Will Republican senators defend Trump’s recklessness?
Opinion by
Columnist
Oct. 6, 2020 at 6:45 a.m. CDT
Even
before President Trump left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a
deadly communicable disease on Monday, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn
(R-Tex.), who is on the ballot in November, issued a rare Republican rebuke of
the president.
“I
think he let his guard down, and I think in his desire to try to demonstrate
that we are somehow coming out of this and that the danger is not still with us
— I think he got out over his skis and frankly, I think it’s a lesson to all of
us that we need to exercise self-discipline,” Cornyn told the Houston
Chronicle. He rejected Trump’s notion that we have this under control,
insisting, “I think the biggest mistake people make in public life is not
telling the truth, particularly in something with as much public interest as
here because you know the real story is going to come out.” For good measure,
the senator added: “It is not easy to try to get things done working with him
or the White House.”
Considering
that Cornyn has been relatively mum on Trump until now, his remarks suggest
that clinging to Trump is now bad politics in Texas, of all places. Cornyn’s
Democratic opponent, MJ Hegar, should press Cornyn further: Why
then is the Senate pushing forward with confirmation hearings that will
endanger others? Why did you wait until 209,000 Americans had died to say
something? Are you suggesting that Trump is unfit to serve and has been lying
to us?
Indeed,
every Republican senator on the ballot (e.g., Lindsey O. Graham of South
Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Steve Daines of Montana, Dan Sullivan of Alaska,
Thom Tillis of North Carolina) needs to be held accountable for their
unwavering defense of Trump and for their complicity in Trump’s failure to
recognize that asymptomatic people — even those who test negative — can spread
the virus. If senators were
under the same misconception, then they have not been listening to experts and
have been grossly negligent; if they did grasp this, they have put Americans at
risk by remaining quiet as Trump flouted basic health and safety guidelines.
Republican
senators need to answer a bunch of questions:
·
Do they approve of the president leaving Walter Reed and returning
to the White House when he could infect others? Do they approve of his message that
covid-19 is no big deal?
·
Did they publicly or privately object to Trump’s unmasked rallies?
·
Did they object to the White House’s covid-19 protocols, which have
resulted in a proliferation of infections?
·
Why did they not immediately castigate Trump’s aversion to wearing a
mask?
·
Do they approve of the president’s conduct in putting Secret Service agents at risk by
ordering a campaign publicity stunt in which he was driven around Walter Reed hospital
to greet supporters?
·
Why has the Senate not insisted on testing and not made masks
mandatory?
·
If you have attended Republican Senate lunches with members who
later tested positive, did you self-isolate? Did you alert others with whom you
have come in close contact?
·
Why did you not object when Trump began heckling governors to reopen
their economies earlier when the virus was not under control?
Virtually
all Republican senators, either overtly or by their silence, have enabled
Trump’s reckless conduct. They must explain their actions and be held
accountable for their personal behavior. Morally, they are no better than Trump
if they chose not to restrain dangerous conduct or to warn others. As such,
they deserve to be booted out of office.