single biggest threat to democracy, to stability around the world, to AMERICA run for election again, and not only did Republicans sit on their hands and not level with their constituents about what a danger he was, THEY SUPPORTED HIM. Wholeheartedly!
Just before that passage above from Paradise Lost above is this one, which is even more emblematic of the times we live in:
Abdiels speak truth to power, particularly when it is unpopular and unhelpful to their cause. The other demons just stay silent, go along with things, follow the mob and the ravings of a lunatic. What we really needed this year, more than any of the previous ones, were for Republicans to stand up and say “Enough of this farce— Trump is unfit for office, a horrible leader and it is outright insane for him to be in the Oval Office again.” We all witnessed how horrible his Presidency was. They KNOW it too. If you don’t believe me, in a secret ballot for Senate Majority Leader, they chose the non-MAGA option. Behind closed doors they can do the rational thing, but in the open, they fear the wrath of an ingrate. When someone steps out of line against Trump, like Abdiel did against Satan, they fold their arms and stay silent, and let Trump rant like “Th’Apostat” mentioned above. Better to be with the mob of demons than on the side of God. Safety in numbers and all.
Republicans are cowards, led down the path by a charlatan and fearful of their own voters who do so too. Nothing stops them from calling out this calamity, yet they continue toward a course that will lead to catastrophe. They don’t side with righteousness or liberty or any quality that foundations of a society build on; they follow a madman whose personal gripes with individuals and with government are taking our nation into a very dark place. It’s too bad because the opportunity to do the right thing(s) still exists. They fear the downside, but there is no downside to doing the right thing. The next passage in Paradise Lost shows Abdiel returning to Heaven, unsure how he’ll be received, thinking he’ll be confronted as a traitor, but instead is welcomed to applause for finding his faith.
If only there was a Republican remaining out there willing to fight the better fight. The more important fight. Instead, they argued the cost of eggs up a buck was more important than society writ large.
Alas, this year, there was no one.
PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories
I’m always going to suggest Paradise Lost as a book. Its archaic language and Milton drones on about a lot of useless stuff, but there’s a reason its required reading in any college introduction to English Lit course. It really is quite eloquent.
PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner
If you are a U2 fan, it might be interesting to know that for awhile, the order of the songs they would play in concert during their ZooTV tour were meant to follow the paces of Paradise Lost. Since then, I’ve always thought a Paradise Lost Musical (with Music by U2) would be a neat show. Here is my playlist for it, along with some notes.
Zoo Station (Satan’s Fall, chaos)
Even Better than the Real Thing (Satan makes his case to the other Demons)
Gloria (First see Adam, praising God)
I Still Havent Found What I’m Looking For (Adam is lonely)
Beautiful Day (Eve is Made)
Ultraviolet (Light My Way) (Adam shows Eve to follow God)
Mysterious Ways (Adam Praises Eve)
The Fly (Satan enters Paradise)
Elevation (Satan Tempts Eve)
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Eve Bites the Apple)
Desire/ Vertigo (After Eve Bites the Apple, the World changes)
Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get out of (Eve feels Remorse, Adam feel sympathy)
With or Without You (Adam contemplates his choice; song ends, he bites the apple)
One (Single Overhead Light on Adam looking up, Speaking the Words to God w/o Music)
So Cruel (Adam and Eve are cast out of Paradise)
Gloria (Reprise)— Chorus of Angels sing and walk the aisles getting the crowd to sing with them to close out the show.
I think it would be a great show.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
Milton was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost. He would speak it to his assistant who would write it down. It’s a long poem so for someone to write all this down as dication is pretty impressive. I kind of wonder why he doesn’t get credit too.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
“Always do the right thing.”
—Da Mayor, “Do the Right Thing”
Liz, not Lynn.