Donald Trump is unleashing scandal after scandal on the country, showing again and again how badly he failed to protect us from the coronavirus and how explicitly he dreams of being a fascist leader. Congressional Republicans continue not to have a problem with this.
Here’s what passes for stern criticism from Republicans these days: “I wouldn't have taken the same approach that the President did” on downplaying coronavirus, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said. “It wasn't helpful, let me put it that way,” Rep. Fred Upton said of Trump pushing to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” Upton’s home state, when he knew full well how deadly the virus was. Upton added: “I'm being delicate.” We wouldn’t want to be indelicate. Heavens no.
But most Republicans aren't going way out on that “It wasn’t helpful” and “I wouldn’t have taken the same approach” limb. A few are dodging questions. Pretending not to have heard the latest terrible thing Trump said continues to be a big Republican charade. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, trailing in the polls, is tripling up on his reporter avoidance tactics. Gardner “was spotted on the phone four times between Tuesday and Wednesday as he entered and exited the Senate through a back staircase, declining to answer questions,” CNN’s Manu Raju and Ted Barrett report. “Asked if he could stop and take questions as he left the Capitol after the final vote Tuesday, Gardner said no: ‘I'm on the phone,’ he responded as he headed to a car that pulled up the moment he walked out, a move that kept reporters from approaching him.”
So he’s going out the back door while—let’s face it, pretending to be—on the phone and getting directly into a car. Brave.
Other Republicans are forthright in their defense of Trump.
“It's fake news” that Trump lied about the seriousness of COVID-19, Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler told CNN. In reality, Trump is on tape doing just that.
“You guys are awful,” Arizona Sen. Martha McSally responded to a reporter asking whether Trump made a mistake in misleading the public about the pandemic.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is untroubled by Trump’s indoor rally. North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is “fine with the fact that they check up on whether their vote counted,” which is his translation of Trump’s advice to supporters to vote by mail and then try to vote again in person.
They own him. Every lie, every effort to overturn the rule of law, every exhortation to state violence against protesters—it may come out of Trump’s mouth, but it belongs to congressional Republicans, too.
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