IN THE GOP: THE LEADERS HAVE BECOME FOLLOWERS

…A classic Trump Campaign Rally in North Carolina

68% of Republicans, still believe it’s patriotic to point out where America falls short. 

Remember when it was perfectly OK to criticize, in fact, it was almost required that if you saw something was wrong in our government, we were supposed to speak up.  That’s the way we decided what we were going to vote for, or where to send money to support.

Well, according to a USA Today poll, 72% of Americans, including 68% of Republicans, still believe it’s patriotic to point out where America falls short.  But with our current commander-in-chief, that is exactly what he has attacked our freshmen, non-white lawmakers for doing!  The same poll stated that 65% of Americans believe it’s racist to tell minority Americans, especially our elected leaders, to “go back to where they came from.”  Even 45% of Republicans also believe this.  These ordinary Americans, including many of Trump’s supporters, take much stronger moral positions than their so-called leaders.

I say “so called leaders” because so many of our “so called leaders” don’t have the courage to stand up for what is obviously the appropriate position.

As an example, after the president said that four non-white members of Congress, including three born in the United States, should “go back” to the countries they came from, Republican lawmakers responded with near-complete silence.  When, 48 hours before the chanting to “Send them Back” occurred at Trump’s campaign rally in North Carolina, the House had taken up a resolution condemning “racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color”.  However, only 4, of the 197 House Republicans joined in that denunciation resolution.

Oh, there were a few Republicans that were dismayed with what had been chanted at the rally.

“Not acceptable,” was proclaimed by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), head of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“That’s offensive,” judged Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), the House GOP conference vice chairman.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had likewise declared there is “no place in our party and no place in this country” for such words.

But on the other side, Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated about the president allowing the chanting at the rally:  “The president is onto something.”

When the leader of the US Senate, a person that can personally decide which bills are to be brought up for a vote, says that what the president did was “on to something”, you then know how bad the situations is in our capital city.

Yes, the lawmakers’ behavior is, in many ways, worse than the president’s.  Trump has long demonstrated that he has no sense for appropriate behavior, he only has an instinct for what’s expedient.  We can never expect more from him. The real injury comes when those elected officials who know better, do their “nod and wink” at Trump’s behavior, which also signals to the public that it is totally acceptable.

Only after a Republican is out of the government do they manage to find their real voices.  Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), who just resigned from the Republican Party, he correctly judged that the “send her back” chant “is the inevitable consequence of President Trump’s demagoguery. This is how history’s worst episodes begin.”

In addition, the foul-mouthed, former Trump White House adviser, Anthony Scaramucci, had his invitation to address the Palm Beach County GOP yanked, after he criticized those Trump words. He had warned that Trump is “turning into a racist”.

Then there’s the former House Speaqker, Paul Ryan, who, during his troubled speakership, maintained a pro-Trump posture, and he rarely broke with the president publicly.  Now, out of the government, Ryan told Politico’s Tim Alberta for Tim’s new book, “American Carnage,” that Trump “didn’t know anything about government.”

Belatedly, Ryan says he’s sorry for any injuries made to institutions and the overall moral standards, while he was speaker. “We’ve gotten so numbed by it all.”

But this is being said by the man who for two years served as the person that actually administered the numbing anesthetic to the president.

Even though they won’t admit it, most of the 250 Republicans in Congress know that the now-former British ambassador, Kim Darroch, had it totally right.  Darroch had stated in a document that had been leaked, that the Trump’s administration won’t: “become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.”  Yep, that assessment is correct.

But unfortunately, the Republicans will still remain silent.  Even after Trump hijacked the Fourth of July;  Even after he recalled how the Revolutionary War soldiers “took over the airports”; and even after he again pronounced himself again as a “stable genius.”  But after he bid farewell to his ninth Cabinet officer, which set another modern record for losing another cabinet member due to another scandal!

And all this, after he continued to send mixed messages of war to Iran, North Korea and Turkey

Today, we have a president that hosts conspiracy theorists at the White House, while he launches a racist attack on freshmen dark-skinned, female members of Congress.

So obviously, this will continue to continue.

Republican lawmakers have made their choice to give Trump their tacit approval.

The ugliness in our president and what recently occurred in the North Carolina Rally is what happens when our leaders become followers, and they approve such actions.

Copyright G. Ater 2019