THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF DONALD TRUMP WILL TAKE YEARS TO GO AWAY

 

…Texas Senator Ted Cruz is one of the least-liked Senate members, Josh Hawley is following in his footsteps

 

A large slice of Senior Democratic Senators have filed a serious complaint against Senator’s Cruz and Hawley

 

Well, it looks like the Republican Senator Ted Cruz, the “Texas Debate King” has finally gone and got himself, along with the freshman GOP Senator from Missouri, Josh  Hawley, into deep dodo.

A group of Senate Democrats have lodged a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee against both Senators concerning their efforts to undermine the election, and the culminating of the violence on Jan. 6.

In the complaint, signed by the following U.S. Senators:. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Tina Smith (Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Va.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio).  The Democrats have declared: “When Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley announced they would object to the counting of state-certified electors on January 6, 2021, they amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country.” They also argue that in “proceeding with their objections to the electors after the violent attack, Senators Cruz and Hawley lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.”

The Democrats are arguing that the Senate must determine “whether the senators failed to put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department’ or engaged in ‘improper conduct reflecting on the Senate’ in connection with the violence on January 6,” citing the Code of Ethics for Government Service and the Senate Ethics Manual. They want the Senate, among other things, to investigate whether Cruz and Hawley communicated or coordinated with the following three Republican House members: Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), and Mo Brooks (Ala.), who have been accused of aiding the insurrection. Democrats also cite Hawley for “raising his fist in support of protestors who had already gathered there.” Finally, as others have publicly recommended, the Democrats ask Cruz and Hawley to “preserve all relevant emails and documents in order to ensure that a thorough investigation can occur.”

Democrats know that asking colleagues to punish Cruz and Hawley for simply exercising their right to demand votes on their objections, no matter how specious, is a nonstarter. They therefore walk a fine line:

It was within the Senators’ rights to object to the electors.  But the conduct of Senators Cruz and Hawley, and potentially others, went beyond that. Both senators announced their intention to object to the electors after baseless claims of election fraud, which they knew to be baseless, had led to threats of violence.  Both senators persisted in their objections after those threats came to fruition. Their actions lend credence to the insurrectionists’ cause and they have set the stage for future violence.  And both senators used their objections for political fundraising.

Even more intriguing is an argument that Senator Whitehouse made in a prior statement: "Because of massive potential conflict of interest, Senators Cruz, Hawley, and Senior Wisconsin Senator, Ron Johnson,  need to be off all relevant committees reviewing this matter until the investigation of their role is complete.” Cruz and Hawley, as galling as it is, they both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Basically, Democrats seek to punish the two senators for lying about a “stolen election” to enrage their base.  They knowingly raised baseless claims and tried to raise funds off their attacks on the democratic election. 

A few points deserve some emphasis.

• First, the ethics committee is split 3-3 between the parties, and the chance that Republicans would agree to sanctions on their own members is highly doubtful. So, as long as the committee is deadlocked, Cruz and Hawley will face no discipline. (This is one of the inherent flaws in the entire ethics process.)

• Second, while the committee’s rules require a preliminary investigation, there is no deadline specified. That investigation might find that the issue is trivial or outside the committee’s purview, in which case no formal public hearing would take place. It is for this reason that many ethics charges effectively disappear from public scrutiny.

• Third, we can assume that the purpose of this letter is likely not to obtain expulsion (which virtually never happens) but rather to create a record, put pressure on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to move the two senators off plum committees and force Cruz and Hawley (already under public pressure and facing a donor boycott) to defend their actions. If nothing else, demanding that they retract the, “Big Lie that the election was stolen would”. This would serve the interests of “unity, and repair some of the damage they did to our democracy.”

It is an open secret that Cruz is one of the least-liked members of the Senate. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wisecracked in 2016, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.” And certainly other potential presidential contenders in 2024 would love nothing better than to see Cruz and Hawley publicly flogged.

But it is a truism that the Senate is a club in which members are loath to call out colleagues for conduct in which they themselves had engaged.

Sadly, lying to stir up low-information, violent extremists is nothing new in the Republican Senate caucus.  One need only listen to the Russian propaganda that Republicans peddled to defend former president Donald Trump during the Ukraine scandal to know how utterly shameless too many in the Republican party have become.

What is necessary is to raise the standard of conduct expected of a U.S. Senator and make it untenable to operate in a parallel universe of lies and incitement.

During the previous administration, we saw just how much time and energy Republicans devoted, not to solving voters’ problems, but to stirring White resentment.  They in addition, postured for right-wing propaganda outlets and fundraised off their hysterical rhetoric. The solution to that is far beyond the capability of the ethics committee.

Civil society, including political donors, bar associations, think tanks, media, party activists and the voters themselves, they must raise the price of engaging in this sort of disreputable conduct for which Cruz, Hawley and their ilk have become famous. That is the great challenge today in our MAGA-corrupted politics.

It will now take years, if we can ever get rid of the negative, long-term effects of the Donald J. Trump administration.

Copyright G. Ater 2021