Get Off the X
Hello, I hope all is great.
This past Friday I was on Bill Maher talking about boys and men, polarization, third parties, local news and other topics. Afterwards I received a flurry of messages expressing support.
Polarization is overtaking our society and people are feeling it on both sides. One person who wants to bring us back together is Will Hurd, who was on the podcast this week.
Will has a fascinating story – a black computer science major from Texas turned CIA operative. He became a rising star at the CIA over the next 9 years working as an operations officer in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. When he was briefing members of Congress in Afghanistan he was struck by how little they knew of the situation on the ground, and decided to run for Congress himself. On his 2nd try, he won a seat in 2014 at the age of 37 in Texas’s 23rd district which includes the area from San Antonio to El Paso.
Will became known for working across party lines, including co-sponsoring a compromise immigration reform package and roadtripping across the country with Beto O’Rourke. He was one of only 8 House Republicans who voted in favor of the Equality Act in 2019 and was at one point the only Black Republican in the House. Will served 3 terms before deciding to leave Congress in 2020 to, among other things, join the Board of OpenAI to ensure that artificial intelligence is used responsibly.
As you can imagine, Will is deeply concerned about what’s going on in the country and wants to help. At the age of 44, he’s been mentioned as a potential next-generation presidential candidate in the Republican primary. I confess that I picked his brain about his time in the CIA on the podcast because I thought it would provide fascinating insight.
His new book, “American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done” opens with a story from his CIA days. He was performing a Surveillance Detection Route on the way to meet an asset in India. While inching along in his Toyota Tercel he mistakenly ran over a woman’s toe. His car became surrounded by an angry mob who began pushing on the vehicle.
As he relates, “The CIA had taught me about situations like this. The first thing you are supposed to do is get off the X. The X is where something is going down - an ambush, a riot, or general chaos erupting or about to erupt. Staying on the X is the last place you want to be.”
Will unexpectedly got out of the car. He found someone who he could communicate with and put the woman in a rickshaw directed to the local hospital with some money.
The mob calmed. People started clapping and helped Will back into his car. He writes, “I’ve had years to reflect on why an incensed mob went from rage to happiness within minutes. I have concluded that the mob appreciated a show of warm-heartedness from someone they did not expect to show kindness . . . their rage was checked when they saw an act of compassion – me getting out of the car, trying to do something about the situation I had put the woman in.”
To Will, the U.S. is on the X right now due to polarization, and we have to get off of it. He’s right about that. And he wants to help.
I’ve met a number of figures like Will who want to restore a sense of principle to our politics. I think structural reforms are necessary. But those reforms won’t happen without people like Will working to lead us in a better direction. If his past is any indication, I wouldn’t bet against Will - he's got a track record of turning around bad situations.
I often see characterizations of Democrats and Republicans that paint people with a broad brush. I personally find it impossible to generalize across a group of tens of millions of people, most of whom don’t resemble the cantankerous back and forth on social media every day. Will’s experience representing his constituents in Texas is that if you show up and talk to people and work hard on their behalf, they’ll consider you regardless of party affiliation. “The letter next to my name should matter less than my message . . . if you want to get back to normal, you need to get more normal people to vote in primaries. Most people aren’t nuts. They want to solve problems.” That sounds awfully Forward.
