Every day, traditional media outlets find themselves asking the same series of questions, including: What the hell is Donald Trump talking about? And what is the Republican Party thinking they are doing by supporting Donald Trump? Around these here parts, we have spent a lot of time coming up with creative ways of trying to explain to the world that Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s horcrux, the result of decades of dark magic promoting hate and fear and selfishness. Of course, in our system, traditional media types have usually allowed themselves to believe that there are good people on both sides of the aisle. Donald Trump has tested that theory in the most obvious of ways.
Former Republican Rep. David Jolly of Florida, who publicly denounced his affiliation with the GOP over their inaction on gun control, came on MSNBC to talk about how the impeachment inquiry was going. Host Nicole Wallace asked him what the Republicans defending Trump are thinking, and Jolly did not hold back.
DAVID JOLLY: These are the moments where my anger is somewhat palpable because you've just got to be honest. These are, in today's Republican Party, spineless politicians rotten to the core without virtue. Without any level of human integrity, devoid of self-respect, self-reflection, without courage, and without the moral compass to recognize their own malevolence.
And one day maybe they will have the recognition of how they failed the country and themselves in this moment. But that would be giving them credit that somewhere down deep they have the goodness to recognize how to reconcile their own failings with what is right and just in American politics. And frankly what is right and wrong in the eyes of adults and children alike. And there's no other example. And why no argument will ever work for Republicans, and I agree they inevitably will make the case this is not impeachable.
The problem is it requires every single Republican to align with Donald Trump and say that only Donald Trump speaks the truth. That Lt. Col. Vindman, a man of honor and Purple Heart recipient, does not speak the truth. Ambassador McKinley, somebody who's referred to as the “dean of the foreign service core,” does not speak the truth. Ambassador Yovanovitch, somebody who dedicated her life to promoting freedom and U.S. ideals on the world stage, does not speak the truth. Only Donald Trump does. And there is no greater example of selling your soul to a charlatan than what Republicans are doing right now in the House and the Senate. And their legacies are on the line just as much as Donald Trump's. We know the character of Donald Trump. We know the failings of Donald Trump. Watching play out in this impeachment proceeding is the failings of a Republican Party and every single member that goes along with this.
Wallace threw to a commercial as the sober reality of what David Jolly had just said sank in. It’s hard to have a television “discussion” when the story is as simple as the impeachment of Donald Trump.