The last time Donald Trump had a megaphone and a broad captivated audience was around March, during his regular task force briefings at the outset of the coronavirus. It did not end well for him. Because the more regular people see of Trump, the more they're reminded how little there is to like—as in, nothing. After enjoying a brief coronavirus bounce, Trump’s approval ratings slumped back down.
And right on cue, Republican lawmakers started begging him to end his tour de farce at the podium, which he ultimately did. Because the only thing that ever concerns congressional Republicans is anything that hurts their reelection chances. Hundreds of thousands of American dying, solicitation of foreign election interference, degradation of U.S. democracy? Meh. But a Trump gaffe that might disrupt the GOP's hold on power—uh ohz!
Enter Tuesday's debate and Trump's command to the extremist group the Proud Boys to "stand by" in regard to the election. In fact, even worse than that, when challenged to denounce white supremacy, Trump suffered a deer-in-headlights freeze for several beats as he computed a way to weasel out of actually denouncing the hateful ideology. Because to his core, Trump has zero interest whatsoever in distancing himself from white supremacy.
More generally, Trump was a jabbering lunatic throughout the entire debate, but his attempt to wriggle out of condemning right-wing extremists produced one of the very few coherent moments of the entire night. And right on cue, Senate Republicans are concerned—not about Trump's embrace of violent hate groups and ideologies that pose an actual threat to U.S. citizens, and not about the fact that a madman is our head of government. But as both The Washington Post and The New York Times report, Republicans are shuddering over whether Trump's repulsive posturing could negatively impact their reelection hopes. Who knows—maybe they could have taken that into consideration when every damn Senate Republican but Mitt Romney gave Trump a free pass on trying to steal the 2020 election with help from a foreign government. Seems like that may have been a reasonable time to reflect on whether putting one’s personal stamp of approval on Trump's depraved and rudderless leadership might not bode well for one’s reelection chances.
But even with Trump's disturbingly unbalanced performance Tuesday, GOP lawmakers aren't exactly running to the mics to denounce Trump's behavior. When they worry, they almost always worry "privately," like spineless slugs curled into a ball. As the Post writes: "Few Republicans voiced outrage in the wake of Trump’s norm-shattering spectacle in Cleveland on Tuesday, including his statement that the extremist Proud Boys, a male-only far-right group known for street violence, should ‘stand back and stand by.’ Responses ranged from silence to muted criticism, reflecting how the GOP remains convinced that an alliance with Trump and his voters is crucial for its survival."
In fact, instead of taking a stand, vulnerable Senate Republicans are now strategizing about how to "deflect" questions about the Proud Boys in upcoming debates and "shift to more favorable topics." Here's a fresh idea: How about simply condemning white supremacy and right-wing extremism and saying Trump should have done the same? "Groups and ideologies that stoke violence and threaten law-abiding citizens are never acceptable." How hard is that?
Instead, we get absolute nonsense from senators like North Carolina's Thom Tillis, who's facing a tight reelection. Asked specifically about the Proud Boys, Tillis offered: “I’ll leave it to the president. I know he’s not racist. I’m sure he doesn’t approve of their activities."
Actually, Thom, Trump was given a second crack it Wednesday and instead of having the guts to condemn the group, he claimed ignorance about the Proud Boys. "I don't know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down and let law enforcement do their work,” Trump told reporters. Gee, ever heard of Google?
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another vulnerable Republican, offered the worst kind of disingenuousness, suggesting that somehow Joe Biden was equally complicit in the debate mayhem as he actually tried to answer the questions posed to him through Trump’s blathering belligerence. “There was fault on both sides," Collins said, sounding eerily reminiscent of Trump's post-Charlottesville assertion that there were good people on "both sides" of the Hitler-esque neo-Nazi rally.
But as bad as Collins is, there's worse: Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst. Given the opportunity to, at the very least, condemn violent racially motivated hate groups—not to mention Trump's comments—both senators, who are in unexpectedly tough races, took a pass. Here's a Thursday morning tweet from CNN's Manu Raju:
"Some GOP senators up for re-election not touching Trump’s white supremacy comments. “I’m not commenting. I didn’t see the debate,” said GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. Joni Ernst, in tough race in Iowa, waved off a question from @tedbarrettcnn when asked about Trump’s debate comment."
It’s two days later and Sullivan claims ignorance about the debate. Really? He holds one of the highest offices in the land and apparently isn't the least bit interested in how the standard-bearer of his party is conducting himself. Sounds blissful—almost like he shouldn't be in government at all.
And then there's Ernst, the erstwhile hog castrater who ran on a promise to make Washington politicians "squeal." Now she's just dodging reporters because the politics of condemning white supremacy are a little too dicey for her.
Seriously, who are these jokers? Has the Republican Party reached the point where it's so beholden to right-wing extremists that senators running for reelection can't afford to condemn hate-based violence? “Yes” is clearly the answer to that question.