The Hill has one of those now-rote stories about how "vulnerable" Republican senators are divided, oh so very divided, on Trump's continued pattern of fire-hosing racist conspiracy theories at their base and whether or not they should maybe stand off to the side a bit so as to make it look slightly less like they're enabling a batshit crazy, openly racist lunatic rather than standing up to him in any possible way.
The Hill senators who are supposedly trying to toe this difficult line are, and this is not a joke: the perpetually concerned Sen. Susan Collins. The Arizona conspiracy-embracing basket case Martha McSally. And the let's-all-pretend-Trump-isn't-screwing-Iowa-in-particular case study in uselessness, Sen. Joni Ernst. And that's it.
So two senators who have based entire careers on enabling arch-conservative extremism while telling reporters how gosh-darn conflicted they are about doing it, and whatever McSally counts as. That's the sum identified total of Republican Senate resistance to Trump's ultra-racist notions that under Joe Biden, Black People Will Run Rampant In Your Suburbs. Possibly to throw big bags of soup at you.
Every other Republican senator? They're on board with Trump's attacks on Black Lives Matter and other police reform advocates, with his defenses of pro-Trump vigilantes and murderers, and with the rest of his "law and order" rhetoric. Hell, Ron Johnson is probably collecting Ukrainian tips about potential soup-throwers as we speak.
Enough of this garbage. Every Republican senator has a massive, nationwide platform from which they can announce what they do and don't support and be assured that the whole country will hear about it. There're no medals to be rewarded for "hears Trump's racist rants, after voting to immunize Trump from provable corruption charges and unleashing a government-wide purge of those that would investigate him, and decides to remain slightly more quiet than anyone else." Get the hell out with this nonsense.
There are no brownie points for this. Collins doesn't get to claim credit for avoiding Trump's racism and corruption to instead talk about property taxes. She doesn't get to strap on the ol' moderate nomenclature for complaining that it was "painful to watch" Trump gas Americans so he could go hold up a Bible for a minute-long photo op, but Oh Well I Guess That's How Things Work Now.
Sen. Joni Ernst isn't conflicted about Trump's hyper-racist attacks as she instead talks about "renewable fuel standards." She's keeping her mouth shut while Trump does his dirty work. She’s attempting reap whatever electoral advantage she can from Trump riling up the far-far-right base while staying just barely off to the side, where she will receive less of the blowback.
Apparently "moderate" in the Republican Party is just another word for do-nothing coward.
Every Republican senator continues to have every possible opportunity to denounce Trump's corruption, his racism, his pandemic incompetence, and his giddy violations of law. The responses range from Ron Johnson's attempt to out-Nunes Trump's other sycophants, Mitch McConnell's blocking of national security and oversight measures, and Susan Collins’ frayed and unraveling con artist routine. There's no "moderate" supporters of a fascist movement. You are either in the boat or you're not.
