In the wake of Donald Trump announcing that his door was open to whatever dirt on political opponents foreign governments might provide, Republicans have been scrambling for a response. So far, those responses break down into the normal categories that follow any such statement from Trump: That’s not what he said, Hillary did it worse, and crickets. And then there are the Republicans who have “stood up” to Trump … and that group is the most pitiful of all.
Here is what Politico described as Lindsey Graham “lashing” at Donald Trump: “The law is pretty clear. You can’t take anything of value from a foreign government,” said Graham. “He says, ‘I didn’t say I did.’ I said: ‘Sitting down and talking to somebody’s not a crime, but it’s probably not a good idea. I don’t agree with you.’” What? Graham said, “It’s probably not a good idea?” Well, that is certainly … weak.
And then there were Republican senators who declared that if they were confronted with information from a foreign government, they would direct it immediately to the FBI. Republicans such as Thom Tillis. “You have to report it to authorities. Generally speaking, it’s a part of, in the case of like Russia, it’s an effort to disrupt our elections,” said Tillis. “My first call would be to the FBI, my second call would be somebody to corroborate the information.” What’s missing from this Thom-lashing? Any mention of Trump.
How brave are Republicans when it comes to standing up to anything Trump says, even if what he says is an advertisement to sell out the country? They’re Republican Sen. John Cornyn-brave. “Any advice I have for the president I’ll give it to him in private,” said Cornyn. Sure. Trump is bound to feel the lash-burn from that one.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin put it succinctly: “Let’s count how many of them stand up and say he’s wrong. You can usually do that on one hand.”
One hand? You don’t need that many.
The “that’s not what he said” group has been following the lead of Fox News, which continues to insist that Trump said he would take any such information to the FBI. Except he didn’t. It’s notable that the most obvious nonmember of this community is Donald Trump. Because he’s not making this claim. He’s continuing to justify the idea that there’s nothing wrong with talking with anyone, so long as it generates the necessary dirt.
And then there’s the Hillary crowd, which, as in 99% of such instances, is concentrating on the Dreaded Dossier. Because hiring someone who hired someone who hired someone who was a former British intelligence officer with close connections to the U.S. intelligence community is just the same as getting the inside scoop from Vladimir Putin. Only worse. Because it was Hillary. In fact, the dossier—the dossier that lashin’ Lindsey Graham knew all about before the election—is apparently so bad that it excuses Trump not just for any Russian connections in 2016, but for any action he wants to take in 2020.
But the biggest group of all is those who are so determined to not say anything about anything that they say everything. For example, there’s this exchange between Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch.
Reporter: Do you have a comment on the president saying he would accept foreign dirt?
Risch: I don’t want to do an interview on that, but thank you for asking.
Reporter: Would you do it? He says everybody does it.
Risch: You didn’t hear what I said, I guess. Is my English bad? Nah, it’s getting pretty good. I’m not interested in doing a—
Reporter: These are comments by the President of the United States. You’re the Foreign Relations Committee chairman.
Risch: I’m not interested in doing an interview on that subject. But thank you for asking.
That, that right there is a real “Profiles in Courage” moment. Thank you for stepping up, Chairman Risch.