REX TILLERSON DID CORRECTLY CALL THE PRESIDENT AS HE SAW HIM

 REPUBLICANS LAWMAKERS ARE AVOIDING TALKING ABOUT THE CAPITAL RIOTS

 

                 …Conservative Senator Lindsay Graham is the classic two-faced politician

 

Even Mitch McConnell has signaled his openness to voting to convict President Trump.

 

Every Republican Senator was invited by Jake Trapper on CNN to join him for answering Jake’s questions on the recent Capitol Riots.  But every one of these Republican senators declined to respond.  It was obvious that they were not going to deal with any tough questions from the real media.

Instead, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina decided to play it safe and to only appear in the comforting embrace of the conservative media such as Fox Business TV.  It was pretty disgusting to hear  Graham’s comment that, “If you do not stand up against the impeachment of President Trump after he leaves office, you’re an incredibly weak figure in American history.”

If Graham wants to look at someone being so weak, all he needs to do is to look in the mirror.  

He of course failed to explain how Trump’s words to the rioters: “We love you. You’re very special,"  are helping to heal the nation, or how not impeaching would unite the country.  Especially when Graham and the Republicans falsely claim that, “Biden will usher in the most aggressive socialized policy effort in the history of the country.”  Biden is a moderate Democrat, not a liberal socialist.

The Fox host, Maria Bartiromo, had his bogus “hard-hitting observations” such as his opinion that President Trump’s impeachment is actually “a crisis for the Biden administration."  And just what is that supposed to mean?

It was really Graham’s weakness of hearing the lies from Graham like when he said, . “President Trump is trying to heal the nation.  Pursuing his impeachment after he leaves the office will further divide the country.”  Graham has really drank too much of the Trump Kool-Aide. 

Graham’s forte is supposed to be his Constitutional arguments.  But he is at odds with most constitutional scholars when he wrote the Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, the following in a letter: “Both the plain text and the evident purpose of Congress’ constitutional impeachment power make manifestly clear that the Congress is without the constitutional power to impeach a president, once he has left office.”

The scholars actually say “That the Constitution is unclear on whether a former U.S. official can be impeached.”

Graham also wrote in his letter to Schumer: . “Vice President Pence stood in the breach against unconstitutional calls to overturn the 2020 election,” apparently forgetting that he himself did plenty to stoke those calls. “Do not concede, Mr. President,” he said on Barttiromo’s program. “I have no confidence" in Georgia’s election results, he told Fox News, adding that “there’s a civil war brewing” in the state. Even in Bartiromo interview, Graham couldn’t resist blaming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the riots: “Where was Nancy Pelosi? It’s her job to provide Capitol security.” But now we’re supposed to believe that she cares about unity?

Most notably, there’s the weakness in Graham’s spine.  In former president Barack Obama’s recent memoir, he described Graham as “the guy who double-crosses everyone to save his own skin.” The senator’s behavior since Trump’s rise bolsters that view. 

In late 2015, Graham told CNN, “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.” In another interview that year, he called Trump a “jackass" who “shouldn’t be commander in chief.”

But upon Trump’s election, Graham did a 180° turn and quickly became a devotee of the new president, always ready with a defense for Trump’s questionable conduct.

One particularly low point came during Trump’s first impeachment trial, when Graham, who had argued that President Bill Clinton’s lies demanded impeachment to restore “honor and integrity to the office.”  Graham actually claimed that Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to try help sway a U.S. election wasn’t impeachable conduct.

Huh?

Politicians putting their careers above principle are hardly something new.  But they seem to be especially common in today’s GOP.  Just 10 House Republicans were brave enough to impeach a president who incited a mob to breach the Capitol.  And while Republican senators such as Ben Sasse, Susan Collins and even Mitch McConnell have signaled their openness to voting to convict President Trump, only Patrick Toomey and Lisa Murkowski have actually committed to doing so.  It’s hard to see that number growing much as the vivid images from the insurrection riot start to fade.

Last week, it was predicted that someday Trump will lose his grip on the GOP, only because of his advanced age and the fact that he has no obvious, competent successor.  But Graham’s weakness, and the obvious weakness in his party shows just how vulnerable the GOP is to another future Trump authoritarian.

And what do the opinion writers and conservative talk show hosts have to say about the GOP today?

• Talk Show host, Hugh Hewitt say that Mitch McConnell is still the crucial Republican leader.

• Conservative writer Ruth Marcus says that impeachment of Donald Trump must proceed and the Senate cannot dodge its duty’

• The Post’s satirist, Dana Milbank says it’s time for the Republican elites to shut up listen to the people.

• The documentary filmmaker Chris Whipple, he says Mark Meadows has earned the title of being “the worst presidential Chief of Staff in history.”

And while the country did survive this authoritarian Donald J. Trump, if there’s a next one in our future, we may not be so lucky.

Copyright G. Ater 2020