Sunday, August 6, 2017

GOP has lost moral high ground on Trump

Recently, it's become apparent that many Republicans are beginning to have "buyer's remorse" when it comes to Donald Trump. They are beginning to realize too late that Trump is racist and incompetent, and that he really doesn't know what he's doing. Many now are beginning to seek safe political cover. To those people, I say, tough. You made your bed. Now, you have to lie in it and accept the consequaences of your inaction.
   Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona is the latest in a growing number of Republicans who are beginning to speak out against Trump. Recently,  Flake penned an op-ed piece in Politico, in which he argued that the GOP is in denial about Trump. Add to that some recent actions in the Senate, including passing tough new sanctions against Russia (opposed by Trump), acting to make sure Trump doesn't fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the failure of Senate Republicans to repeal Obamacare, and it's clear that Republicans are starting to realize what a grave mistake they made in nominating Trump last summer. Good. Better late than never, I suppose. But the question remains: Where were these people six months ago? Where were they on Jan. 20, when we swore in the most incompetent president in American history?
   It's encouraging to see that Republicans are finally coming to their senses. Maybe they will finally give up their love affair with the extreme right and move back toward the political middle, where the majority of Americans reside. But let's be clear. Republicans have no right to claim any kind of moral high ground in all this. After all, you can't embrace a loudmouth, xenophobic racist like Trump and claim any kind of moral high ground. You can't knowingly embrace his blazing incompetence -- something that was blindingly obvious to anyone who was paying attention during the campaign -- then claim that you were duped or otherwise misled. Republicans knew exactly what they were getting in Trump. They simply didn't care. They were so determined to beat Hillary Clinton, so blinded by their hatred of her and her husband, that they were willing to make a deal with the devil (in a manner of speaking). And now, they are reaping what they have sown, and they're trying to protect themselves.
    Voters shouldn't let them get away with it. In 2018, they should sweep the Republicans out of power and return Congress to Democrratic control. Then, we should get serious about impeaching Trump for colluding with Russia and general incompetence and put our government back in the hands of competent adults. It's not too late to right the ship of state. We have a chance to put an end to this nightmare. The question is, do we have the will?
 

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