Mark Sanford isn't afraid to criticize President Trump because 'truth matters'


Where once President Trump's unexpected political success seemed to blur partisan lines, since he took office, Congress and Americans more broadly have tended to re-embrace party allegiances rather than flouting them. One prominent exception is Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), featured Friday in a new profile from Politico.
Sanford first came to national attention in 2009, when he was governor of South Carolina. After disappearing for a week, he revealed an extramarital affair with an Argentine journalist, blowing up his marriage and — per common political wisdom — his political career. But eight years later, Sanford is in Congress, and that very history has given him a unique freedom to criticize a president with whom he shares a party but not a philosophy of governance:
All this gives Sanford a unique sense of liberation to speak his mind about a president whose substance and style he considers a danger to democracy. "I'm a dead man walking," he tells me, smiling. "If you've already been dead, you don't fear it as much. I've been dead politically." [...]Sanford swears he has nothing personal against the new president; in fact, he's heard good things about him personally from several mutual acquaintances. But, he says, he can't "look the other way" as Trump peddles false information to suit his political aims. "I believe in a war of ideas ... and I tell the staff all the time: Look, we're in the business of crafting and refining our arguments that are hopefully based on the truth," he adds. "Truth matters. Not hyperbole, not wild suggestion, but actual truth." [Politico]
The South Carolinian is known for his "professorial" commitment to his libertarian-leaning political ideals, principles that have him criticizing Trump for "fann[ing] the flames of intolerance" and demonstrating ignorance of the Constitution. Sanford rejects the expectation of intra-party deference to the president, and he recognizes the irony in his new role as champion of truth and transparency in politics. "I've got to be careful," he said to Politico, "because people who live in glass houses can't throw stones."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants