REPUBLICANS
SUDDENLY MUCH TOO BUSY TO DEFEND TRUMP’S ELECTION LIES ON TV
It's almost as if they're worried about
crossing a president known to tweet his grievances out to his millions of
followers.
BY ERIC LUTZ
NOVEMBER
16, 2020
Back in June, after Donald Trump had peaceful
protesters outside the White House tear gassed to clear the way for a bizarre photo-op with a Bible, NBC
News’ Kasie Hunt asked Republicans on Capitol Hill for their
thoughts on the matter. One by one, GOP lawmakers demurred. Some said they hadn’t seen it, even
though the outrageous display of strongman tactics had dominated the previous
evening’s news cycle. Some ignored her. Some, like Wyoming Senator Mike
Enzi, claimed they were “late for lunch” and scuttled by. It was
embarrassing, but hardly a new maneuver on their part: Unwilling to ever cross
Trump, Republicans have to either defend his every move to the press or walk on
by—and sometimes, it’s just easier to fake a phone call.
Their silence since the election is just
another shameful example of their cowardice. Trump, who lost to Joe
Biden, baselessly insists he actually won and refuses to concede,
unleashing a torrent of transparent lies that a massive voter fraud conspiracy
undermined his victory. Nobody really believes this, except for the most
dedicated of the MAGA faithful and maybe Rudy Giuliani. But most of
his party has gone along with it anyway, endorsing his unfounded challenges to
the election results or keeping their mouths shut as he sows doubt in the
legitimacy of the vote and threatens the peaceful transfer of power.
Seemingly aware they’d be asked to respond to
the president’s tidal wave of bullshit, Republicans have shied away from television appearances outside
the friendly confines of Fox News. Every single GOP senator was invited
on Meet the Press this past Sunday, moderator Chuck
Todd tweeted, but none
accepted. They didn’t show their faces on the other major Sunday talk shows,
either—unable, perhaps, to defend him with a straight face, but unwilling to
suffer the consequences of breaking from him.
Two years ago, Republican Mike DeWine was
an “outstanding man” who had Trump’s “total endorsement” in his gubernatorial
race. But after the Ohio governor correctly referred to Biden as the
president-elect in a CNN appearance this weekend, Trump hopped on Twitter to
sandbag him. “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio?”
Trump wrote Monday, after
Fox News reported on
DeWine’s comments. “Will be hotly contested!”
DeWine’s Republican colleagues, it seems, are
still living in fear of the dreaded Trump tweet—his days in office may be
numbered, but he still has a fervent base to wield against them. It’s unclear,
though, how scared they should be of turning off the MAGA faithful, considering
high-profile Republicans kept their seats in the election and the GOP made
gains in the House, all while Trump himself was defeated. But even if
capitulating to Trump remains in their political interests, it’s clearer than
ever that it’s not in the country’s. Not every Republican has pulled a Lindsey
Graham and actively cheered on Trump’s anti-democratic lies. A few,
including Mitt Romney, have actually congratulated Biden on his
win. But none of these lawmakers have forcefully denounced Trump’s unmoored
conduct, and many have remained shamefully silent as he drags out his
delusional crusade against the election results. Some certainly have their own
craven motivations for enabling him. Others maybe don’t see the harm in
“humoring” him, as one administration official put it recently.
But his lies already appear to be doing
significant damage. A Politico/Morning Consult poll last week
found that 70 percent of Republicans distrust the election results. That doubt
could continue to grow if Trump’s lies are allowed to fester. This would pose
problems in the short-term for Biden, whose presidency may be seen as
illegitimate by a number of Trump’s supporters, and in the longterm for
American democracy as a whole, which relies on a certain level of trust in
order to function. It’s well beyond time for Republicans to put the good of the
country first, even if it means the raving president will say something mean
about them on the internet. If the last four years are any indication, though,
it’s hard to imagine any of them suddenly finding their backbone now.
