Thread by @trygveolson

@ProjectLincoln @SteveSchmidtSES @stuartpstevens @TheRickWilson @reedgalen @JoeTrippi @MeghanMcCain, I was with your dad many times with those fighting for freedom against autocrats around the world in his role as Chairman of @IRIglobal.

https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1413454685260845058

I will never forget in Riga him telling Belarusians, Ukrainians, & our mutual friend Boris Nemtsov "nothing is more sacred than the sanctity of people's votes being counted." That even "Putin, Lukashenko, and the autocrats must honor the will of the people

-- peacefully and respectfully." @LindseyGrahamSC was beside him nodding along and concurring. What we saw on 1.6 and the lead-up to it would have troubled your dad, of that I am certain. On 9/11 we were attacked by foreign extremist forces.

1.6 was the culmination of a sustained attack by those within our system -- both those actively encouraging it and by those who sat in silence as it occurred. They are still sitting in silence now and for that, we will all pay a price.

You are a child of privilege whose father was one of the greatest American's of his generation. I had the privilege on occasion to see his greatness in action. How he inspired those -- who never had the fortune you have -- to even risk their lives for democracy's light.

Your attack on @SteveSchmidtSES which matter only because of your birthright means little. Your father's life lived inspiring and speaking truths to autocrats from experiences lived means everything. I had a chance to ask Lorne Craner before he passed what your dad would think.

You, of course, know Lorne's story and the role his father Bob played in your Dad's life. Lorne's father as you know was a hero too -- one whose actions one night in Hanoi played a role in so many others -- including your dads, yours being lived, and all your dad inspired

to battle for freedom. I asked Lorne what he thought your dad would say about all we were seeing in America. His answer is he would have been "very sad, but ready, inspired and excited to fight for what he believed and lived"

All those years at @IRIglobal under your dad's leadership, while I was working with those struggling for freedoms taught me one critical rule of dealing with autocrats -- I call it The Stalin Rule.

If you are truly committed to the values of democracy you stand and fight for it with any and all who will fight side-by-side with you. Your dad lived that. Bob Craner clearly understood that rule too. His child, Lorne, lived this rule each day together with your dad.

"A cause greater than self" as he used to say. Once he even said it to me about my work with the Belarusians. Perhaps @MeghanMcCain you should spend time thinking about why your dad inspired so many, learning and living what his life stood for in so many ways, to so many others