S.E. Cupp: Loyalty to Donald Trump overrides basic decency
By S.E.
Cupp | secuppdailynews@gmail.com |
PUBLISHED: June
19, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT
In 50 years, when
we talk about this era of American politics, it will be truly impossible to
capture the chaos, exhaustion, darkness, and insanity of Donald Trump’s
presidencies.
There won’t be
adequate words to describe how much changed in such a short period of time,
thanks to Trump’s utter debasement of the office, and the GOP’s decision to
follow him down one of the ugliest paths imaginable, all the while abandoning
principles, morals, and basic common decency.
When we tell our
kids and grandkids that a major political party in America nominated a
convicted felon to be president, a man who incited an insurrection at the U.S.
Capitol, a man who was found liable for sexual abuse — and that that party was
once the party of “family values,” the Christian Coalition, and law and order,
who would believe us?
Trump’s
corruption of conservatism, evangelicalism, the law, the Constitution, and
democracy has also had the regrettable effect of turning MAGA’s mouthpieces,
including sitting lawmakers, into absolutely reprehensible ghouls. Idris' GQ Cover
Shoot
Let’s start with
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a man I’ve spent time with and used to really admire before
he contracted MAGA brain rot, like so many other once-normal and decent
conservatives.
In the wake of
the gruesome shootings of two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers and their spouses,
Lee took to social media. Because, right after a tragedy, it’s always best to
try to score political points with an audience of bots and trolls.
First, he posted on X,
alongside a photo of the alleged gunman, “This is what happens when Marxists
don’t get their way.”
And then,
“Nightmare on Waltz [sic] Street.”
To put into
context how grotesque this is, he posted this less than 24 hours after the
shooting, while Minnesotans were still processing the horrific events of a
targeted assassination and the gunman was still on the loose.
Of course, there’s also the fact that
Lee got the politics of the gunman all wrong, assuming incorrectly that he was
liberal. While he was tapped for a panel by Minnesota Gov. Mike Walz at one
point — thus the “nightmare” post — Vance Boelter had a kill list of dozens of
Dem lawmakers and abortion providers, was an outspoken evangelical Christian,
and according to people who knew
him was a strong supporter of Trump.
After receiving
widespread condemnation for the unconscionable posts, Lee quietly removed them,
but has not apologized. What a disgrace he’s become.
MAGA brain-rot’s
had another effect, which is to put solving problems for Americans last on the
list of lawmakers’ priorities. Instead the most important job and political
currency has become proving their loyalty to Trump.
This week, former
Fox News host and Trump pal Tucker Carlson interviewed Sen. Ted Cruz, with the
brewing Iran/Israel war as the main focus.
Carlson, to his credit, tried
to pin Cruz down on some basic facts about Iran, saying, “If you’re
calling for toppling a government, it’s incumbent on you to know something
about the country and to think through the consequences of that. And you
haven’t and you don’t. And I’m saying that’s reckless.”
After proving he
knew very little about Iran, Cruz brushed off Carlson’s requests for basic
facts and, with nowhere to go on substance, he predictably turned to MAGA’s
favorite dodge — questioning Carlson’s loyalty to Trump.
“Okay, you engage
in reckless rhetoric with no facts, and to be clear, you put out a newsletter
attacking Donald Trump and calling him complicit,” Cruz whined.
Carlson, not
wanting to be out-Trumped, replied, “I campaigned for Donald Trump, and this is
like, after antisemitism, this is the last refuge, ‘You’re an antisemite and
you hate Trump!’ I love Trump.”
So now, because a
senator shamefully can’t answer questions about a country we might go to war
against, we’re off the actual topic and onto a pissing contest over who’s the
bigger Trump sycophant. Pathetic.
Another
characteristic of MAGA brain rot? It leads very smart people to make very dumb
decisions.
Last week, former
Trump attorney John Eastman was told by a California appellate disciplinary
panel that the recommendation to disbar him for his efforts to help overturn
the 2020 election would stand. Another judge had previously concluded Eastman
had committed “multiple acts of moral turpitude” in service of Trump and his
phony, ego-driven claims of election fraud.
Eastman is joined by many other former
Trump lawyers who have since seen their law licenses taken away, either
temporarily or permanently, and their reputations destroyed, from Michael Cohen
to Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani to Kenneth Chesebro, all because they got in bed
with Trump and made terrible choices.
Whatever you
thought of these people before Trump — and I’ve known many of them personally —
it’s hard to imagine they would have sunk so low without his imprimatur,
without his suffering practically no consequences for being a terrible person,
without him dragging everyone in his orbit into the gutter with him.
They justify it
all because Trump has convinced them that acting like he does is somehow a
righteous cause that supersedes morality, the Ten Commandments, and basic human
decency.
Whatever actual
issues draw voters in — and some are totally legitimate — they’re completely
corrupted by MAGA brain rot. It’s real, it’s disgusting, it’s contagious, and
it might just be incurable.
