So, the party that has engaged in voter suppression for decades is suddenly okay with cheating in elections? Amazing, this is not.
13
Wake me when it’s over and Trump is re-elected.
7
Your read the Republican office-holders well, Mr Blow:
"Their political lives and their personal lives are indistinguishable. They are political creatures. They can’t imagine their lives apart from the offices they hold."
So, the King is Mad.
I hear: Why allow that to interfere with our well planned lives?
Respectfully,
An 82-year-old woman.
6
Mr. Blow it is useless to beseech those in Congress to stand up for the American people or even for the cleansing of their souls.
No matter how he tramples on the Constitution, cheers on criminals, racists, mysoginists, and foreign invaders of our Democratic process, they have been complicity silent.
They have allowed him to run amok, creating chaos, and divisiveness, diminishing our stature in the world, and as his lies, manipulations and desperate attempts to save his own skin stop working, they are allowing him to become more impulsive and reckless and therefore dangerous.
Their job is to protect the interests of The American people by checking the abuse of power, and the increasing despotic behavior of Trump. Yet they still will not hold him accountable.
They will all go down in the dust bin of history with him.
12
If they had scruples or any sense of shame, they wouldn't be Republicans.
15
Mr. Blow,
Impeach President Trump if you so desire. Please welcome President Pence, ultra-conservative and God-fearing (he prays every day)) shock!). Alas, that won’t happen until 2024 but you can continue writing hate articles and motivate his base until then.
Carry on sir!
3
Search my soul?
Let’s see:
1) Gorsuch approved
2) Kavanaugh soon to be approved
3) Appeals court judges being approved
4) Tax cuts approved
5) Regulations cut
6) Withdrawal from meaningless Paris Climate Accord
7) Iran agreement scrapped.
Did I miss anything?
Oh yeah: Hillary not President!
My soul is smiling ear to ear.
5
Simple: It's fascism, pure and simple.
The elite right has seized the governmental authority to remove it. NDAA 2012 death camps are already law, awaiting activation (articles 1021 and 1022: no warrant arrest and no right to trial "for duration of hostilities." )
2
I remember the final episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Murray told Ted Baxter that when a donkey flies you don't ask yourself how long it stays in the air. Republican Senators putting country before their own greed, ambition, and party? If they made the effort it would be short-lived then they would quickly fall in line behind Trump. Republicans in Trump's Party showing any signs of integrity? When donkeys fly.
4
Not gonna happen, Mr. Blow, not gonna happen.
5
Change the party color from ‘red’ to ‘yellow’. Goes with their cowards better.
8
@Tim
But Red goes with Russia.
2
Among my middle class and higher standing Republican friends, none has abandoned Trump. The uniform reason is money. They cannot resist ranting against "entitlements", an evil that prevents the further round of tax cuts to which they are entitled. No character flaw, lack of qualification, or error of judgment can shake their pursuit of wealth. The country be damned.
16
So, my soul is eroding? Please, please libs, keep it up.
1
It's a given repubs are immoral cowards who care only about cutting taxes for the rich, feeding the corporate war machine and engaging in unfunded wars/disasters once or twice every decade.
And staying in power by any lie their non-thinking base will buy, decade after decade.
See the utter failure of Kansas for an example of their latest fraud & tax cutting disaster; along with tump's bringing back coal, his already failed tariffs, and his trillion dollar deficits for years to come.
Tump is destroying the nation before our eyes. Destroying all democratic norms, sensible policies and regulations normally based on reasonable compromises, ethics, facts, sanity and science...and what's truly in the best interest of society.
A total fraud, ignoramus and lying fool.
Yet he's there because red state voters apparently have the awareness and intelligence of a gnat.
They are the root problem, and most of them say they'd vote for the dunce again.
Of course it defies comprehension that a fascist has risen to power in this country, but we have a ballot box and those of us with basic intelligence and morality had better rise up and use that box in numbers sufficient to save the country.
Or we're probably done as an experiment in democracy. The GOP is an utter disgrace, a reprehensible party we should send to the dust bin once and for all.
9
This is Trump's tweet:I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews
He's whistling at his folks, throwing out his raw meat. Anyone who stands by this man is a racist. Here we go folks. You are right, Mr. Blow. But they aren't interested in searching their souls. They already sold them.
11
May November's Blue Tsunami wipe away the GOP corruption and its death grip on the throat of our once great nation.
6
Funny, I have the exact same message for Democrats/liberals/leftists/socialists.
3
I guess Hillary was right about those deplorables. She had nothing to apologize for.
8
McConnell always looks a bit like Gollum, but never more so than in the leading photo here. He personifies the Republican Party that has degenerated into a noisome caricature of selfish, predatory viciousness. Anything, ANYTHING for My Precioussssssssss!
6
I ADMIRE THE RESOUNDING CALL TO ARMS OF CHARLES BLOW. But where the GOPpers are concerned, Ears have they, but they hear not. Eyes have they, but they see not. Mouths have they, but they speak not. Meaning that they have permitted themselves to openly and utterly become the tribe of monkeys who refuse to act when they observe high crimes and misdemeanors. From time to time, chefs at renowned restaurants literally fall on their swords because they are ashamed of their failures. Not that I think that losing a Michelin star warrants such drastic action. Also, from time to time, Japanese officials will commit the act of hara-kiri, where they admit their disgrace and end their lives. But these are more than exotic, esoteric examples: We send our military personnel to war zones where we ask them to defend US interests and make sacrifices. Some make the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives for their country. Whatever you may think of wars and the military, the point is that there is no such code of honor among the GOPpers in Congress. At one point, when the draft was compulsory, there was more of a shared sense of defending the country's honor. But no more. What's trickled down from the sacrifice of our military is the pathetic slime that is called the GOP!
6
Fat chance.
1
Great photo of McConnell, a mere shadow of a man.
8
Sorry...Their soul has already been sold to the Devil....transaction completed in November 2016
5
Well done, Mr. Blow. Well done, indeed.
5
Seeking and finding succor in your words, as always.
5
when I see anyone appealing the better nature or morality of GOP'ers, I carefully remember who wrote it the, I remember not to read them ever again.
If you are stupid enough to believe that reps have patriotism, morality, or honor to bring to bear, you've gone over the edge and you no longer have enough contact with reality to deserve my time and attention.
It is people like this, selling the false hope of GOP humanity, that have kept us from taking them in hand and drowning the lot of them
Goodbye Mr. Blow. With this article you might as well come straight out and support trump, you clearly have no idea how to defeat fascism
1
Some of Trump's base may be "turning a blind eye" to his many disgraceful qualities, but let's not forget how many of his supporters (of all demographics) welcome his brand of hate with eyes wide open.
9
But it is important that the U.S. remains a land of “rule of law”. And not become some banana republic that gets rid of leaders that are unpopular by bending the laws, or disregarding the laws.
With Clinton and Obama I saw right wing jerks talking about impeachment when there was nothing impeachable.
Let’s not destroy the ideals of the nation to get rid of a guy that will be gone soon enough.
1
C'mon Republicans! Do it for the mostly honorable John McCain. Let him see the fall of this bloviating liar before he leaves this life. Allow him to depart thinking that his party hasn't totally lost it's moral compass.
I know I'm wasting my breath here but I'm grasping at straws.
4
Trump's band of "so called" Republicans are heart sickening. My family roots go back to the earliest days of this Republic to Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, and men who fought in the Revolutionary War and a Victorian grandmother
who regaled us with stories of her father's barn that was the starting point of many Republican parades and the uncle
( 2 x Republican mayor) who had an audience with president Abraham Lincoln. These men would reel at how the Trump-Repugnant's have made a graveyard of the Republican party.
9
"History wil not look kindly on those who did not speak out against caesar." ......... Roman Senate
5
While it seems difficult to understand why few Republicans seem able to see or acknowledge the damage their Buffoon in Chief is doing to the country, it will be interesting, when most of the dirt comes out in the wash, to see how much Russian money, funneled through the NRA, went to which Republican politicians.
4
Will you stand up for what is right?
Uh. About that. It is too late. We need to face the facts that Mariia was effective at luring in many Republicans. And she is the one high profile honey trap we know about. There are others.
And the Russians were good at funneling money through the NRA. And that is the one path we know about. There are others.
And the Russians hacked everyone they could. They released the D emails, because they were boring. They kept what they found on the Rs to use as kompromat.
The Republicans faced the ethical choice and decided that it is better to cheat to win, than lose with dignity. Even if it means working with the Russian goverment’s program to help Trump
The got an offer to commit treason, and decided “I love it”.
1
Anyone who thinks McConnell and his contemporaries have any soul is sadly mistaken. They are cynical self seeking narcissists who think the job is about them and not the people they were elected to serve. I suspect that those who enable Trump will be judged very badly by history but that is scant comfort in light of the damage they wreak daily.
9
Trump is an illegitimate president. He was elected by committing two felonies that duped American voters. It then follows, as night follows day, that Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court are also illegitimate. Judges nominate by a felon are tainted. Kavanaugh must not be confirmed. Gorsuch must resign.
8
All GOP "souls" were lost in 1981.
2
So much of the last few decades of the GOP brings my mind to Randy Newman's "Old Kentucky Home," especially the final verse:
"Brother gene, he's big and mean
And he don't have much to say
He had a little woman who he whupped each day
But now she's gone away
He got drunk last night
Kicked mama down the stairs
But I'm all right so I don't care."
2
What an incredibly persuasive argument! "Hey, Republican failures! You're about to be voted out of office anyway, but please do us Democrats a favor on your way out the door by denouncing Trump. You won't get any credit for it, and you're already too late to redeem yourselves, but it sure will make things easier on the Democrats in their efforts to get a Democrat in the White House in 2020!" Somehow, I don't anticipate many Republicans will take you up on your offer, Mr. Blow.
1
Trump and his base will not accept the results of any election that doesn't favor republicans.
If that Democratic wave hits, all you will hear is that it was the result of rigged elections. Russian collusion, voter fraud, and voting booth hacking.
Trump and his base will be goaded into action by trolls, bots, and white nationalists.
Governor's should be preparing for this by readying the National Guard to put down violent street protests by hardocre Trump supporters.
3
Forget the Republicans, they’ve cornered themselves into a white supremacy/FOX news/religious whacko corner. Our national demographics shows this is the end of them. So the real question is what are the Democrats doing? I’ve seen a lot of great proposals from Elizabeth Warren, but where’s the cohesive leadership? Nancy Pelosi? Chuck Schumer?
Hello?
4
"Ye who enter here, lose all hope." (Inferno)
Dante describes the state of the Republican Party. Fully expect the GOP to duck and cover if Trump were to: (1) Pardon Manafort and all others of the same ilk; (2) Fire Mueller or (even more deliciously) revoke the security clearances of Mueller and his whole team (in which case, they would no longer have access to their own (highly classified) documents -- delicious, eh?!); and (3) Issue an executive order replacing affirmative action with KKK directives -- these God-fearing people are all for the Southern Strategy, after all.
Why shouldn't all these risks be worthwhile. The GOP has their tax cuts as well as Judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Count me very, very cynical about any virtue in today's GOP.
This editorial, Mr. Blow, may be the most self-righteous, insulting, and pointless editorial I have ever read. It is one thing to ridicule Trump, who, together with his band of criminal clowns, deserves it, but it is quite another to ridicule Trump's "beastly base," the "basket of deplorables" that Hillary so fondly described. What is the point in demonizing people who don't hold your grandiose and wonderful opinions? Though I could not vote for the Donald, and though I condemn his alleged criminal behavior and that of his associates, I have to wonder how can it be that Hillary lost to this man.
1
Answer’s simple. She didn’t. She won the popular vote by three million people!
5
Mr Blow, thank you for the comedy. The idea that Republicans have integrity! Hilarious!
2
No way are Republicans going to deal with Trump. He’s their boy. They were all in on the conspiracy. They knew about it and supported it. Conservatives have been aligned with Putin for a long time—this is a white nationalist party at its core. Ideologically Putin is their best friend. Just ask John McCain if he would rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. I can guarantee his answer. There ain’t no heroes left. And Republicans want democrats to do the dirty work for them. They can then blame the democrats and unleash Putin again. It is my understanding he can make significant campaign contributions.
Agree. Agree.
And I would ask you, Charles Blow, to also "search your soul" regarding the way you treated Bernie Sanders during the Democratic Primaries, and whether you "stood on the right side of history".
Your influence could have helped him with critically-needed black voters.
1
Why is it that Democrats are always asking Republicans to turn on their own for the sake of patriotism? I cannot recall a time Mr. Blow has asked the same of his party. Right now the Democrat nominee for the chief law enforcement job in Minnesota, Keith Ellison, has been credibly accused of domestic violence. Where are Mr. Blow and the Democrats?
5
You're wasting your journalistic breath.
The way to get rid of Trump is to find something about him that his base can't stand (or make something up; I don't care). Surely, someone can be found to say he paid for her abortion (I'm not sure even that would work; he'd just deny it). Or maybe that he's a secret Muslim (that's pretty good, actually, because it relies on conspiracy theory). But appeals to patriotism, good judgment, decency or honor are not going to work on these people. That ship sailed a long time ago.
5
What will post-Trump America look like? Frightening to contemplate.
1
Republicans, from the head of the Trump Crime Family, on down sold their souls to Satan for worldly power and authority. They have neither souls, honor, nor patriotism left. Trump's and his Republican enablers' and sycophants' every action and inaction makes their corruption and soullessness clear.
1
This "right side of history" master narrative nonsense is a syndrome we need to get over. We need to judge the rights and wrongs of things more modestly, and with greater attention to the particulars. This is particularly a syndrome of the political Left, with Obama especially responsible for mainstreaming "the whig interpretation of history." (Everyone should read Butterfield's classic little book on the subject.) In the long run we're all dead...and doesn't the Left think were on course for some kind of extinction level catastrophe with climate change? What point is there "being on the right side of history" given these conditions? Better to make the most of the present, seize the day and let history take care of itself. Besides, the dark truth is that history tends to be written by the victors. For now there's a liberal globalist hegemony that determines what counts as respectable discourse, but that too will change.
1
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton.
We should never again allow one party to control both the White House and Congress.
1
"The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and other congressional Republicans could stand up to President Trump. But that would require courage and patriotism."
Standing up to Mr. Trump would also implicitly mean that they are condemning the white supremacy that motivated their outlandish attacks on President Obama, including the birther nonsense. It would also mean they are implicitly condemning the racism that Trump's base adores him for. After all, hate is all that Trump has. Without it, he is only entertainment. Without the hate, the bond between Trump and his base would dissolve. Can the Republican party finally stand up and repudiate the racism?
2
I couldn't agree more AND we need to call out the Trump-megaphone Fox News just as strongly.
Thought experiment: if that outlet were shut down, what would happen to Trump's poll numbers?
Mr. Blow I enjoy reading your thought provoking Opinions but today's column is most unreasonable. How can Republicans search their souls when they have none. The only time there will be any actions from Republicans is when impeachment proceedings are initiated by Democrats. I am requesting that you please write an opinion piece imploring the American people to vote in Droves to restore democracy and drive out graft and corruption.
1
"Viewed that way, Trump’s base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic."
You are usually right on spot, but not on this one, Mr. Blow. Trump's base is, at least for now, still a minority. The enemy of the Republic is now abstentionism. If people who do not like what the US has become stay home and not votein the next elections (2018 and 2020), he will get reelected, and will probably try to change the Constitution to get reelected indefinitely. The Democrats, by now, should have been engaged in the most massive ever vote campaign, but they are not. The youth from Stoneman Douglas High School are way ahead of them, and it is a shame. To all NYT readers, I cannot say enough: VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
2
In my mind, every elected official at every level with a R after their name is an unindicted co-conspirator in the shenanigans issuing from Washington.
It is not necessary that any one of them have direct involvement or have personally profited.
Their collective silence sends a clear message that they have no interest whatsoever in upholding the principles of our democratic republic. It is eerily reminiscent of Germany and France in the late 1930's and early 1940's.
This is not about partisan politics or liberal or conservative.This is about the continued existence of the basis of our common life.
There are an amazing number of good people, people of charity, goodwill, and hard work in this country. It is now past time for us to stop handwringing and ACT. For these people do not represent us. Let's raise up people into leadership who do.
1
The Republican party figured out decades ago that they were unable to win any clean election unless they tamper with it. We saw the next phase- gerrymandering, fear and division mongering, promotion of fake news propaganda, filling the courts with most incompetent judges so to cober their unethical activities. The greatest con party in the world has many colors which changes to suit the fake propaganda of the time. They portrayed themselves as budget hawks for many years. But, the same group had no problem giving millions of tax cuts to the rich while creating trillion dollar budget deficits compromising the future of our children and grand children. The great con party also created a false illusion as the savior of national security. But, the same group has no problem when a KGB asset went to the White House. Trump is a byproduct of the mischievous perverted treasonous acts of the party over two decades. Alas, the false propaganda machine works well to blind some of our fellow citizens. It is disgusting to see how they have transformed into a pathetic party whose only goal is to remain in power at any cost.
8
We are failing to understand that while a wild and corrupt trump is a danger, the longer-lasting, more devastating failure of the American experiment is the lack of action on the part of a Republican-controlled Congress.
Yeah, Trump is bad, but Congress's failure to uphold the Constitution, its failure to protect and defend the U.S. against corruption from within and from without is the more dangerous threat to the Democratic Republic. Without Congress's protection, anything can happen. And it will. It's happening now.
Trump's corruption is almost a caricature, easy to spot, easy to dislike. McConnell's and Ryan's corruption is behind closed doors, secret, intelligent and ruinous to the Constitution. If they won't uphold it, who will?
6
That there is a Donald Trump and millions in this country Just. Like. Him.- sickens me to my core. I hardly recognize this nation and wonder if there is still a place for me.
I look at our government and wonder if it still has a purpose. I look at the pillars of that government; The Executive, Judiciary and Congress and see mostly appeasers corruption and empty vessels of humanity; I see fellow citizens wearing their hatred like a diamond tiara.
Donald Trump will be gone in due time but what remains is terrifying.
5
Of course. B/c we can always be sure that those who disagree with us do so b/c they are either stupid, blinded or unethical. I would like to think intelligent people, including columnists, understand the tendency for people to think this way, but, apparently, partisanship is just easier and more popular.
The Rs are no different, of course when it comes to why Ds believe as they do. And both sides think the libertarians have no values. And so on.
I have absolutely no confidence that the GOP Congress will do the right thing. By funneling money through the NRA, the Republicans in Congress are owned by Putin as much as Trump.
I also now believe that the 2016 election was not legitimately won by the GOP. The razor thin margin by which the electoral college was won in the midwest states probably was rigged. This has been an illegitimate presidency from the beginning.
4
Never going to happen Mr. Blow.
These folks have convinced themselves that by opposing the Teflon Don they'll be successfully primaried by folks as crazy as Trump, so they're preserving a "reasonable" congress by such weasel phrases as “I have no idea about what the facts are” and “I need more information” when asked about the latest disaster.
They've deluded themselves into believing that they're preserving the soul of the country.
They couldn't be more mistaken.
1
Too late as Republicans sat idly by watching Trump dismantle free trade, embrace Putin and attempt to destroy the Justice Department and FBI. The core of the party went up in smoke. Long advocates of free trade, constructive engagement with Russia and law and order allowed Trump to jettison those principles. An unprincipled man accomplished that in less than 18 months.
Current Members of Congress (MOC) soon will have to distinguish themselves as either MOCa - Member of Congress or MOCb -Member of the Cartel.
Whatever happened to LEADERSHIP! The ability to maintain the constitution and this country's integrity requires moral strength. The Supreme Court decision to allow free flow of money into our campaign process is destroying our system of governance. The picture of McConnell looks like something out of a horror movie, oh right! It is a horror!
Nice that you can still be optimistic about Republican souls. I haven't seen even a glimmer from any legislator. There are of course decent Republicans who yearn for their party back but they were steadfast as it was taken over. The hypocrisy would be laughable if it weren't so blatant. Pulling up clips when Bill Clinton lied and how vicious were the attacks and now they act as if treason against our democracy is a faux pas.
Mitch McConnell leads to march to doom, he has never cared about America or his constituents, just held his hand out for the largese. His expression says it all - no there there.
Republicans are like bullies in the schoolyard when the teacher turns a blind eye to the bashing. Even those who think it's wrong know better than to speak out and become a target.
1
Trump supporters dislike non-whites and Jews. They want to keep the US a white Christian dominated society. They do represent a substantial minority of about 35% of American voters. Donald Trump is the only one who dares to say aloud their suppressed feelings. It is just that simple.
Unless and until the society can face up to this reality and to seek genuine reconciliation, the nation will remain divided.
1
There was a Congressman, I believe his name was Rogan, in a district in Southern California in the 1990's. The district went for Clinton, but Rogan was a Republican. He was one of the prosecutors of Clinton's impeachment, and apparently really believed he was doing the right thing, even though he knew the majority of his district disagreed. He did lose in the next election (to Adam Schiff) but at least he was willing to do what he believed rather than bury his principles for the sake of re-election. Now we have a Republican majority who (may) think Trump is hurting the country, yet they are more interested in re-election than in standing up for what they think is right. To quote their leader, Sad.
3
Republicans finally standing up for truth and placing Country before party?
I think we are more likely to see president Trump admit to the fraud that he so obviously is and apologize to the American people. In other words, it's not going to happen.
4
We have been watching the legendary slippery slope in real life for a couple of years now. I don't know where every Republican in Congress stands on Trump and his universe of narcissism, greed & corruption but what has become evident is that the majority of them are strapped in for the downhill slide. Most recently, I see that Graham & Grassley now agree that it's okay with them if Trump wants to get rid of Sessions.
I sure hope that there's no one is out there waiting with bated breath for the Republicans in power to do the right thing for this country because you could do yourself some serious damage that way.
3
Principled opinion Mr. Blow. Spot on.
Here is the catch. The voters in general, and republican base in particular, have shown that they have very short memory. If they fail to hold the republican lawmakers accountable for not standing up to Trump's corrupt kingdom, why would republican law makers themselves take it upon themselves to lose the grip on their power.
They are simply going to hunker down and let the current storm pass.
3
The perverse political phenomenon known as Donald Trump did not rise to power in a vacuum. He did not pull the ballot lever for himself 62,979,636 times. Nor did he personally cast the electoral votes in three states that yielded a victory.
The "base" did not magically come in to existence on the day that Trump announced his campaign. It is a collection of people that Republicans have been promising aid and comfort to for years. Many are true believers in traditional conservative policies, others are from groups that only Trump would publicly describe as very fine people, yet the vote from the latter group have been welcomed, it's just that the campaign messages were publicly encrypted for them.
A vote is a vote right?
Just ask Kelli Ward who recently tried to defend inviting Pizzagate conspiracist Mike Cernovich on her campaign tour bus. Her public responses to this decision are too incredulous to post here, take a look for yourself.
The seeds of support for a man such as Trump were cast long ago, it's time for the reaping. Any complicit republican members of our Congress can soul search on their own time once out of office.
5
Donors have showered millions of dollars on Republicans as a thank you, including billionaire energy mogul Charles Koch, who cut House Speaker Paul Ryan a $500,000 check days after the House tax cuts bill passed.
The republicans don’t have allegiance to our country, they only have allegiance to money and power. They are crooks, conspirators, and nauseatingly unethical. Expecting them to bring Trump to Justice is like expecting a vulture to ignore a carcass. Not going to happen.
5
Blow is right, the Republican Party of old is dead. For the last several decades extremists have composed a substantial portion of the GOP. In the past they have been given some influence, but, to their long time frustration, never full control. Now with Trump, they are in charge, and even if Trump goes, they will never relinquish the mantle.
4
Republicans in Congress don't have to go on the record for impeachment. That would take too much courage. All they have to do is have a private "come to Jesus" meeting with Trump and tell him if he continues in the way he is going, they will not approve any of his federal court nominees or legislate his agenda. The demands should include never uttering "witch hunt" and "fake news" again, stop tweeting, issue official statements in press releases, stop holding campaign-style rallies, start holding regular press conferences, stop personal attacks and stop lying. They've gotten their tax cuts out of him. What more do they want?
7
Not to be judgmental but I am not at all sure that the GOPers have a soul.Would seem they never got one when they were handed out. People like Ryan and McConnell have all the power and they have chosen to abuse that power and ram thing through without regard for the country, and ram things down our throats that will hurt many of us down the road(think tax reform). There are those who handle power well, McConnell especially (think his treatment of Obama) is not one of them. I sincerely hope they learn something when the worm finally turns and they no longer have the power. I also hope that who ever does win in November has the good sense not to go easy on folks like Ryan and McConnell, Jordan, Collins, Hunter and the like.
3
I am sorry, Charles, you have it all wrong.
As far back as the Nixon presidency Republicans have catered to the lower impulses in parts of their electorate. They had to do it, because "move wealth to the top 0.1%" is not a party platform that can succeed at the ballot box. In order to win they had to get the 'basket of deplorable' on board and feed them red meat issues. This started with Nixon's Southern strategy and his war on drugs and is still alive today.
A big part of this con game is the right wing talk radio and of course FOX News. These media outlets help keep the base in a righteous fog of outrage and misinformation. And this has worked for the last half century.
What changed with Trump is simply that he does not even have remotely the intellect to play this con game properly. Instead, he loves to hold rallies and screams out loud what every other Republican office holder only admits behind closed doors. Gone are the traditional Republican dogwhistles ('welfare queens' ...), replaced by Trump's self-indulgent bullhorn.
So what is the elected Republican to do when Trump is just a bit (maybe a lot) more crude and conning (criminal?) than the rest of them? They are playing to the same base, and without them they are nothing. There were no principles, no souls, to start with.
3
"The voters are now Trump’s noxious base, ergo Trump holds each of their fates in his hands.
Viewed that way, Trump’s base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic."
I appreciate Mr. Blow's columns, but IMO today's column veers too closely towards HRC's "deplorables" mindset.
By all means, explicate Trump's wrong (and possibly criminal) acts. Highlight the corruption and hypocrisy in his administration. But I caution Mr. Blow - and the Democrats as a whole - to be careful in casting aspersion on 48% of the voting public. That is not likely to translate into election success for 18 or 20.
It is a fiction that all or most Trump voters are racists or 1%-ers. Almost 50% of the voting public opted for Trump. Although I didn't vote for him, I understand that many who did simply cast votes as a rejection of establishment politics, hopeful that Trump would indeed drain the swamp.
Sadly, he has only expanded the swamp. But I understand why folks were reluctant to rubber stamp the DNC's choice of HRC. Voters are tired of political family dynasties. The hiring of DWS by Clinton one day after she was kicked out of the DNC for corrupt practices spoke volumes to many voters.
Demonize, lecture to or ignore those voters at your peril. The DNC might just be dumb enough to lose the next couple of elections.
"He unleashed among Republicans the ugliness that mainstream Republicans always knew was there — indeed, they exploited it — but always thought they were smart enough and strong enough to control."
Indeed. But one would have thought -- and certainly hoped -- that mainstream Republicans would have learned this lesson from the party's experience with the religious right --- a group mainstream Republicans of a couple of decades ago similarly thought they could outsmart and manage. Conservative WIlliam F. Buckley, Jr. certainly knew better in 1965, when he penned a column in the National Review that relegated these folks to the political equivalent of farthest Siberia for decades to come.
3
Just today - one Senator - Lindsey Graham 1) supports the idea of removing Jeff Sessions after the election, presumably so that Trump can install a toady and fire Mr. Mueller. 2) Read and compare what Senator Graham said about President Clinton when the house voted to impeach him, a move, which then house member Graham, strongly supported - because Mr. Clinton lied. Read today what his respnse was to the fact that Mr. Trump, clearly lied repeatedly re the hush money re his extra-marital exploits. Senator Graham is ‘supposed’ to be one of the ‘reasonable’ Republicans. Yet, the world of Teump has turned him into a transparent hypocrit and mindless toady. The rot that Mr. Trump has brought to the USA is breathtaking. As a former Republican (well, to clarify - New England Republican - when the party actually had a socially liberal wing) - I have watched the party become more and more cynical, cruel, incompetent, ruthless, racist and anti-democratic. It is hard to imagine that this is the Party that helped LBJ pass the civil right legislation. That Party is dead and so are all of its principles.
8
If people would stop hyperventilating about Trump 24/7....they might actually get to know their neighbors again.
If people would stop taking him literally and take him seriously...they'd see that the 100,000,000 working men and women in America are working again...and happy about the policies being laid out by Trump.
I hate the man, but I never believed we should love a politician. They're all deeply flawed people...including Obama. His weaponization of nearly every branch of the federal government will go down as one of the key reasons people no longer have faith in the traditional institutions that got their honor and integrity by being apolitical.
Trump is simply a response to Obama.
You should probably be thinking about your next move instead of the King we just took off the board. You can't get him back...and you can't simply wish our King to be taken off the board.
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. A spoonful of denial helps the guilt.
Asking Republicans to search their souls is an exercise in futility. They wont search their souls because therein reside truth and morality. Morality and truth are simply too inconvenient now. When avarice is the goal, truth and morality are frustrating impediments.
In order for slavery to have thrived, people needed to say they believed that slaves were sub-human. In order to slaughter native Americans, people needed to say they believed that they were savages. In order to split families at the border, people need to say they believe that Mexicans are rapists and murders.
People need rationales for acting unjustly. Enter Trump.
Trump feeds his minions and followers lies and they know it. He gives them excuses. He gives them rationale. It is the same old wink-and-nod of colonialism, slavery, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow and ,now, border separations.
Trump continues to feed his followers a charismatic stew of lies and excuses. Conservatives eat it up and crave more. It makes their guilt bearable. When conscience taunts them, denial is their balm.
From Trump to his disciples, each tweet is a dose of sugar. Every angry pronouncement is an opioid. Every exaggerated facial contortion showing hatred and anger is soothing.
Don't count on soul searching - it is simply too uncomfortable.
When ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise.
1
Courage? Decency?, these are not words that can describe the Republicans who idly stand by and read trumps twitters and hear his outlandish accusations and remain silent or complicit. Charles you ask " This is one of those moments for Republicans. In this moment they have to separate career goals and personal ambitions for the high requirement to properly serve the country and protect its Constitution." We have already seen the response of the Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, cut and run. I suspect we will see more of this on months to come. As to trumpism and its base, they remind me of ISIS. They are domestic terrorists, unpatriotic and as treasonous as their leader. Those of us that believe in our democracy, in truly making America great, in equality, truth, the free press and the Constitutional order of law must resist them at every turn. We shall overcome.
6
The Republicans weren't much different before Trump's election. They were already truth twisting climate deniers in the pocket of the oil companies, anti-immigrant, gerrymandering, vote-suppressing, anti-LGBT, stooges of big pharma and the banks and the NRA, piping ever increasing torrents of money to the wealthy, gutting the environment.
And the Kavanaugh nomination? Pah! He is just chicken feed. The GOP had already given us a complete Scalia-Thomas-Citizens-United court majority.
The only difference 2016 made is that in addition to being toadies to the rich and the religious right, Republican politicians are now also toadies to Trump.
What 'conscience' or 'backbone' exactly did the GOP lose when Trump came in, that Blow is now appealing to them to reinstate? I've looked and I'll be darned if I can find any.
8
The Trump rally season-ticket holders are no longer just a basket of deplorables, they are a swamp-full. It's time to follow their mantra and drain the swamp. In November, Republicans across the country must be purged, from Senators down to drain commissioners. Because they have lost their collective voice against corruption, why continue to pay them for their silence?
Say it loud: ALL Republicans must go.
8
Under our present system, don't bother asking Repubs to snatch honor from their ashes. Their history of exploitation is long.
Just vanquishing Trump/GOP isn’t the whole solution, by a long shot. We must start climbing out the Swamp our politics has constructed---or else, after Trump as a role model, more Trump-like denizens will swim to the top--even if not as criminal as Trump---still poisonous to our politics.
They’ll use the ever-ready GOP Fox state media to manipulate voters and further normalize warped norms.
For our self protection, we must now start discussing how to:
Reform our primaries
Reform the Electoral College
Reform big money domination of our elections.
Reform gerrymandering
Only then can we fumigate our poisoned politics, so then attract public spirited candidates who respect ethics and rule of law.
Exposing the Trump scandals is necessary, but also serves as a dramatic distraction from that needed discussion.
Where are our columnists on all this? They can start devoting a portion of every column to more than anti Trump/GOP diatribes----giving us emotional catharsis--- but also to concrete solutions to pave the road back to US political health. We need less emotion, more constructive specifics.
1
Trump gave these fools the keys to the Republican candy store. All these years they have been standing outside with their noses pressed against the glass, drooling at the goodies just out of reach - A return to Jim Crow, religious fanaticism, zero restrictions on fossil fuel exploration, zero environmental restrictions, zero banking regulations, a ban on immigrants of color, tax breaks for the wealthy, punishment for the poor - And now Trump has let them into the candy store to gorge themselves sick. They might see their parents calling from outside the store, but they know that Trump has locked the doors. They are safe for now. They are going to gorge and gorge and gorge..... until the police come to smash in the door.
4
Nope. Not going to happen. The problem in America is not Trump, nor is it Trump-enabling members of Congress. The problem in America is what it has long been: Republican voters.
Trump is neither smart enough, charismatic enough, nor talented enough to create anything. As he does with his real estate business, he slaps his name on someone else's work and claims it as his own, when the reality is that he does nothing more than shine a spotlight on what is already there. Republican voters didn't wake up and suddenly become racist hypocrites; they were always those things. This is why I scoff at Republican claims (few though they may be) that Trump doesn't speak for the party. Trump absolutely speaks for that party. He gives voice to all the ignorant, sexist, racist, foolish ideas that have always been a core component of the Republican party.
For this reason, Trump is the PERFECT candidate for the Republican party. He isn't showing us some grotesque version of Republicanism; he is showing us exactly what Republicanism is: utter disdain for the truth, nativism, Islamophobia and homophobia, and an unwavering belief (all evidence to the contrary) that this rapidly crumbling country is "the greatest country in the world." Expecting elected representatives from the Republican party to stand up not to Trump but to their very constituents is a fool's errand.
4
The irony here is wonderful. The right wingers written about here are the ones who preach to the world about how Right and True and Just and Good America is. God's Kingdom on Earth. But they're the first to be the Wrong and False and Bad and caught in a Devil's Bargain, then hide in a cave and point fingers when someone notices who they really are.
8
Blow calls Trump's base "the enemy of the Republic" because it can't give up loyalty to a corrupt Trump. Blow can't stop indulging in unhelpful nonsense.
First of all demonizing Trump supporters doesn't do a thing to change anything. It just makes them more determined to stick with Trump. Trump voters included about 7 million Obama voters, and included about 20% of Latino voters. Trump voters aren't all racists and xenophobes. Blow needs to stop vilifying the working class who turned to Trump as a last resort because Trump was the only candidate (besides Bernie Sanders) who made the economic plight of the working class the center of his campaign.
Secondly, where should that base turn to, to centrist Democrats like Obama was? Obama sure knew how to help big banks and big corporations, even while the working class lost jobs, homes and savings. He knew how to pass healthcare insurance legislation that guaranteed a flow of taxpayer money to private insurance companies, while 10s of millions of Americans remained uninsured.
If Democrats, including Blow, want to change the inclinations of Trump voters, Democrats need to stop vilifying them and offer them some positive, concrete help to make up for the decades that both Democrats and Republicans have ignored the working class.
1
I don’t understand it. There can’t be more people in the Trumpist base than there are who were more center right Republicans. Why isn’t the Republican congress addressing their concerns which don’t line up with Rand Paul and the white supremacists? Can someone explain that? What are they afraid of?
1
Of course, Trump is a Monstrosity, an incurable narcissist; in many ways, he can't help himself and he will continue to destroy all in his path.
While Trump is certainly a villain who possesses not a single human trait that I can detect, Congress is composed of real people; the members can't point to mental illness to explain their continued support for or silence about the crime family and traitors that are presently in power.
The true villains in the Trump catastrophe are the members of Congress who could have ended, but were afraid to end, the nightmare. Trump will always be Trump, the sickest of sick puppies; Congress, however, has no mental-illness excuse.
1
I asked these same questions of Republicans willing to put their own ambitions ahead of morality and country after our president stood next to Putin and chose his word over our intelligence agencies. They didn’t waver then and again not after he became a co-conspirator in federal crimes. Clearly their political careers mean more to them than their country. Shame on them.
4
It’s too late for these republicans...their timing is despicable! Now, that the election is nearing, they’re concerned about their man, Donald Trump, and his swamp of corruption. Republicans have been laying the groundwork for this reality for decades ! They sold out our democracy for selfish greed and power.
Sorry, the republicans want to run the country so bad they will never turn on trump. We can hope that more & more of them are caught in criminal acts that will bring them down also. People need to vote but I am afraid that many will vote for a third party or write-in & the Democrats will lose because of that. I just pray that the Democrats don't try to run Hillary again. Some party, Democrat or third party, needs to get control of both houses of Congress. Save Us Obi-Wan. You're our only hope.
I think this line from Charles Blow's Opinion piece captures the essence of Trump's voters and supporters:
"Trump’s base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic. "
To blindly and willfully support a President who is inextricably stitched into this cloak of concealment renders them accomplices in this fraud perpetrated upon the nation...and in my opinion that includes FoxNews/Breitbart/Sinclair pundits, GOP Senators and Representatives, Russian politicians and oligarchs and that 400 lb. guy sitting on his bed in New Jersey.
6
Charles, why, with all your truthful moral outrange are you avoiding the crucial factor that blocks any change?
The legalized big money in elections.
It forms our political norms.
It puts limits policy making in favor of corporate donor profits.
It redefines what's left/right/center in politics.
It undermines our democracy, under the phony guise of 'political free speech'.
This prepared the soil for Trump and his GOP defenders. It caused America's downward mobility and insecurity, setting group against group competing for the leftovers in our economy. It will lead to more denizens of the Swamp rising to the surface.
Trump will be gone, but we can’t fumigate our politics, unless we ‘get the money out’. Majorities of citizens favor it.
Ex Pres Jimmy Carter says:
“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being the essence to getting the nominations for president or being elected."
Princeton’s Martin Gilens’ research showed “only the desires of the richest are reflected in lawmaking….the average American has a near zero impact on policy.”
So it's more than just the iniquity of the GOP. The corporate donors watch the parties fight, keep them captives to their donations, and laugh all the way to the bank.
The news media avoids the topic like the plague. They profit from the campaign ads the billionaires pay for to manipulate voters. See the pattern here?
4
Congressional Republicans have essentially observed Trump committing a robbery whereupon they’ve offered to be the getaway car in exchange for a share of the loot. They will only “flip” if they see the prospect of severe punishment from voters. With them, there is no moral component involved.
2
The Republicans sold their souls a long time ago as well as their morals and ethics.
6
Mr. Blow, Don't be too sure that "Democrats will likely take control of the House." Trump's base loves him and I suspect a lot of other voters do too. I have had more than one conversation with my neighbors that do not "condone Trump's behavior" but say he does understand the middle class and that their lives are improving because of him. They cite the economy, trade and immigration. Nothing will convince them that the economy was in recovery before Trump and immigration and trade are thinly veiled nods to their racism and hyper patriotism.
3
I'm confused. What are they standing up against? This is who they are along with a large portion of the American population. They believe he is smiting their enemies and to be absolutely looking out for their best interests. All you have to do is look at the juror who stated she desperately wanted to free Manafort. Only facts right in front of her face and direct instructions to look at evidence in order to convict, though she did so adding the caveat he was somehow a ‘pawn’ as if the crimes didn’t need to be tried at all. Her thoughts on 2020? She’s voting for Trump and so will millions more because he is doing a great job…for them. At least they’ve been conned to believe such things.
That means no way any of this turns a single republican politician to do more than what they did during the election. You might hear some brave words, but on all matters legislation related, they will continue to vote with the tangerine quaffed one.
Basically, Trumpism isn’t a bug in the Republican party…it’s a feature. It’s been there forever and once found completely embraced.
3
The Republican Party has undergone some highly significant and serious changes and they’re going to have to rethink their approach as a political party, and how they’re going to regroup and become a party of democracy that appeals to a broader group of Americans than they do today the answer is blowing in the wind to quote Dylan.
Bribery and corruption have become best practices for elected Republicans and those running for office. Until Republicans start doing politics without bribery , we will become a one party state and democracy will end.
These souls were sold long ago with so many bidders competing to own them, but the sellout that concerns me most is our world’s environment. By denying climate change the United States has turned it's back on the planet.
As I sit here in Vancouver looking out at city blanketed in smoke in a Province under a state of emergency, (with over 550 forest fires burning) I think of the leadership lost under this self-serving excuse for a government in the United States. Sure, your economy is booming but at what cost? This is where the soul searching should be, to look beyond Trump's “America First” and acknowledge your country, while wealthy and powerful it is still
part of this fragile earth.
4
I'm afraid you're asking a group of individuals who serve their paymasters, as opposed to the people, to do something they can't. They and their supporters lost their souls a long time ago. Not all at once mind you but over the course of thirty years beginning in 1976 they gave up their souls and any pretense of dignity, compassion and empathy for fellow human beings who might be different from them.
2
The time has come many times but it's always been but Obama, but Hillary, but her emails. I remember my Dad telling my brother as a young man to always stand up for principles and never let anyone sully your reputation for it will take a lifetime to rebuild. The GOP Congressional leadership are not men and only cares about themselves. if they cared about country they should have taken action long ago but they chose to let 45 be 45 out of fear of his personal Twitter attacks. History will not be kind to them and they will be forever haunted by their failure to protect the republic.
4
If you ask his base why they continue to support him they will tell you that they believe him. Why? The man lies multiple times a day.
Because he is a victim. Because he is being used by "them." Because he is the fall guy. Because he is looking out for the country through his actions. Because he is just like them. Of course, all of that is ridiculous but not to them.
If you are on the lower economic end of working class, just above needing government assistance, your life is about your job (and what it pays you), food, clothing, shelter and education for your kids. If you are lucky it gives you a TV, a car/truck/boat, and maybe some money for outside activities like bowling or softball for yourself and your kids. It allows you to have at least some medical coverage and maybe, maybe, a small local vacation. All of whatever else happens depends on the quality of your public school education -- what were you taught and who did the teaching? It also depends on whether or not you go to a church that is narrow and preaches hate or one that has fixed ideas of what's acceptable.
You don't care about trade policies with China, you care if you can take your three kids to McDonald's for dinner. You can't care about Russian collusion, as you don't know what collusion is or why it would matter. You do know that your son had to go to the hospital and you couldn't pay the bill. Trump is just like you and he will help you. That's it. Sad, but oh so real. Just ask one of them.
5
Those who failed to dissent were knowingly complicit.
They made a deal with the Devil, their souls are unsalvageable.
What's done is done, they backed a bigot, a gangster who's neck-deep in corruption & organized white-collar crime.
There's no walking that back. But by now silence is betrayal.
Trumpism is toast, a dead man walking. But it's the zombies that are the most destructive.
Social, political & criminal situations aside, politicians, insofar as they can influence policy, have an overriding obligation to the present & future that they can still start to fix:
Roll back Trump's rollbacks on environmental policy.
Money is Not everything. The USA makes more than enough money. Status is not a substitute for health & happiness.
Making America great is Not about making yet more money at the expense of everyone & everything else.
Politicians need to get back on some moral & ethical propriety & conscientious honesty.
Trump said "everyone's playing a game".
But we're clearly way beyond Trump's games.
We can all sense that this is now globally, deadly serious.
4
But in a life there often comes a moment when life asks of you the ultimate ask. And it is only through submitting to what is right, even if at great cost, that the rest of one’s life can be judged as respectable. - Beautiful words!
3
@professor
Agreed. That passage caught my attention too!!
1
If not all congressional Republican and Republican senators, how about all the ones not running for reelection? for example, how about Speaker Rayn, why can't he take the high road and rebuke the President?
3
Charles, your writing has sustained me for so long. Now I detect such hopelessness in you. I just don't think what's left of the GOP has the courage you are calling for. To think, I voted for Republicans occasionally and even campaigned for a couple. That was in my youth. I'm not ashamed but I would be today if I were still voting and helping the likes of today's "Republicans."
3
Minute by minute the rocks are being turned over and the vileness underneath revealed for all to see. But neither Republican politicians nor Trump supporters will stand up for the honor of our nation -- or their own. Apparently character doesn't matter to half our countrymen. We have the equivalent of Corrado Soprano (Uncle Jr.) operating out of the Oval Office and they couldn't care less. Those of us who care desperately will crawl to the polls -- if necessary through radioactive waste.
2
Money has corrupted our democracy and as long as the donors don't squeal the politicians will stay pat...
2
"Traditional Republicans are now afraid to stand on principle because they do so at great peril of being drummed out of politics."
If Republicans disavow Trump now, right now, they will revitalize the core of their party. They needn't worry about the 28% Trump base because those people will never be won over, but many will vote Republican anyway given no other choice. So take the Trump choice away. Trump is a con, a criminal and a traitor who has probably committed treason among a slew of other felonies, and his presidency is illegitimate, regardless of those facts.
BTW, Democrats suffer from this fear as well. Politicians in both parties no longer represent the people because the system has been dismantled and is being held hostage by corporate money. We need to reform campaign finance and lobbying.
4
For several decades, Donald Trump has been a lying, cheating, stealing, excuse for a human being. His behavior in the White House should not have surprised anybody, nor should his long established habit of surrounding himself with equally disgusting people. The only difference today is that we have a Congress who enable and encourage this criminal behavior, and find nothing objectionable about having a criminal in the White House. Why?
There is obscene amounts of much money and power for supporting endless war, for-profit health care "insurance", destruction of the environment, privatizing education, prisons, research, and virtually all other government functions. Having a criminal in the White House is seen as a small price to pay for destroying our health and nation's future while filling the pockets of major campaign donors. Senators and Congress members of both parties spend most of their time raising money for re-election----so much so that it is nearly impossible for them to actually serve the public they were elected to serve. Money in politics is the root of this problem, and it will not be solved until and unless we institute serious campaign finance reform. I am not holding my breath.
7
Trump is the embodiment of decades of Republican orthodoxy, he just lacks any form of edit button or nuance. In a twisted, ironical way, he's an honest Republican. The Party has always relied on smoke screens with diversionary concepts like "Compassionate Conservatism" (while simultaneously slaughtering the poor on the sly). Trump rejects that nuance, choosing instead to lay waste to the poor, minorities, the environment, public schools and much more, all in plain sight. In doing so he has ignited his deplorable base, which has put every Republican in Congress into choosing between self interest and country...and we know how that's going to turn out!
4
The Republican Party will not seize this moment. They are to a man, and woman, so blinded by their self-interest, lust for power, and obsession with ideological purity that they will continue to sell us out. No matter to who, be it Russia, China, some other hostile power, or some corrupt domestic ideologue, they will sell us out.
The Party won't change, and can't change. We can only hope that they are severely punished at the polls this fall.
6
Mr. Blow, Satan here...just wanted to let you and your readers know I have the bill of sale for the GOPs souls. I can forward copies if you would like.
Truth be told, which is funny coming from me, but seriously, these were the easiest sales Ive ever made. Most times I didnt even offer all that much...most signed for some rather petty stuff, sometimes nothing more then to screw with retirees savings and let polluters pollute more...most said they had the pot of gold covered by their donors, and cushy board seats...
Toodles.
Satan.
242
@Boregard Blow is shocked, shocked that Congressional Republicans have lost their sense of moral principle and institutional self-respect. Dial back the histrionics a tad. This isn't a stage play. The GOP is not going to engage in a circular firing squad. No more than Democrats tried to sabotage President Clinton when he was being investigated. Opposing Trump doesn't serve the Republican's short term or long term interests. With the midterms less than 80 days away the GOP is going to stand pat. If they lose they lose. If they don't they will deal with the aftermath. But they also know Trump will never resign. It doesn't matter if a two hour tape of him & Putin conspiring to rig the election comes to light. He won't resign. Congress won't convict him. His supporters won't desert him. This is about raw power. He has it. The GOP has it. His supporters have it. You don't. The mainstream press can rage & shout about his tweets until there's ice on the equator...it won't change the mind of one person who voted for Trump. The more you complain the more he will rub it in your face. Isn't that obvious. What progressives & their co-dependents will never be able to understand is that Trump supporters revel in the non-stop drama, are galvanized when he punches back. Far from being embarrassed by his antics, they're thrilled by it & in their heart of hearts can't get enough of it. He's their champion. Fasten your seat belts. Unfortunately Trump is here until 2020, maybe longer.
@Boregard I want to laugh at that but fear it's not a spoof but factual.
1
@Bill Brown
Ouch. (Not)
Yeah I know the Trumplodites mindset. Oh boy do I.
But its not his rather small base Im concerned with...nor are the remaining Repubs hoping to salvage their cushy jobs. Its obvious his fan base love his antics...having gone to one (local) and now watched his spoken word performances.
But I do believe you are wrong about everyone of his voters. Very wrong. No one is hoping to change the minds of any zealot...why bother?
Nope, its Trump we know will change the minds of those others who held their noses and voted for him...because they simply couldnt vote for HRC.
Trump and his cronies will be the many cuts that do him in. Not my powers (rather decent in fact) of persuasion. Ive sold water to fish...and sand to camels.
Its always been Trump who turns people agaisnt him. Ive been watching the guy for decades here in NYC.
But thanks for playing...Ive some histrionic steaks on the grill.
Thank you Mr. Blow, for providing the answer to my question that I asked in another article: How was it so easy to convict Hillary Clinton in a court of public opinion, but there is - comparatively - nary a word of condemnation of Trump's high crimes and misdemeanours?
It is true, that Trump's deplorable base is dictating the mainstream, traditional Republicans who want to stay in power. They love Trump, so should their representatives. I was enlightened by this simple explanation.
If even one Republican who identifies with being afraid of losing their seat took a chance at being brave at the cost of his/her job, my respect for this party would at least equal the respect I had for them during George W. Bush's time.
This is why I - someone who has been apolitical for a very long time - am voting on the 6th of November.
9
The Republican Party has digested itself fully and what we have now is The Thing, as it appeared in the CPR scene in John Carpenter's 1982 movie. And the sinister horror that is Mitch McConnell makes one want to scream for sanity, like Kevin McCarthy at the end of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."
The "Republican Party" is gone. It's scary, for sure, but also sad, because a country with rich, cross-partisan discourse and energetic, well-meaning compromise would be beautiful. Unlike Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republicans, I don't want a country that reflects my views completely. I want this to be a place where there's a continual, constructive effort to represent everyone as fully and as fairly as possible. That's always hard work. The Republicans took a slimy shortcut but wound up at a dead end.
The best thing about taking control of Congress away from the Republicans this November is that it will create the space the party needs to restore its better nature. Which is to say, the same ideals but also, at long last, a heaping dose of comity. Whether they do that or not is up to them. I hope they do. But if they remain in power, they never will.
3
In fact we are beginning to see how it will go. As GOP politicians sense that survival might depend on being able to separate yourself from the orange slimeball, the waters will be frothing with them like rats from a sinking ship. Their "loyalty" will last exactly as long as supporting him confers an advantage on election day and not a day longer. One or two are already discovering moderate quivers somewhere in their nethers.
1
They absolutely will not. Because Trump gave them permission to hate again. Because Trump gave them permission to point fingers and blame "them" again. Because Trump gave the most despicable among us permission to turn a blind eye to immorality, indecency and corruption in the name of God. And because our children will pay the price for these obscenities for generations to come.
194
@DC
Quote right you are. Most (if not all) of them do not even realize that they are pointing in the mirror.
The actor Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas's father, once was asked why he became an actor. His answer was that it beat getting a job.
And I believe the same goes for politicians. Once elected and thus never having to sit around for hours and cobble together a medical insurance plan for their families nor beg for raises, vacations, pensions-I think you get the picture, they 'ain't' ever going to give that up and apparently at any cost, including being squarely in the crosshairs of history and the implications that portend for their legacies.
They're lazy, self serving cowards interested in only sitting around daily on the seat of their pants and skirts and quite comfortably at that.
5
You run for office, get elected, run around all day, put up with getting screamed at like this, and get back to everybody on this theory.
"They have this moment to snatch a bit of honor from the ashes of what was their party. Republicans, won’t you seize this moment?"
In answer to your question - No!
3
Republicans haven't had soul or honor since they began the Southern Strategy.
12
From the saddest dawn on the morning following the election, Charles Blow has been, for me, the most cogent opinion writer when it comes to capturing the horror that is the Trump presidency. The last line of that column leaped onto my Women's March sign; a howl of outrage and anguished hope: "Count Me Among the Resistance." His following column said all we need to know, then and now: "We Elected A Bigot."
No one says it better. Thank you Charles Blow.
Marsha Ryan, Sintra, Portugal, via Ventura Calif.
7
we always see fox going after the "MSM". calling them names and liars.\Where has the defense been for the last 20 years?
Have the right wing companies that own 90% of news agreed not to call out fox for it's lies? thats what it looks like to me.
Everyday is a day for headlines on fox lies, I have yet to see a single stroke of the pen
2
No. Because the pusillanimous pussy-footers in the MSM are so cowed that they give a false equivalency to Faux News. It's sort of like they are inviting Satan to give a rebuttal to Sermonette (for those old enough to remember Sermonette).
It is always sobering to remember that millions of Americans absolutely WORSHIP Trump. So many of us have so little contact with that particular demographic that we all too often down play their passionate existence in our heads, or quickly write them all off as racists or idiots.
Red State congressmen/women, both Republican and Democrat, know better. They know what massive electoral influence all these Trump Worshippers have. They also know the price of defying them or taking a stand against Trump. For the most part, being intelligent, ambitious, strong willed human beings, these Congress-people will always find justifications for acting in a way which is consistent with their own political advancement and self interest.
It may be sickening. But it obviously is human nature, at least where politicians are involved.
3
The lack of any Republican standing up for what’s right is mind boggling. Mitch McConnell is a joke of a leader....a weak, rabid egotist who only cares about his own reputation. And, every and all Republicans in the House and Senate only care about money and being re-elected. How do they look themselves in the mirror or sleep at night? They have sold their souls...everyone of them...afraid to take a stand against a President who is selling Democracy down the river
5
@Susan
Indeed. It is all a matter of holding them accountable at the ballot box, If they are not, then they keep on doing what they are doing. If they are (and massively so), then conservatism will change to better reflect these modern times. (ex. not everything can be fixed via a tax cut)
Vote and we shall see.
2
Ummm.... no, they won't.
I do approve of putting stuff like this on the internet, so we can point to it down the line, that shameless, gutless, selfish, treasonous hypocrisy has a name and it is "Republican".
9
What an inflammatory and blatantly partisan piece that, while opinionated, chooses to ignore facts to smear the Republicans. Neither side is plainly good or bad here, if I remember correctly the Democrats rigged the DNC against Sanders and covered up Clinton's email leaks while leaving themselves open to hacking. This piece is vile and serves no purpose other than to demonize Republicans and venerate Democrats which is not what this country needs and only intensifies the partisanship. Need I remind you that we, as Republicans, supported a criminal campaign without knowledge that it was criminal. The author should be ashamed.
2
@Porter Slack
"Need I remind you that we, as Republicans, supported a criminal campaign without knowledge that it was criminal."
Need I remind you that the criminal whose campaign you supported has been a criminal for years. There's plenty of historical evidence to support this fact. Even during the campaign, the sea of red flags waving over 45's campaign could be seen from space.
By saying you supported "a criminal campaign without knowledge" are we to assume you don't own a TV, never read a newspaper, have no access to Google, and can't distinguish lies from truth...or that you simply closed your eyes, ears and nose to the sights, sounds and stench that IS and always HAS BEEN Donald Trump?
2
@Porter Slack
Well. At least there’s the admission of a “criminal campaign.”
1
You don't remember correctly, and you obviously forgot the thirty-plus years of news on Donald Trump's assorted crookeries, not to mention what most of the GOP candidates had to say.
1
To be a republican is by default to have extreme positions.
Having said that, the Faustian bargain for republicans for the election was to seek power at all costs (even if that meant breaking the law or extensive lying) to get their extreme right judges onto courts, roll back all rules and regulations that would curtail graft or polluting, and of course, the tax theft (trillions of tax cuts for the rich and corporations)
They haven't finished the job, so they are not going to move an inch. Even if they miraculously hold onto power after the mid terms, then they will only become more emboldened and insufferable.
Especially the President.
8
@FunkyIrishman
You don't seem to get that the Republican party is not driving the conservatives of America anymore. The party players are now, awkwardly, having to embrace popular libertarian views and challenge the same enforcement, intelligence and military institutions and agencies that they once protected. While Democrats are, equally awkwardly, defending them (see waterboarding). This is what happens when the power establishment changes hands. The big Faustian deal was done by the Democrats (and the media), not the Republicans. But we can walk it back if we just recognize it.
1
People who continue to support 45 haven't realized that he ditched them along time ago.
They're too delirious from all the noxious fumes he exudes at them to see this.
4
Too late.
5
What souls?
9
As a NYT subscriber since election day in November 2016, i am following Mr. Blows comments with growing interest. You Are a hero, bold, courageous and represent all values I Admire the USA for. Thank You for keeping up the fight and staying on Track. Greetings from Switzerland.
The Neocons and quasi Evangelicals are history in this country from now on, Midterms burn them at the Ballot Box.
3
Don't expect anything from Mitch McConnell, he is a narcissistic, spineless self dealer.
DITCH MITCH
5
Souls of Republicans??
They are loooong gone! The devil is picking the last bit of gristle out of his fangs.
5
Let's start with the fact that the half of the Senate representing the 25 least populous states account for 18% of the total population. Going from 50 to 60 Senators - a super majority - gets you to 24% of the population of the United States.
Then we have the fact that in 2016, 77,000 votes cast in three states outweighed the close to 3 million more votes that Clinton got overall.
The GOP members of Congress may be afraid of trump's 35% base, but because of the representational distortions of the Senate and the electoral college, they also think they can parlay that 35% into enough 'W's in the electoral column to maintain a majority or to at least stay relevant. And they're probably right.
11
Totally agree with your analysis of the Senate. And if you add in the gerrymandering for House districts and malicious voter suppression perfected by Republicans after years of practice, most likely nothing will change. They will keep slim majorities in House and Senate, after which Trump may feel sufficiently free to fire Mueller and pardon Manafort.
4
Everything Trump does makes sense if you look at him through the proper lens. That lens is called a BRIBE. The BRIBE is Putin transfers an interest in a Russian oil company to Trump in return for Trump lifting sanctions on Russia. Michael Cohen knows about Trump's deal with Putin. He also knows whether he, in late August or early September of 2016, paid hackers employed by Russia.
5
Charles, I share your sentiments. But let's get real. Congressional Republicans have shown over and over again that maintaining power is far more important to them than doing what is right. That is not going to change as long as they retain the majority of seats in Congress. The only hope is that enough voters come to their senses to allow the Democrats to retake both houses, or at the very least, one of them. If that does not happen all of Trump's misdeeds will be swept under the rug. Let's give up on the fairy tale that Congressional Republicans will somehow stand up to Trump. He is their man. He is doing their bidding. And they are doing his bidding. That will not change. The best we can hope for is that in November they will all go down with the ship, together.
9
@Ted so- there is no hope
There are members of Congress, mostly in the House, who have gone beyond simply doing nothing or asserting a politically based support of Trump but who have actively assisted him in his campaign of obstruction of justice. Can they be prosecuted along with Trump, assuming there is a prosecution in his future?
Just asking.
3
Nothing like a shared, soulless enemy to bring folks together. Strange that this social behavior (driven by politicians and our media) does not concern more people here. I had the benefit of living 20 years in Germanic countries to make me aware of the power of propaganda. Trump supporters are not as they are portrayed here. They support Trump despite his personality characteristics, rhetorical style, (im)moral behavior, hair, etc. - not because of it. Two common features of Trump's critics here is that they don't understand his supporters and they feel superior to them.
2
The Republican Party has not represented or stood for any principled idea for a long time, not perhaps since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Conservative today means conserving the wealth, power and privilege of a narrow segment of the American populace to the disadvantage of the rest.
11
Just as some might complain that baseball nowadays isn't as fun as it used to be (with the shift, better pitches, fewer hits), I see a parallel problem with modern politics.
If you can maximize your leverage and results by going "all in," why compromise? Why hold back when you are in power? If you have developed effective ways to spin and manipulate people into supporting/voting for you, rain or shine, why give an inch at all?
So, just as in baseball, they GOP just keep swinging for the fences and play the shift.
3
@Charles
one more thing - dems have fought for nothing in 40 years
Have you ever noted how much the President resembles old photos of Mussolini?
4
Many months ago I told my friends that there is a bellwether whose actions can signal the "fall of Trump", whenever that happens. And that is Elaine Chao, the current Secretary of Transportation. If (or is it when?) she moved out of the Trump Administration, that would be a clear indication that Mr. Trump's end is near.
Whether this was his own idea or someone else's (I believe the latter), the fact is choosing Elaine Chao as the transportation secretary was a brilliant move by Mr. Trump. With that move, Mr. Trump has managed to totally disarm Mitch McConnell. And I should emphasize that one does not get to the position of Senate majority leader by being sheepish, unassertive, and subservient.
But, as we have seen in the last 20 months, that is exactly how Mitch McConnell has behaved. No matter how outrageous Mr. Trump actions or statements are, Mitch McConnell rarely takes a public stand against him. He has been fully pacified for the simple reason that his own wife is a key member of that administration.
It is a statement of the fact that, when it comes to decide between domestic peace and world peace, many men choose the earlier.
7
You are dreaming, man! McConnell is not cowed into silence because his wife is occupying yet another useless Cabinet position (as she did for Bush). Grand Wizard Mitch is on the front lines with Trump. He is probably a fellow birther. He certainly hated President Obama from day one, vowing to make him a one-term president. And he stole the Supreme Court seat from Obama. In 2016. Need any more evidence?
1
I don't know if Ryan, Nunes, Goudy, and Johnson, or the leadership in the Senate and its Intelligence committee are redeemable. They may have cast their lot.
They have done nothing but obstruct the investigation, assisting Trump and his conspiracy theories. The leadership of both Houses have bent over double to give Trump everything he's wanted, and have not raised a finger to stop the harm he is doing on his own.
The GOP ran the same old con's with a real con, Trump. His "working man" tax bill gives over 80 percent of tax revenue reduction to the one-percent. The "working man's" meager tax cut will disappear in a couple years to be replaced be increases.
American corporations had the lowest avg. effective tax rate in the world, and now Trump has made it lower. However, like the Bush and Reagan tax cuts the better paying jobs have not materialized and companies bought their own stock to drive management bonuses rather than invest in R&D and new plant and equipment.
The OMB says these cuts and the President's spendthrift ways are driving deficit increases that will never be overcome by growth.
Nine out of 10 economics in a recent survey say the Trump tariffs are bad for jobs, wages and buying power. The tax cut has already been eaten up for most workers with inflation.
And, we haven't started talking about their corruption.
4
Mr. Blow asks Republicans to find their honor.
Not going to happen. It's been gone for too long. When they decided racism was a key to electoral success in the late 60s, and chose to follow Newt Gingrich in demonizing Democrats and their policies in the 90s (while engaging in conduct they publicly decried, and promoted propaganda radio and TV, they opened the door for Trump.
He's just the result of their lack of honor, not an aberration.
9
More than the courage and patriotism these lackeys of Trump lack shame. Which one of these sycophants can look himself/herself in the mirror. Courage and patriotism are much loftier ideals. You simply need humanity to recognize that your rights end where other humans rights begin. Common decency is another word for it.
1
@Shameless Nation What the possibly once-moral sycophants like Huckabee-Snders, Kelly, and Conway and even Melanie lack in shame, they make up for in cognitive dissonance. The others were probably never moral.
Once again a terrific op-ed by Charles Blow. This should be mandatory reading for all Americans!
4
John Brennan, John Brennan, John Brennan, few others approach his level of honesty and plain speaking about Trump. While Charles M. Blow repeats the failure of conscience on the part of the Republicans, what about the failure of the rest of us to march against Trump and his crooked cronies? Who are we; what kind of democracy is the USA that just bemoans the flames incinerating the foundation of our country? Who are we? Expose US for who we are.
5
Perhaps the Freedom Caucus should reflect on how many of the 7 deadly sins Trump has committed, and let that help guide the extent to which their Christian souls can continue to support and enable this presidency:
1. CHECK Greed - Wanting too much of something
2. CHECK Gluttony - Similar to greed, but gluttony is the action of taking too much of something in
3. CHECK Lust - The need to fulfill unspiritual desires (not just sexual desires, but this is usually what lust is associated with)
4. CHECK Envy - Jealousy; wanting to have what someone has
5. MAYBE NOT (unless lack of disciple counts) Sloth - Being too slow or lazy at doing something
6. CHECK Wrath - Vindictive anger; angry revenge
7. CHECK Pride - Being too self-satisfied
7
@GH What part of "Thou shalt not commit adultery" don't Republicans understand?
1
GH--I think the correct quote is Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
He had to take a golf cart 700 yards for a group photo instead of walking like the other world leaders at G7 last year. I think you can definitely check off “sloth”.
McConnell never had any soul or patriotism.
He is there strictly for the billionaire class.
Equally amazing, McConnell had polio as a baby and his mother took him to the FDR clinic in Georgia to be treated.
Didn't result in empathy for others apparently.
12
Expected Trump would mean the end of the Republican party, and he has. Couldn't have guessed at the scale of corruption and flat-out nastiness that is being tolerated. The price being paid for the ruin of the Republican party is very high and getting higher. Still worth it so far but how bad does it need to get before enough is enough and the rats start running off the ship.
3
Charles, as you implied, this is an "ask too far" for Republicans in Congress. The political calculus is "let's wait for the mid-terms, see what happens." It's truly astonishing. It's not so much that Republicans are willing to sell their soul and dishonor themselves in order to use Trump to get what they want, but that they think its OK to turn a blind eye to behavior that - if Obama had done one 100th of it - would have resulted in millions of voices screaming "impeachment" as one. We simply cannot consider Republicans to be patriots any more, they're a bunch of cowards who put party over country.
9
I'm sure the Russians are relieved to know they're off the hook for Satan's abomination of desolation usurping the US and now that ignominious honor falls squarely on the shoulders of a couple of campaign contribution violators. That was like stealing candy from a baby after all. Republicans should probably just sit tight and let Democrats expose themselves for what they truly are.
People who think the president shouldn’t be a criminal? They’re already doing that.
Members of Congress have sworn an oath of loyalty to the Constitution, not their careers. Those driven primarily by their re-election prospects, rather than what's best for our country, are derelict, AWOL.
We send 18 year old boys and girls to face bullets and bombs while these cowards cower in fear of the "base." While our sworn enemies eagerly embrace "martyrdom," these so-called leaders twist and fret over polls. Is it time for a single 4 year term for all members of Congress?
4
The only ethic Trump understands is the organized crime ethic of omerta.
And he's the moral leader of the GOP--not Mitch McConnell or Lindsay Graham.
5
Thanks to the GOP, we are at risk of becoming a single-party democracy, which is not a democracy at all. No one wants this, and yet by seemingly embracing populism, racism, xenophobia and the marginalization of women, the GOP has sent lifelong members who happen to be moderates, away in droves.
There is no longer room at the table for moderates from either party, and that will be our demise. I am saddened for the country we are leaving to our children.
163
@Mrs Shapiro I agree, and this is exactly why we need a multi-party system as in many democracies, because it will ensure that when an entire party becomes defunct, there are other options for voters. The US has a de facto two-party system and it is a major cause of the division and partisanship in this country. Many Trump voters are just selecting the other team, like a sporting event, since it is the lesser evil than the other choice. In 2016 we could have 4 parties:
1) Bernie supporters on the left
2) Democrats
3) Republicans
4) Trump etc on the far right.
2
@Mrs Shapiro
I have a simple question for anyone that uses the term ''moderate'' - what does it take to actually be one ?
Does it mean giving up only some of your rights ?
Does it mean only polluting some of the time ?
Does it mean only continuous moderate tax cuts for the rich and corporations, and not grandiose ?
I sincerely would like to know.
6
@Mrs Shapiro I am going to be brutally honest with you. The chasm that exists today was a direct result of the nuclear bomb going off in 2009 when Nancy Pelosi forced 65 of her "moderate" Blue Dog Democrats to vote for ACA; an act they knew would result in their political demise.
They were replaced by 65 tea party types and the chasm has only widened.
This isn't the fault of the Republicans. It was direct reaction to an overreach by Democrats...which happens.
It'll take an entire generation before the distribution of ideology is disbursed evenly along the bell curve. Until then...embrace the suck and carry on.
Thank you for finally saying this
2
What about appealing to Sen. John McCain?
He is a hero, a war hero and a statesman hero. Why not him?
============================================
Sen. McCain can speak out, right now, to say "enough is enough".
We have had enough of the insanity of Trump and Trumpism.
Has anyone at the Times spoken with Sen. John McCain, lately?
If not Sen. McCain, perhaps another Republican in Congress.
Why wait? Why let the insanity become worse? If now, when?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
@Harry Pearle -sadly John McCain is gravely ill. I don't know whether he can speak.
The old Republicans are dying, or cowed into being Quislings to Trumpismo.
I so admire you Charles M.
I question if Hitler's Nazi's had souls. They thought they were doing the right thing for their country. Is it the leader or the followers who have no souls? Maybe souls aren't involved. It's just the age old greed for power and money and our Republican Congress is as greedy as their leader.
3
Republicans who go against Trump will lose. Republicans who don't go against Trump will lose. Some will lose their seats. Others will lose their souls. Either way, they are all losers.
9
The media and every adult and child in this country should never allow the Republican Party to be called the party of Lincoln. It is the antithesis of what Lincoln stood and fought for.
9
Republicans won't stand up to Trump because they want what he wants - to make sure that white men continue to control America for a very long time to come. They simply wanted it done more 'elegantly' through the likes of a McConnell or Ryan type - one who pays lip service to our democracy while undermining it for their purposes. Trump does not pay lip service to democracy. He has open contempt for it and that makes them squeamish. He should be more discreet. But the bottom line is the ends justify the means. For these old white guys, immigrants, progressive s, women, etc represent an existential threat. So they'll take Trump. For them, too much is at stake, and it's not democracy.
6
The Republicans do not care. They do not care. It's that simple. They won't search their souls. Why won't they? Because they have no desire to do so. It is fruitless, expecting the Republicans to do the jobs they swore to do.
3
Charles, they are still sitting quietly in the corner afraid they will be the next target.
5
No, sir. I want those Republicans in Congress to stick with Donald Trump all the way down. Defend him. Protect him. Repeat his lies. Attack whomever he attacks. Watch him defame America and praise Vladimir Putin. Chuckle at his malicious, defamatory, and ignorant tweets. Endorse his virulent racism, white nationalism and misogyny with silence. Enable his self-enriching conflicts of interest. Play golf with him at Mar-a-Lago. Approve his court appointees. Fund his budget-busting wall. I want them tied like an anchor to their chosen leader when he goes down.
17
I think the news media has to do soul searching. Not a single one of these charges speaks to collusion or conspiracy with Russia. It's an amalgamation of individual malfeasance over periods of years, most of which occurred before these people knew each other. Yet it's presented differently -- day in, day out, nonstop.
After reading all the headlines last night I was very confused. I had to watch an interview with Michael Cohen's lawyer to understand: 1) Cohen categorically does not assert that he knows Trump knew about the Russian hotel meeting 2) He is only vaguely claiming/insinuating that his insight into the campaign may be "of interest" to the special counsel or some other similarly milquetoast sentiment.
Oh, also, his lawyer is known as a kind of spokesperson for irreedemmables, including African warlords facing outrageous human rights violations. Yet he's being trotted out onto cable news with the gravitas normally reserved for Clarence Darrow.
Everyone knew Manafort was going to prison. Big whoop.
Yesterday's news amounted to Cohen saying Trump told him to pay off some affairs. It's apparently a campaign violation. Neither I nor I doubt most of the American public would understand why it would necessarily be a campaign violation.
I don't like Trump but... go fish.
This continues to fall into smoke and mirrors. The news media should be pointing that out, not fanning the smoke and setting up the mirrors.
3
@John, no one has trotted out Lanny Davis as Clarence Darrow. That is false. He has been attacked by people on the right saying he used to be Clinton's lawyer.
Second, the fact Cohen identifies Trump as unindicted co-conspirator is a major story. Period. So what if it is not colusion with Russia. Mueller's investigation has spanned less than 1/5th of the time of Iran Contra, about 1/5th time of Whitewater which begat Lewinsky and about half the time of Watergate. For you to suggest implicitly that there is no big deal to an election violation committed 2 weeks before an election is like saying "who cares if someone cheats in a contest".
5
The reason they don't speak directly to Russian meddling is that they weren't meant to; it's why the Mueller investigation spun them off to state courts and the SDNY.
You really mustn't double-dip this way, yelling about how Mueller's running trials he shouldn't be running, and then complaining that he isn't running the trials that he should be running.
Hang on till Manafort's next go-round: my understanding is that the charges include failure to register as a foreign agent from when he was working for right-wing Ukranians linked directly to Putin, and helping money launder from back when he was sitting next to Putin's main money-launderer as a Board member for a sketchy Cypriot bank.
5
@John
Starting with the "we don't care" ACT, as displayed by "I don't like Trump but... go fish".
Obviously, John, Chicago DOES care - a great deal.
So, it is AN ACT. Actual root belief: "don't care who presents so-called evidence, it's fake".
Next, examine the "there's nothing there" ACT, as displayed by "This continues to fall into smoke and mirrors. The news media should be pointing that out, not fanning the smoke and setting up the mirrors".
Obviously, John, Chicago KNOWS something (allegedly, a campaign violation) - is there.
So, it is AN ACT. Actual root belief: "nothing is proven, and will ignore all".
Call-out, THE ACTS.
Peg, their root beliefs.
Rebuff, their ludicrousness.
Traditional Republicanism....outdated and gone the way of the white-horned rhinosaurus...but wait....there is an organization who is doing research and trying to bring back the rhinosaurus.....one animal at a time in vitro.....there's hope for them.
Anyone I meet and identifies themselves as a Republican I have no choice but to assume they are a racist, bigot, xenophobe or a misogynist until proven otherwise. The reason for this bias is experience. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck; well you know the rest. The more bizarre Trump's tweets get the more entrenched his base becomes. I understand it is difficult to acknowledge that you made a mistake but to double down is simply stupid and not in the best interests of our nation. Like I tell my friends now. It seems that republicans, since the Reagan era have courted a base that has come to believe in the Republican philosophy of transferring wealth to the already wealthy, any regulation is bad, bringing our military budget under some kind of control, and all Hispanic immigrants are gang members has created a bile system that would rival any of the established religions. Not voting for a Republican is blasphemy and reason to excommunicate you from the party. Now the Republicans can't shake the monster they have created.
12
@Ron
" .... bringing our military budget under some kind of control, ..."
How seen the new military budget numbers? Apparently not!
To lose your soul you have to start from having one. The soul of the GOP has been replaced a long time ago by greed and hypocrisy.
5
60,000,000 million Americans, people of all colors, economic statuses, and education levels voted for man who reveled in his white nationalist pride. H Clinton was correct that these people are deplorables. 60,000,000 voters who chose various ideas of self-interest while knowingly selecting a man who promised to tear tear our democracy apart. The 62,000,000 patriots who voted against trump, and 4,000,000 Obama voters who didn't vote, can certainly take back America. VOTE in NOVEMBER!
12
YES!
1
It is a fool's errand to expect the Republicans to take down Trump. One word: VOTE!
3
Except that voting does not matter anymore. Gerrymandering. Voter suppression. Republicans control the count. Russian help.
And finally SCOTUS that will just proclaim the Victor they want with no justification needed.
Lights Out.
Charles,
From your column:
"Viewed that way, Trump's base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic."
Thank you!
Hillary was right. Those who make up Trump's base ARE "deplorables". Their values are not "American", but rather paranoid, parochial, xenophobic and yes, racist. They venerate a "leader" who is all of these things - as well as a ignorant, demagogic con man.
And a criminal too.
9
Maybe Hillary was right and it is " a basket of deplorables"?
9
The GOP is THE disease of the USA; it shall be eradicated strating in November.Help your country, vote a straight Democratic ticket in November...you have still the right to vote!
8
I have searched my soul and have to admit, I am still livid at the Democrats for being such morons and idiots to put forth a Dynasty Establishment Rich Old White candidate under FBI Criminal Investigation as their candidate when 75% of the people polled by Rasmussen said the country was heading in the wrong direction.
It's as if 2008 didn't happen when the Dynasty Establishment Rich Old White candidate was tossed aside in favor of a no-name having done-nothing junior back benching Senator from Illinois because 75% of the people polled by Rasmussen said the country was headed in the wrong direction after 8 years of George W Bush.
Defy the laws of political physics at your own peril Dems.
I blame you for Trump being President, and by you..that includes the New York Times.
You give the man over $2 Billion worth of free media time over all the viable candidates and then spend the last 2 years with the volume cranked because you can't stand the person you created.
Trump is the fault of Democrats...plain and simple.
Until you admit this....there can be no reconciliation...and there is no soul searching to do...except by Democrats.
3
Nice try, really, but Barack Hussein Obama was never a no-name do-nothing Senate back-bencher. And for that matter, it's hard to see how Hillary Clinton was a member of some secretive dynasty of the wealthy, having been brought up in the burbs to two middle-class parents and married to a pol from Arkansas.
Maybe look up "dynasty?"
1
@Erica Smythe I seriously doubt a significant portion of Trump's base read the NY Times. I live among die hard Trump heads here in Ohio and Fox News is their major news source, as well as bogus information on Facebook and Twitter. I blame TRUMP and the spineless Republican leadership for Trump.
Charles, it's hopeless.
4
You don't get to search your soul once you've sold it.
370
@Ken Bandes From your lips to my ears....it's exactly what happens when someone signs up to support a Clinton.; even with good intentions.
I can still smell the sulphur in our community.
The Republican party and the Republican base are now largely made up of people who bought into Reagan Republicanism. When Reagan said "government is the problem", he started our country on a path away from what had held us together for a century, that helped us win two world wars, recover from the Great Depression and build the greatest middle class in human history. Our government.
After Reagan, politicians and voters became suspicious and hostile to government. They spurned taxes and investment to strengthen communities, cut funds for education that had made us smarter than other countries and spurned investment in healthcare to make us strong. Once the idea of the common good was extinguished, people turned to glorifying private gain. Regulations and taxes were cut back further. Politicians and individuals became suspicious of law enforcement and of laws themselves. Once you doubt the value of laws, it's easy to flout them. Like Trump says on tax evasion "everybody does it". And we even separate and lock up innocent women and children.
Without common societal goals, limits and respect for the law, we have allowed corruption into the heart of our system. Without morality, ethics and true patriotism, we've allowed foreign influence into the White House. We are heading for a full breakdown of our country, unless those who remember that serving America with honor, honesty, integrity, courage and loyalty once made us the greatest nation on Earth. Do enough of us remember?
4
It's a waste of time trying to convince Republicans to save themselves politically. They are simply doing what they have always done, gain power and then proceed to rob the country. This cycle will continue as long as the party continues to exist.
3
The ONLY time the words Soul and Mitch McConnell should be in the same sentence, they should hold hands with the words Has No.
5
The potential death of the Republican Party is greatly exaggerated. You’ll remember all the epitaphs when Boehner retired. Even some liberals were anxious at what they thought could be the demise of the two party system. The Republican base is going nowhere as long as Fox, et al exists for inspiration and there are Democrats to hate. Come November the Senate will likely remain in Repoublican control and looking back on Democrat and Independent voting patterns the much anticipated blue wave could be more sound and fury than significant.
Thank you Mr. Blow. I couldn't have said it in as nice a manner as you. Has anyone ever thought that maybe, just maybe those Republicans who publicly come forward and do what's right for the Country, might end up being the ones who actually hold onto their offices? Their constituents then might regain respect and gratitude in their hearts. Search your souls and give it some thought. I can't believe you would not be rewarded some way.
1
One quibble with Charles’s plea to GOP officeholders. If they stand up for our founding principles and oppose this criminal president, they may lose the next election, but by no means does such a loss signal the destruction of their lives and futures. They will rebound and find jobs that feed and house their families. They will use networks cultivated over the years to thrive and endure.
And they’ll do all this with their integrity reclaimed. Not a bad return on a monumentally moral decision.
5
Charles,
You ask the right questions of sitting republicans but you ask too much. The days of putting country before party are long gone and the current political environment knows no boundaries of compromise. Perhaps the shift is attributable to a gradual transition to reactionary thinking and rampant ideology from any recognizable standards involving common decency. I give you credit for extending the challenge but my sense is that it largely falls on deaf ears.
1
An analysis of the Republican ideology reveals that it is bankrupt. All of Its objectives have been realized and they all are very destructive of society. This explains why candidate Trump knocked 18 of the movements most esteemed respesentatives from the stage like clay pigeons.They were all empty suits
3
The words courage, patriotism, and honor do not apply to the Republicans in Congress.
The Daily's fascinating pod today explores the rules crafted for a corrupt sitting president, who thinks he is above the law. We are now beyond that “nightmare scenario”. When will rules be created for a corrupt Congress? Get out and vote!
2
I recommend reading the biographies of Roman emperors Gaius (Caligula), Nero and Commodus to put current events in perspective,
3
There is spectrum of degrees in traveling from complacent to complicit. The Republican Congress has travelled the long road to complicit in allowing Trump’s criminal enterprise to succeed and continue. I guess it is never too late for redemption as Cohen has learned. However, when Trump fires Sessions there will be a fracture that cannot be repaired and redemption may be impossible.
4
Republicans criticized Obama for wearing a tan colored suit. Ryan did not "trust" Obama with negotiating for an immigration policy. Now Trump could be accused of murder but as long there is no evidence of "collusion" they feel they can sit back and watch. Before representing their constituents, elected officials should be protecting and representing the constitution. Some voters may be willing to throw our democracy out the window but it is Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan that should be trying to protect it.
4
McConnell & Ryan represent a sleazy model of reprehensible political spinelessness, unbefitting national leaders.
I've no doubt that they'll turn-coat following only when the political winds that motivate self-interest prevail.
19th century Englishman John Dalberg-Acton got it right when he observed, 'Power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely'.
So much for leadership, much less doing their jobs...
3
@david d They are working very hard to...suppress the votes, what a bunch of gangsters:https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/20/opinions/randolph-county-georgia-voting-r...
What a sad week for the U.S., and our congress ignores that the president should be impeached. I think Mr. Blow should also address how the democrats are scared silly here too, not just the Republicans. Both party members so worried about will they be able to stay on the tax payers' gravy train that they ignore their duty to the country: impeach the president of the United States. The party of Lincoln has been brought to this.
1
Mr. Blow, what you're missing is that the 'valorous' Republican party of yore disappeared way back in 2003 when they lied their way into Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld set the stage for Donald Trump.
The gerrymandered primaries of 08, 12, and 16 pulled back the curtain on truth of the Republican base, it was only a matter of time before the primary candidates became the general candidates. To imply that conservatives didn't see this coming, or let it happen only recently is disingenuous.
The GOP has been dating the devil for decades, and now they're married. The faux shock from long-time conservatives who are recently woke is infuriating. Donald Trump isn't the real Republican Party, Paul Ryan is - it's insidious and nothing short of dangerous.
1
Before the election i warned that the republican party had created this #trumpenstein monster in their lab with the naive notion that they could control it and harness its political energy. We all know how that worked out. The monster destroyed the lab (the Republican party) and escaped wreaking havoc and mayhem across the countryside. If the monster is to be defeated it will come at the hands of the innocent villagers who had no say in its creation but who are the ones most affected by its destructive behavior. It's creators on the other hand must pay the price for the abomination that they conjured up.
3
"...now is the time to stand on the right side of history"? More like the last chance.
3
Let's not hold our breath. GOP Congress have dollar signs in their hearts,and spines of Jell-o.
5
@kat perkins What they are doing now is an operation to suppress the vote in November, the GOP is a disease: https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/20/opinions/randolph-county-georgia-voting-r...
@kat perkins
Right on. Tho, Jell-o is WAY TOO substantial and sturdy a substance to characterize the GOP spine...
Charles Blow rightly focuses on the paramount qualities of courage and patriotism, or, in the case of Congressional Republicans, their utter disregard of those qualities in the face of the most egregious offenses against our democratic republic by Trump and his obsequious administration. But Blow fails to address the concurrent practice of the Republican Congressional leadership only to invoke fidelity to duty and our Constitution when it suits their own partisan interests and to ignore those principles otherwise.
How else to interpret Mitch McConnell's ill-intended refusal to honor his constitutional mandate to provide advice and consent by granting a hearing to the nominee of a sitting president with nearly a year to serve under the pretext that the people's voice must be heard in the elections, which were nine months away, yet a year and a half later inverts that logic to insist that he must grant a hearing to the nomination of a president whose actions have placed him on the cusp of impeachment because the next elections, which are only three months away, supposedly do not matter?
The only way to rid the Senate of McConnell's power to hold his colleagues to the convenience of his will is to flip the Senate as well as the House in November, in which case McConnell will revert to what he always has been, just another Senator pushing his own agenda with little power to abuse in thwarting the will of the majority of his colleagues.
1
Many of the Republicans in the House and Senate and in statehouses across the country fully understand what Donald Trump, his family, his company and his close assistants have done.
They know that crimes have been committed which should drive Trump from the White House.
These Republican leaders, however, made a bad calculation. They are like the guy standing on the platform as the commuter train sounds the signal that the doors will be shutting. The man has one hand over his ear to block the noise, and he holds a cellphone to his other ear, as he barks out orders to an underling. The train doors do close, and the train starts down the track.
Catching a later train will no longer help. It will be too late to save a career, a reputation or a soul.
3
You ask Republicans to search their souls. They are led by the most soulless senator of them all, Mitch McConnell. What hope is there for them? They can't search what they don't have. This has been proven time and time again and, to be honest, long before Trump's rise to power.
Vote. Them Out.
4
This “base” you are talking about is more than 100 million voters. The cancer is much bigger than only trump and it’s “base”. American public is largely not educated compared to other developed countries and the astronomical greedy tuition to universities is one of the causes.
4
I have to disagree with the sub-headline. MONTHS AGO was the time to stand on the right side of history. Too late now.
247
Charles, spot on column as usual.
But Republicans cannot search for something (i.e., a soul) they permanently lost or probably never had.
As of Aug. 13-19, 87% of Republicans "approve" of the job Trump is doing as president, according to Gallup.
In fact, having a soul may be what separates the Democrats and progressives from the Republicans.
This was my conclusion after the Trump Administration took to snatching small children away from their parents at the border, and then put the children in cages and/or put the children in foster homes all over the country, then quickly deported many of the parents. People who see nothing wrong with doing that are definitely Republicans.
12
The irony is this is the Republican party's own doing. They thought they were setting a trap for victory when they gerrymandered the country, but the trap has sprung on themselves. Their extreme gerrymandering means their "base" is itself more concentrated and extreme, and due to isolation and feedback loops has shifted ever more to the right. The moderate, conservative Republicans no longer have the voting support they once had. They may have the seats, but they're no longer setting the agenda. We're all left with this chaos instead. It's time to move for nationwide electoral district reform.
17
@JKR
"It's time to move for nationwide electoral district reform"
..... as well as setting limits on presidential powers, in particular the completely unrestricted power of pardon.
2
The same opinion piece could have been referred to the Weimer bourgeoisie 90 years ago. The chutzpah it takes to convince oneself that the most corrupt can later be controlled has already resulted in unspeakable tragedy.
11
“The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion.”
― Alexander Hamilton
11
I call our Republican senator, Rob Portman, virtually every day: My message: Silence is speech. By not speaking up, you are complicit. I'd like to see millions of people do the same thing on a daily basis.
9
It is craven cynicism, and not moral courage, that is the hallmark of today's Republican Party. They have never been honest about their agenda and they never will be. They demonstrate what they really are by their actions.
8
Here we go again: “on the right side of history”, just below the title. It’s not enough to be right about something; you have to be righteous too. Just don’t be surprised if the Trump cultists round the wagons and continue to ignore reality.
3
Charles, as an admirerer of you and your work for years, I believe today's column is among the best ever published. I thank you for your passion.
11
Mr. Blow,
You have found another nail to hit on the head. Unmentioned in your editorial but inferred is the cowards on congress are getting many of the things they have always wanted. I reduction of voters who they perceive as not having skin in the game (only property owners count), tax relief for the least needful ( which will help them rent our country back to us and contribute to further inequality). And of course the rewards for service after they leave congress ( in the shape of lobbying and think tank assignments ). All on the coattails of this band of grifters.
7
The mindset of Mr. Trump's supporters was well displayed by Mr. Pence's declaration that he is a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third. Notice anything missing? American?
20
The Republicans in Congress (aside from the Tea Party crazies) are taking Trump's "base" way too seriously. Those who may lose their seats come November might very well retain them if they stand up for the Constitution. Why do they seem to assume that criticizing Trump will cost them their careers? There are plenty of moderate Republicans out there who voted for Trump merely because they believed he was their only choice. Well, that is no longer true. If Trump stole the election, so too VP Pence is where he is as a result of fraud. They should both be impeached for this reason and spineless Paul Ryan or Orrin Hatch can sit in the Oval Office for the next two years.
4
I think this all harkens back to the Citizens United decision wrought by our political Supreme Court. The Republican party has been bought by monied interests if not the Russians who dictate who occupies an office by virtue of their campaign funding.
With Kavanaugh I fear things will get even worse.
6
Mr. Blow,
No one cares. To insinuate that there is something wrong to "flipping" or cooperating with law enforcement to enforce the law is exactly the attitude a mob boss would have. No one cares. If you believe Cohen, his tapes, and Trump's own words, he conspired to commit a campaign violation and defraud the American voter. No one cares. His campaign clearly colluded with a foreign power to influence the results of an American election. No one cares. Smart and honorable people like Dershowitz, parse the law to explain why, technically, Trump did not break it. No one cares. I do believe that history with not be kind to Trump, that he will be revealed as the corrupt gangster that he is and that the reputations of his sycophants like Sanders (pick one), Hatch, Dershowitz, Graham, and his republican flunkies will be forever soiled and stain by their association with him, but, until then, no one will care.
5
@ubius
I'm not sure about Dershowitz anymore. He always says that he doesn't support Trump and didn't vote for him, but seems to have a lot personally invested in defending him. Maybe he really is just making a point about separating criminality from political and moral squalor but whatever the issue of the day is, Dershowitz continues his defense of Trump. But then, there was a day when I admired Giuliani also. That's long gone on the tide.
2
"Trump’s base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic. It is its enthusiasm for Trump that is the greatest impediment to a genuine search for truth and an honoring of it."
Didn't the founding fathers create the inept electoral college for this reason? Where are they now?
6
Stop waiting with bated breath for the GOP to "search their souls". Nonsense.
"This is not a party that can be described as coherent, sensible, respectful of the rule of law, dedicated to equal protection or grounded in reality — let alone conservative. Today’s GOP stands for a set of crackpot ideas, unworkable and unpopular policies and a president not remotely fit to remain in office. Some sunny optimists think the GOP can be saved. From our perspective, it’s not worth trying".
7
You nailed it.
This is the most precise and most penetrating description i have seen on the current situation for republicans
7
Money and power are the Republican Gods. Trump gives them that with tax cuts ; judicial appointments and deregulation. Republicans; Trump and the base are one;a blending of hate and greed. Conscience and duty to country they do not have. Vote Republicans out for health care; jobs and a living wage. Ray Sipe
6
"... It must be noted forever that Republicans had a chance to choose courage, but they chose cowardice. They had a chance to prioritize national interest, but they chose personal interest."
Perfectly presented, Charles.
Well done!
Thank You
6
As long as these "party before country" republicans remain in office, it will be "corrupt business as usual." There is corruption on both sides of the aisle, but at this time, only one side has all the control and they aren't willing to clean up their mess. That leaves the clean up to us. I will vote to drain the swamp.
5
Maybe Congressional Republicans don't stand up to Trump because they are as beholden to Russia as he is or are as corrupt as he is. I recall that an unnamed member of Congress has been accused by federal authorities of also being provided with assistance from Russia. And two Republican Congressmen have recently been indicted for corruption. What is this is just the beginning? In addition, how do we have a popular vote so in favor of Hillary Clinton and yet Donald Trump becomes President? How do we have a system in which it is claimed that Democrats must have a 7% point lead in order to win a race against a Republican. Everyone keeps saying that there is no evidence that votes were changed. But has anyone actually checked? Maybe they have in very blue districts. But there would be no incentive for Republican officials to check their systems. Surely if there had been a comprehensive, nationwide analysis of whether the 2016 election was compromised at the voting booth, we would have heard the results. It was, after all, Mitch McConnell that made sure that nothing would be done to secure our election before the election. I think the rot goes far deeper than Donald Trump. I think Paul Ryan knows it and that is why he is leaving Congress.
5
Maybe the problem now is that Congress sees the light but thinks it too late to confess or do what's right. Isn't it too late for them? So they'll hang on to flimsy hopes?
4
Thank you Mr. Blow for this beautifully written, spot-on editorial. Shame on those who remain silent about the most venal and corrupt administration in our history.
7
Yes, Charles, Republicanism is Trumpism, with no daylight between them. Traditional Republicans support Trumpism enthusiastically, and there is no need for any fear. His base also includes many supporters of Obama. 10% of Republicans who are "never Trumpers" never represented true Republicanism. They are elitists, globalists and war mongers. They do not understand the pulses of common man. Yes , we understand Trump had personal failures in the past and it would be nice if he reduce his occasional harsh rhetoric and tone. But, we understand his un-PC talk. We like his tweets, though sometimes it put him in trouble. We do criticize him when he makes mistakes, like the family separation, and he changes. We are willing to take action if you present real crimes that Trump did, but not for the phony and silly things you accuse. We like almost all policies of Trump. America is better off domestically and internationally because of Trump.
Charles, we do not understand what you say and do not see what you see. We see in Trump that you and other elitists do not see. We are ordinary Americans, Republicans and one time supporters of Obama.
2
A government that is plagued by lies, deceit, sex, pornography, criminality, and evil cannot thrive for long. History tells us that such governments and those that ardently support them will fall - and, when they do, it will be nothinh less than catastrophic. The totalitarian and wicked regimes of mid-20th Century Germany and Italy, and the gruesome way they ended should be lessons worth remembering.
8
What more can be said. Beautifully written,a dmirably expressed. Time for all those who love their country to step up before something dangerously wrong happens. I fear his ( I can't even write his name) penchant for striking back and total lack of conscience will precipitate a war to distract from his legal morass.
7
The 'Grand old Party' is fini. Power swung from Ivy League educated republicans to Ol' Miss and Bobby Jones University grads. Blatant partisanship replaced diplomacy and compromise. Political decorum was steamrolled buy arbitrary belligerence. Harsh thuggery ruled the day for GOP elected officials drunk with power.
Rest in peace 'Grand ol' Party.
6
Trump's behavior as a candidate was just as reprehensible as it is now. I suspect the vast majority of Congressional Republicans will just double down, like Sarah Sanders Huckabee and declare Donald Trump has not been charged with a crime. The Republican party is soulless, so introspective searching for one that does not exist is a waste of time.
Donald Trump is not only the most vile, repugnant, unqualified, corrupt, felonious individual ever to sit in the White House but he is a stain on humanity. Anyone who continues to support him at this point has no moral and ethical compass.
11
A bunch of nothing, we have known all about Trump's rather colorful past. All this "progressive" nonsense is nothing but smoke and mirrors, the real story is the Obama administration's use of FBI and probably CIA to spy on the Trump campaign. That investigation will be very interesting.
@jaco
What, that the Justice Department was aware of a foreign powers' attempt to subvert our elections and investigated? shocking abuse of power!
Give me a break - the abuses of power occur DAILY when Trump uses the bully pulpit to shame whistleblowers, scare those out to tell the truth, etc. Obama allowing an investigation into Russian interference was part of his JOB to protect America.
5
@jaco It was investigated and proven to be false. Stop believing the lies coming from Trump and those who enable him.
5
Republicans have no souls to search; they sold them long, long ago.
8
We need to stop pretending republicans will "wake up". They are awake, they see what is going on. They don't care. All Republicans want is absolute power, so they turned to Russia. This was not an accident. This was the next step in the Republican war on America.
8
What's the opposite of Profiles in Courage?
3
@burf
Profiles in Complicity?
Profiles in Obsequiousness?
Profiles in Spinelessness?
My letter to my Senators:
I have written several times to express my outrage at the policies and behavior of the most corrupt President in our history. I implore you to act on two fronts: first, halt the Supreme Court nomination process for Judge Kavanaugh until after the mid-term elections. The confirmation of this judge will almost certainly ensure that the criminal in the White House will evade the prosecution he richly deserves (should the inevitable Supreme Court review take place) due to Kavanaugh’s documented stance that a US President is immune to criminal prosecution. No one is above the law.
Second, please follow the common-sense path and begin the impeachment process today. If any Democrat, especially President Obama, had done 10% of what our current impudent, incompetent imbecile has done the Republicans would have gleefully run him out of office. President Clinton endured and survived impeachment proceedings on far less than we have seen with Trump. If you condone stealing, lying, committing adultery, violating the Emoluments Clause and more, then don’t act, continue the hypocrisy. If you espouse integrity and morality impeach him now. Thank you
15
The Republican Party has put a lot of work into cultivating its "beastly base". Starting with anti Communism in the '50s, racism in the '60s, abortion after 1973, evangelical "Christians" at some point, gun nuts, gay bashers, and on, Republicans have systematically recruited every bigot and dim bulb in America to their base. Those people were supposed just to vote for Republicans so the Party could take care of rich people, but surely, for God's sake, not expect any of their agenda to be enacted. Then Trump showed up and messed up the deal--that had worked well, at least for the Party and rich people, for decades. It appears to me that the Republican Party has come by its base fair and square, and they are stuck with them. As others have said, the only way to reform the Party is to destroy it, but decent Americans can see we are a long way from achieving that goal.
11
This is the first time in decades the Republican Party has controlled all three branches of the executive and now when that opportunity has arrived, if there is any doubt whatsoever, we see now what the Party really stands for, which, other than being the party of the wealthy and connected, it stands for one thing and one thing only, NOTHING!
Clearly, unless money is expunged from politics and the party disappears and starts from scratch, any thought of an Eisenhower type Republican Party arising from the past, is a pipe dream.
9
of course, money talks.
among the penalties for a racketeering conviction is forfeiture of assets. among the crimes eligible to be "predicate offenses", elements of racketeering, are mail and wire fraud.
how many of trump's organizations--his foundation, his campaign committee, his businesses, or trust--are vulnerable to indictment for racketeering under federal or state law and thus forfeiture of assets?
we can't wait to see what the special counsel has in mind for trump's various "enterprises".
5
The truth is McConnell and Ryan never understood Trump and are simply afraid of him. Trump, ever the self styled disrupt er, basks in this kind of negative attention. He is a bully and until someone else gets on the playground he'll continue to outbox McConnell and Ryan. For Trump DC is one big Ravenite Social Club...where all of his mobbed up buddies can rub shoulders. McConnell and Ryan are worried about getting fitted with a pair of cement shoes if they oppose him...
5
The bygone "mainstream Republicanism" you invoke as having fled the GOP resides squarely in the so-called "centrist" establishment Democrats, who resemble nothing so much as 1980s Republicans.
It's a reflection of how rightward the GOP has skewed that the functional conservatives are in the Democratic party, at false-center. There are no actual conservatives remaining in the GOP, and there haven't been since before Trump waddled in.
The midterm elections will be a defense of American democracy, itself, more than even a referendum on the GOP.
7
Americans need to stop dancing around this issue. We need to say it out loud. The 2016 election was stolen, the man in the white house is a criminal and his presidency is illegitimate. If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck...it is a Duck!
17
"Republicans, won't you seize this moment?"
They won't. They've been silent too long. The Party of No morphed into the Party of Silence Means Consent -- consenting to Trump's racism, his unhinged tweets, his corruption, his obeisance to Putin, his unraveling of the rules that protect the environment and protect the rights of many, and his destruction of the Justice Department, FBI, and the intelligence agencies that every day d defend America and Americans.
Niemöller's words -- "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out... until they came for me" are haunting in part because he supported Hitler until he himself wound up in a concentration camp.
Republicans will not speak out for America or for Americans. Their silence means consent.
13
Just recently I watched a Drunk History show about Vlad the Impaler. The historian recounted again and again the number of people -- ranging from dozens to thousands at a time -- that "Vlad" impaled. And I was thinking, no, "Vlad" didn't impale these people. His supporters impaled those people. Without fearful and/or willing minions, he could not have done such evil. Likewise, Trump cannot by himself defy our norms, violate our standards, flout our laws, undermine our country, trample our Constitution, etc., -- he needs people to willingly help and/or cower in fear. That's what Republicans are doing, to their everlasting shame.
10
Search my soul? Okay, in my soul I know it was extremely stupid and self-destructive to give away our manufacturing base. There's still time to save our steel and aluminum and electronics industries, and to stop knuckling under to Chinese thievery. Donald Trump is doing necessary work to save our jobs and our future, and rather than having the whole world embrace some vision of everybody living at the same miserable subsistence level, I say keep government leaders who defend Americans first and send a check to an international aid agency if you feel so compelled. The "right side of history" which everyone seems to define as they want must first include survival, can we agree on that?
3
@Mary
How do you survive without clean air and water? How does the country survive when Trump was helped to win the election by Putin (who openly admitted this at the press conference)?
The jobs Trump is "saving" amount to maybe a couple of thousand of coal jobs while he threw away hundreds of thousands of alternative fuel jobs so that China and other countries benefit. Coal is a dying industry, and this is the wrong millennium for coal which causes black lung and environmental hazards. Most of the companies he claimed to help continued their plans to off-shore or close plants, just moved things around a little , such as Carrier with its layoffs.
The wealthy have become much, much wealthier under Trump with the tax cuts for the rich, but that added $1.5+ trillion to the national deficit so the rest of us will be paying for this.
What government leaders are defending America first? They are all raking in as much corrupt profit as they can get -- the $7.5 million from a Russian oligarch to McConnell, the $500,000 to Ryan from the Kochs right after the tax cuts for the rich bill, the $82 million to Ivanka and jared last year, and the $500 million to Trump last year, much of it from graft and corruption.
Nope. Republicans sold their souls to the devil. None left to be searched.
12
@Mary
There isn't a single decent president in American history who would agree with you. Certainly not a Founding Father or Lincoln, all of whom did some serious soul-searching about the nature of democracy.
I hear you. But why must it be the idiotic, dangerous , and corrupt Trump who you support? Bernie, among others, had good ideas without all the disgrace.
Just as it took years for Obama administration policies to bring back the tattered economy that crashed on the Republicans' watch, the Dems will AGAIN now have to spend years fixing all the damage Trump and the GOP have done to our citizens and institutions.
I hope new Democratic majorities in Congress will make the lives of Trump and his warped, spineless Republican enablers miserable.
9
With a title like this, why would anyone want to read this editorial? This language is very divisive. And I am a democrat!
1
@Meg
Divisive? Try listening to Trump or his minions for half a minute.
GOP senators are hitching their career wagons to a rapidly falling reality show star. This amoral position we hope will destroy them while, at the same time, preserving the integrity of our democracy which they already abandoned. There's no salvation for them. It's already too late. They've rolled the dice using our ignorance as their collateral.
4
Trump's Republican base is ignorant, delusional, malevolent and armed to the teeth. Their regard for the Constitution is limited exclusively to the Second Amendment. Watch for them: they'll be appearing at your local polling station this November.
13
Long ago, the Republicans made a deal with the devil, enabling the "religious right" and creating racial dog whistles, believing that these factions would bring the Republicans to power but could be controlled. It achieved the former but has been an unmitigated disaster on the latter. You cannot control evil or stupidity, it controls you. Not only do principled Republicans need to take a stand, they need to rebuild their party and remove the racists, religious zealots, and conspiracy theorists from its ranks. Yes, it will mean the party will lose, perhaps for a decade or more. But the country will stand to lose more if we do not have two principled parties from which to choose. This might also be a good time to have real campaign finance reform, ending partisan gerrymandering, open primaries, and reviewing voting rights. In the long term, the more people who vote, the less likely fringes will dominate either national party.
13
I have doubts about your suggestions. I certainly agree that reforms are necessary, but not the open primaries part. Political parties serve one function: to nurture and support qualified candidates who align with party goals. The Republican Party failed us all by ever allowing such an unqualified candidate to win their nomination. The more we move to open primaries the more likely it becomes that reality tv stars will win as the established parties become weaker.
1
Oh come on, Charles. When my congressman, Pompous Patriotic Pete King from the NY2, saw Obama wearing a tan suit, he went apoplectic. How can you say such a person has lost his soul? Just because he says nothing about Trump groping women or calling them dogs or collusion with Russia is not sign of a person without morality. He's just maintaining a discreet silence.
2
Who are you kidding Charles?
You are asking politicians to have a conscience and do the right thing? (per your liberal thinking).
Good luck with that!
3
I can only agree with Blow's argument here: the Republicans cut your basic deal with the devil to get tax cuts for wealthy greedheads, slashed environmental regs, and a ton of judges, and are stuck in the fantasy that after Trump beats it on down the road (just before the villagers show up with oitchforks and torches!), they'll be able to stuff the devil back in the box.
Only way these devils are going back towards their ugly little boxes is if a lot of Duncan Hunters go to the slammer, a lot of Dana Rohrabachers get voted out, a lot of tiresome civil servants tirelessly repair all the tears in the government, a lot of racists get counter-protested, a lot of people learn some basic facts about government and economics and ecology, and--I am sorry to have to add--a lot of prissy "progressives" get over themselves.
And we'll still have not just greedheads and bigots to deal with, but stupidity and runamuck capitalism. Not to mention the scary transitions being forced by technology and complexities.
2
The Republicans are embarrassing themselves. When history looks back on them, as most certainly will happen, their actions will be viewed as disgraceful.
9
Politics before principles. See Republicans in congress, see Paul Ryan (who will go down as one of the biggest cowards in American History) and see Mike Pence (who will go down as one of the biggest sycophants and hypocrites in American History). This isn't complicated: Country first, and do the right thing.
4
you've made a good case: Trump supporters are more loyal to Trump than to our country. the few Republicans not completely in Trump's sway are too lilly-livered to risk opposing him.
they used to call this fascism.
5
So we have, in a sense, come full circle. When Mr. Blow says that the voting block that is the "Trump base" is the enemy of the republic, he is echoing Hilary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment, for which she was skewered.
Turns out that, not only did she win the election, she was right too.
12
We need to thank Betsy DeVos for helping to keep the American people stupid. It will add to the Republican base that presently supports Trump and his fellow criminals. Did someone call them deplorable?
5
The Trump GOP will go down in history, as one the most useless groups ever and the Trump followers will be right beside them
4
The damage caused by the Confederacy and by proponents of Prohibition make Trump seem like a mere nuisance, even if Trump is trying to revive some of the worst aspects of these regrettable periods in American history.
Maybe Mr. Blow will search his soul about the role his tireless advocacy for Hillary Clinton played on these pages.
No Charles, Hillary wasn’t good enough, forcing millions of Americans to roll the dice on a brash outsider. Without your and other TImes editors’ incessant hammering of Bernie Sanders, a candidate who was (and is) good enough, things might have turned out differently.
1
Trump is going nowhere. He should read the NYT. "Obama campaign paid $375,000 in fines for its violations of election law. A similar case was unsuccessfully brought against the former Senator John Edwards for payments he made to keep an adulterous affair secret while he was running for president." Or how about this one, "In the Manafort case, no, that case was purely financial fraud charges. It had nothing to do with whether Russia interfered or tried to influence the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential race." One of the jurors said the prosecution kept trying to drag Trump’s name in but they disregarded that because the trial was not about Trump. Basically, it was politicizing the process. I am sure Mr. Blow thinks this is a sure thing but he was positive Hillary would win. Manafort should have been tried by the Department of Justice and if this wasn't a witch hunt and an attempt at a political coup, it would not have been Justice, not Mueller, who prosecuted Manafort. So, Mr. Blow maybe shouldn't hold his breath. His hate of Trump blinds him. As far as Cohen, he's a sleazy lawyer who secretly taped his client by telling him that the stripper had to be paid off. What you don't hear is Trump telling Cohen she had to be paid off. Since Mueller has become central to this process, here is what Harvard Professor Dershowitz says. "Now he's inventing a crime! There's no such crime as collusion in the federal statute. You can't just make up crimes!"
2
@Ron Indeed, "collusion" is not in the federal statute, but "conspiracy" is. The definition of collusion is "secret or illegal cooperation or CONSPIRACY." It's a lovely game of semantics that supporters of the Criminal in Chief like to play to try and convince themselves that he's done nothing wrong and there's been no attempt to try and subvert our democracy by a foreign adversary.
1
@Ron, the Obama campaign incurred fines for the civil violation of missing a reporting deadline. Cohen, on the other hand, pled guilty to criminal election law violations, implicating Trump in the process. Cohen committed a felony, not a civil infraction.
Edwards was indicted, but the jury couldn’t agree, so the judge declared a mistrial. The case against Edwards being weak, the Justice Department opted not to retry him. The case against Cohen was obviously much stronger—he confessed.
Cohen was convicted of eight crimes. Two for campaign contributions. One of those may be because a company he set up was to pay the stripper off. It is estimated he will be sentenced to 3-5 years but with parole it could much sooner. If you divide sixty by eight thats end up about 7-8 months each. So this indicates each campaign charge would carry less than 8 months. S far as the CNN tape gios, the only person heard sayin she had to be paid off is Cohen
Hope springs eternal,Mr Blow,that elected Republican congressmen and senators must have been taught a moral code and developed a social conscience...........However, their unwavering support of Don the Con while he shredded American Democratic and constitutional principles pleasing to Putin, the 1% elite,and his "base"supporters..........indicates that Trumps elected supporters operate on the principles of the institutional opportunistic corruption that now seems to pervade ALL politics.
The only "search"that well see happening..........is rats searching to leave a sinking ship....unnoticed !
2
"Now, Republicanism is Trumpism, with no daylight between them."
The Trumpublican Party
Voters aren't obligated to protect and defend the Constitution. Congressional Republicans are. Trumpublicans aren't.
2
"When you argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience" - M. Twain
this my fellow americans is what we are dealing with when it comes to the most ardent trump supporters.
8
Brilliant photograph by Toya Sarno Jordan of Mitch McConnell in what looks like an elevator with its door closing. I assume it's going down.
7
Where is the dress? Do we have the dress?
The "search your souls" appeal should go to the voters, not the people in Congress who already sold their souls. It's too late for them.
Unfortunately, the appeal to most Republican voters is likely to be fruitless as well. But hey, it's worth a try. We only have everything to lose at this point....
6
Were Trump and his Republican henchmen in Congress actually elected? It turns out it is amazingly simple to hack into American computer election systems, i.e. the databases and vote tallying software. In key states, WI/PA/MI, exit polls in the last election did not match the vote results (but perhaps within the margin of error--i don't know if there is a definitive study matching exit polls to actual vote count; there would have to be an accurate paper trail or other verifiable means to do this). Add to this the Electoral College was set up in such a way to favor the low population slave holding states, i.e. not one person, one vote. And both the Republicans and the Russians have made major efforts, which is ongoing, to suppress the vote, both in obstacles to voting and smears of the opposition candidate(s).
Other democracies have adopted paper trails in their elections to insure accurate vote counts. Our Republican Congress has not, and one doesn't hear the Democrats insisting on this. The Republicans just voted to make it difficult, if not impossible, to trace foreign contributions (which are illegal) to American candidates. Rather than opposing Trump's lawlessness, they seem to revel in it.
In close elections it only takes tampering with a few votes to change the outcome, which could be done in such a way as to be undetected without a paper backup.
6
President Trump won the election - if not the popular vote - and it looks like more than a few shenanigans were involved in his campaign efforts. this is really not news.
now, suppose Trump had not carried the EC, and another person- say, Hillary Clinton as the top vote-getter - carried the day. would the tampering, the conspiracies, the illegal campaign contributions, the obstruction, and all the rest of the Trump playbook still be crimes?
and if were not sitting in the oval, would he be have been charged long since?
1
Get real Charles. Republicans have no soul.
4
Republicans? Souls? Really?
5
"Search 'em if you got 'em!"
2
Republicans have souls ???
6
". . . what you have to be listening for is the opposite of what they say. 'Freedom,' then's the time to watch your back in particular—start telling you how free you are, somethin's up [...]. 'Reform'? More new snouts at the trough. 'Compassion' means the population of starving, homeless, and dead is about to take another jump. So forth. Why, you could write a whole foreign phrase book just on what Republicans have to say."
—Thomas Pynchon, from 'Against the Day'
3
In case you forgot, Mitch's wife works with Trump.
5
Answer: "No."
1
While we all appreciate the spirit of this column, we should all accept that "now" is, in practice, February on the Republican calendar. This maximizes the time that Pence will have to win over voters before 2020 while allowing him to run again twice - a simple optimization problem. Even if Democrats win the House, the newly elected will not arrive until January.
For those who say Pence is no better than Trump, ask yourself how Pence might have managed the hurricane response in Puerto Rico, or spoken after the violence in Charlottesville. Ask yourself if Pence has both sufficient relevant experience and a track record of not being charged with crimes while in office. Disappointing is way better than abysmal.
3
I have come believe that Congressman by and large like the gig in DC and what they like the most is keeping their job. Protecting the Constitution, representing their districts and kissing babies all take a back seat to job security. A stupid electorate is their best friend but not nearly as good a friend as a few wealthy donors.
Look at Texas, a poster child for the GOP. A Texas proud electorate that turns a blind eye to poor schools, corporate polluters, unsafe working environments due to lax enforcement and congressional voting districts hell bent on ensuring discrimination all for the bargain basement price of low taxes and every idiot carrying a gun.
6
The irony is that the republican base and those whom they elected is a byproduct of Republican gerrymandering. Their grab to control congress backfired on the 'mainstream' Republicans and would be humorous if it weren't so dangerous to the country.
1
As always, Charles M. Blow goes to the heart and the moral core of the problem. I hope all those so reluctant to "stand up" against the tide of corruption and betrayal will read his column and find whatever remains of their vertebrae. But meanwhile, I am sure I'm not the only one who sees a damage (already done) so pervasive as to be beyond the ability of the removal of the criminal-in-chief to repair. Anyone who thinks President Pence, so patiently waiting behind his adoring little smile, would be good for the country is sadly mistaken. Anyone who thinks the Supreme Court "conservative" bloc will rediscover the concept of NATIONAL service is deluded. Anyone who thinks the broken treaties, commitments, and responsibilities will be put right is dreaming. EVERY SINGLE ACT of the Don has been illegitimate, but the Constitution, product of the Enlightenment, never anticipated that. So: WHO WILL STAND UP and keep on standing up until the crimes have been remedied? That's my big question.
7
This congressional majority are nothing less than political bawds. Their totem, Donald Trump, is the culmination of the "politics of personal destruction" as taught and practiced by Newt Gingrich, who himself rose out of the Georgia muck in 1979.
Aided by vast amounts of money from Big Business and innumerable plutocrats, the rise of Donald Trump is the culmination of its cynical core. He, along with his "best people" administration, is at the nadir of a 40 year slide into a political dystopia.
The GOP has now morphed into a party of total cynics, afraid and unwilling to put patriotism and the nation ahead of their jobs. History will record that pols like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and others less visible were the congressional Pied Pipers who led their majorities to ultimate destruction.
The American people will reset this Congress. An Age of Reform may finally be upon us.
Let us hope.
3
Eighteen months ago I began telling friends that I thought the Trump presidency would end with "RICO indictments against the whole family, except for the innocent minor child." Some friends politely listened then walked away. Others said in so many words that they thought I was crazy. Today, Mr. Blow echos my thought by referring to the Trump campaign as being advised by criminals if not itself a criminal enterprise.
"He who laughs last laughs best," they say. Except there is nothing funny at all about this three-year-long nightmare.
4
No, the GOP'll hang on to do as much damage as possible between the election and the new Congress. Does anyone believe they take their oath to uphold the Constitution seriously?
1
It is very kind of Charles to give the GOP members of Congress another opportunity to do what is right, but as a conservative, I hate to say it is now too late.
What is at stake is nothing less than our democracy.
McConnell and Ryan and Hatch have failed America in its hour of great need and they have failed it totally. They lack the courage and the patriotism to do what is right and they will go down on the wrong side of history.
1
This seems like an opportunistic appeal to establishment Republicans not to follow their constituents and to resume their resistance of Trump. A political tactic that bypasses the people in the name of justice, good governance, democracy, etc. rings pretty untrue. The problem here for establishment democrats is that many Trump supporters and other common people recognize that most political operators from BOTH parties would not stand to the level of scrutiny that Manafort and Cohen received, i.e. the whole legal process is deeply corrupted by politics.
1
Charles Blow’s exhortation to our elected officials (“the ultimate ask”) echos the “ultimate sacrifice” that politicians so readily invoke when lauding men and women who have died in battle “serving our country and protecting its Constitution.” I doubt most politicians have as much honor and courage than any of our fellow citizens in uniform.
5
The Republican Party is ready a walking rotting shell of itself. The only thing left to do is to write the history of how the party of Lincoln became the party of Trump. Let US hope that it is a cautionary tale for our posterity.
6
Trump was a convenient diversion while McConnell, Ryan, and others did the bidding of the oligarchs who run this country. They never thought Trump's criminal behavior when ever splash on them. It has and they're only hope is that the Koch Brothers-sponsored program, REDMAP, allows them to hold onto the house so the GOP doesn't suffer another 1970's Watergate scandal. What if they do hold the House? What if REDMAP negates the negativity of voters? What will we, the citizens do to rise up against the likes of the Koch Brothers? This is up to us, not Robert Mueller.
1
Mainstream Republican values are alive and well. But today, they're called the Democratic party leadership. Just look at their values: today's Democratic party does not work to represent the working class or the will of the majority of its members. It only cares about business interests. Heck, it's even to the right of Reagan! So it's not the Republicans that have been left without a place to go, it's the left that has been rendered homeless by the rise of Trumpism.
Why is it that so many politicians changed parties using the phrase, “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me” when they were chasing votes from racially-motivated constituents? But when it comes to supporting the rule of law and standing up against a president who colludes with foreign adversaries, these Republicans won’t change political allegiances? If Trump’s GOP has made it impossible to protect this country from Trump’s lawlessness, then they need to get out of politics or change political affiliations. They won’t starve, and they may able to stand tall at long last.
Everyone will face choice points in their lives. Am I going to be a truth teller right now and say that what I’m seeing is wrong, or just quietly choose to be silent. There are no truth tellers in the Republican Party of today, except the ones who are not running next time. Why some of them will not allow themselves to see how terribly wrong Donald Trump is on so many issues and speak up is astonishing to me. They have allowed themselves to sink into quicksand in that swamp he is supposed to be draining. Isn’t there another job that they can imagine doing for the rest of their lives? Many are lawyers, doctors, have schooling that enables them to find honorable work. Can they not see themselves taking a chance and speaking truth about what they MUST know is decimating our countr’s principles? And, perhaps, they’ll lose an election, but they will know that they did the decent, honorable thing. And they’ll move on, head held high. Where are such people among the Republicans? Apparently, all of them have sold their souls to the Devil that is in the form of Donald Trump, a truly evil man.
You can’t search your soul if you no longer have it - if you sold it to the devil. Soul-searching implies that one is able to view the world through an ethical lens, and act with empathy.
Politicians, especially Republicans, have been able to suppress both ethical and empathetic impulses. The Republicans have done so to sociopathic levels. They do so because our system rewards them for doing so. Self-interest and power have replaced any notion of public service and collective good.
The state of the Republican Party and Congress is not some sudden aberration, but a reflection of larger social trends. Our educational system no longer teaches the humanities but focuses on value-neutral job skills. Students no longer learn critical thinking and how to separate fact from fiction. The result is that we have politicians and tech developers like Zuckerberg making huge ethical decisions they are unqualified to make.
Capitalism has released itself from any notion of an ethical social contract by hiding behind a heartless legal fealty to shareholders.
American democracy has a glaring Achilles heel and is ripe for exploitation. To work it requires active participation by citizens. But, too many Americans just don’t care: don’t vote, or are uninformed. This allows the sociopaths lusting for power to move in and take over.
America, on shaky moral legs, seems incapable of considering two fundamental moral questions: what is an economy for? What is the purpose of society?
6
The spineless wonders will not think past their own needs and agendas, so we have to show them the door at the ballot box.
1
How does everyone feel about the idea of President Mike Pence? Or are you willing to wait until 2020 and take your chances? I believe this is called Hobson's Choice.
@Bruce1253 We will demand Pence's resignation too when Trump resigns to avoid impeachment. Next in line: Ryan. But he has promised to retire, and I count on his keeping that promise. And the Dems must take the House in November, so . . . VP Pelosi, maybe?
1
"But I have a message for these Republicans: The party you romanticize in your heads, the one that exists in exile waiting to one day make its valorous return, is gone, gobbled up by the beastly base."
Sorry - not buying this. Flame-throwing comments like this one will continue to divide us. So I'll flame-throw back in the interest of finding common ground. Comments like this (I'll refrain from calling you a coastal elite) further prove that you still do not get it. Republicans are not a homogeneous group. As repulsive as Trump is, there are reasonable people who voted for him and support what he has done since elected.
If collusion has occurred and if he knowingly violated campaign finance laws, then he should be impeached, but please, please, stop painting Republicans with a broad brush. It's very poor form. Have a nice day
1
It's not a homogeneous group by a long shot. There's many different factions within it, but every single one of them has something in common side from political affiliation: they condone this clown in office. He has innumerable embarrassments to his credit in the past few years, but each faction swallowed them all up and looks eager for more.
5
@My Aim is True You're correct. There is the Republican elite who want their tax cuts. There is the down-trodden middle class who want their jobs back. There is the religious right who want to impose their religion on the rest of us. And then there are the racists and white supremacists. While all are deplorable, the down-trodden middles class is just deplorably gullible to think that Trump or any Republican is going to advance their economic interests.
6
@My Aim is True
Stop calling the Democratic Party "the Democrat Party" and I'll consider your proposal.
1
Let's be clear: falling on one's sword, actually dying for a just cause, takes real courage. Losing one's job as a political representative due to making a principled stand against fetid corruption is not analogous to suicide. Any honorable, decent person of integrity who goes into politics should foresee such a possibility and be willing to do so if necessary. Otherwise one doesn't deserve to represent the people and the oath or affirmation to "... support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ..." is meaningless. Finding another job shouldn't be hard in this booming economy -- best ever -- even for a former Republican politician drummed out of office by the cult of Trump.
1
The problem runs to the core of American values. 60 million Americans thought that a noxious reality star was fit to be president. This should have been intolerable to any decent person, regardless of party, and the only conclusion to be drawn is that a huge swath of Americans are fundamentally indecent, immoral, willfully uninformed, and entirely indifferent to the plight of future generations. There will come a reckoning for this, regardless of whether Trump is impeached or even sent to jail, and it is going to fall on all of our heads. I couldn't agree more with Mr. Blow, that doing right in the twelfth hour is better than not doing right at all, but I fear the American train is already fixed to the track to self-destruction.
1
@DSM
No, the only conclusion to be drawn here is that you do not have the capacity to see through the eyes of Trump supporters (and are very quick to make sweeping conclusions.) Trump was not supported because of his personality characteristics, communication skills, his (im)moral conduct, his hair, his TV past; he was supported DESPITE these. Whether you or I agree with them, most of his supporters (who I know) are decent, moral, informed and concerned about the future of our society. But they are also, often, financially and medically stressed to a point of where they are willing to engage in risky behavior (as all humans and, in fact, animals tend to do). Desperate times call for desperate measures. What's your excuse for being so reactionary?
1
Most republicans likely don't want Trump in office any more than Democrats but their strategy is to hand off the dirty work of exercising constitutional responsibility to check and correct to the Dems and reap the political benefits in 2020 with claims of overreach. But what else would you expect of a party so bereft of morality and patriotism?
7
While Trump continues to bamboozle his base, it's the donor class that benefits most. Trump has been the most useful of rodeo clowns, distracting the masses while the GOP robs us blind -- shifting wealth ever upward, while shredding the safety net and the social contract. Tax cuts and deregulation trump the common welfare in our American Kleptocracy. It's all about money, and the Greedy Old Profiteers could not be happier with their president.
1
I envision Mitch McConnell sitting at home, in his rocking chair, adding chunks of coal to his fireplace, sipping a glass of Kentucky Bourbon, cogitating and scheming. Desperate to cut all corners to insure that his choice for our open Supreme Court position is put in place ASAP. I frankly see him as the genesis of our long and disastrous downslide over the past 91/2 years. Machiavelli has been outdone. Kentucky is not proud.
No one will find courage as long as the money keeps flowing.
2
That won't happen. Not only are Republicans in congress - en masse - spineless entities, they are soulless as well.
1
Mr. Blow, for Republican politicians to "search their souls" one would have to presume that they have a soul to search. Their deafening silence on Trump's outrageous behavior sadly shouts the absence of one to the voting public.
6
@Mike B. I think the Republicans in Congress have souls (except, perhaps, Ted Cruz and McConnell). But they are cowards. Its that simple. They know right from wrong, they know that their failure to act is harming their country, but standing up to Trump and his base is terrifying for them. They don't want to be the only fool that loses their next election, loses their gravy train opportunities in the future as lobbyists, loses the power and perks of elected office. They huddle together like a flock of turkeys, hoping that hiding among others that look just like them, staying away from the cameras, avoiding town hall meetings, and sliding away from confrontation will allow them to survive Trump. How many of them, I wonder, have quietly told another, "If we do not hang together, we will surely hang separately."
2
The Republican Party of today has lost its way as a cohesive credible political force focused on conservatism. The Republican Party was bought by the ultra-right wing billionaires with Citizens United dark corporate money. They financed the corruption of the electoral process with which then brought us Trump.
To support Trump, a lying and amoral self-perceived god-king, as president is truly an act of anti-Americanism, particularly after his display of subservience to Vladimir Putin and his massive lies about paying women while violating campaign finance laws. However, Trump’s blind, adoring fans, his misguided base of bigots and religious fundamentalists don't care. They prefer the overtly corrupt Trump Clown Show to a functional federal government.
Any thinking American citizen with a shred of patriotism, Republican or otherwise, will work hard to get people to the polls, to get out the vote, It is the only way to restore the two-party system as we once knew it and rid our government of Trump and the current GOP lackeys that are humiliating our nation.
1
The Republicans made their Faustian bargain with the Devil in November, 2016, and fully intend to keep it. The Republicans in Congress need to be replaced. There is no reasoning with them.
1
Just guesses of course, but from their behavior: The entire republican leadership was complicit with Trump and the Russians in manipulating the election, so they can't investigate without incriminating themselves. They have to believe that they'll be able to stay in control for the forseeable future or they wouldn't risk behaving as they have.
3
"Mainstream Republicanism is an artifact of another age, its adherent now skirting the margins, homeless, looking on from the other sides of burning bridges." So true. I've never considered myself a rabid partisan, but it boggles my mind how anyone under the age of about 60 can be a Republican. Those in the younger cohort came up when it became the party of Newt, Cruz, DeLay, McConnell and Trump, the worst of the bunch. I'm a Southerner by birth and upbringing, and clearly remember when every racist I ever knew somehow wound up in the GOP. And I'm not letting "the north" off the hook: The same dynamic applies.
2
Throughout history, there have been many despots who have somehow managed to seize power and wreak havoc on all the cultural norms and values that hold the fabric of their particular societies together. Obviously, they could not have done so without the compliance of the weak, ignorant and cowardly courtiers holding on to their coattails in their own bid for reflected glory and material gain. Donald Trump and his enablers may not be as bad as Ivan the Terrible, Joseph Stalin or Nicolae Ceauscu. Nevertheless, what he and his enablers are doing to this country's identity and soul, is shameful. Not in a million years would I have imagined that after I became a proud citizen of the U.S., in 2003, I would live to see Orwell's '1984' become the daily show of Trump's never-ending Presidency.
One of my greatest fears about America is coming to the fore. America has, for a long time, had an underlying, deep seated level of hypocrisy.
When people talk of community spirit, for instance, there is no community. They mistake basic humanity during hurricanes and the like for community. Community is collectively coming to the aid of someone being bullied in a neighborhood. Or standing beside someone making a stand against it. When I've done that, I've looked around to see not one person behind me. But then later thank me for making a stand, though not agreeing how I did it. (My words are apparently too cutting and hurtful for the modern world.) That is not community spirit, that is rank hypocrisy.
When people talk of my home town being the "Last Best Place", it's an utter lie to hide the fact that it's a place now being taxed to death, forcing longstanding residents out. Not so much any Best Place, then, is it.
It goes on and on.
Trump has used that hypocrisy against Americans to enrich himself and all his cronies with massive tax cuts, and to completely ignore the rule of law and all that America stands for. And that is the biggest hypocrisy of all; and it's all being aided by the party of Lincoln. One that espoused "By the People, for the..."
I cut it off deliberately, as have the republican party.
2
The bad news: Current Republicans are despicable and won't change.
The good news: Republicans are digging their own grave. As of October 2017, a Gallup poll found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrat, 24% identified as Republican, and 42% as independent. Another poll showed that the percentage of people who identify as or lean Republican has fallen 5 points from November 2016 to November 2017, while the percentage of voters identifying as Democratic has remained the same. And this was before the extreme criminality of Trump and his cronies was exposed for all to see.
Granted the Republicans have unchecked power and they have done incredible damage to our democracy by allowing criminals and traitors to take over our government, but the mid-terms are 75 days away. The electorate seems to be more engaged than ever before. Assuming we can overwhelm the Russian attacks on our elections, sanity should be regained soon. Perhaps the likes of McConnell and Ryan will be replaced by a Congress and Senate that is much more representative of the electorate than we currently have. And there has been progress in undoing the extreme gerrymandering the Republicans did after the last census.
Who knows, we may look back at this era and realize that this scourge on our nation resulted in a much more engaged and representative legislature. And the white supremacists and bigots will be put back under the rocks from which they came. One can hope.
1
Brilliant! The rise and fall of the American empire. A keeper of a column.
Mr. Blow correctly writes: “But I have a message for these Republicans: The party you romanticize in your heads, the one that exists in exile waiting to one day make its valorous return, is gone, gobbled up by the beastly base.
Mainstream Republicanism is an artifact of another age, its adherent now skirting the margins, homeless, looking on from the other sides of burning bridges.”
What very few observers note yet is that the same is true for your nation, the United States of America. History doesn’t allow one to go back as if nothing happened. The damage — a huge amount — Is already done to the nation and its democratic system. Anyone expecting the U.S.A. to return to ‘normal’ once Trump exits (however that’s achieved) will be profoundly disappointed. You’ll have to build something new out of the wreckage. I take no joy in saying that, but there’s a long, difficult road ahead for you now much diminished nation.
2
search their souls - naw - no profit in that.
4
One of the comments below said his Soul searching would not let him vote for Hillary.
Idealism stops at the voting booth. In a vote between the criminal trump and Hillary, it was the moral imperative to vote for Hillary.
It is a sign of immaturity and naivete to say your Soul would not allow you to vote for Hillary. Pragmatism is a word some voters need to learn.
8
These Republicans such as the leaders of both chambers will have a truly horrific historical legacy, one their offspring and the offspring of those offspring will be greatly embarrassed by. Of course they should do what's right: impeach Trump. But doing what's right is no longer of importance to them which means, of course, they care absolutely nothing about maintaining this country as a democracy. Trump wants to be another Putin. And these horrific Republicans are enabling that to happen. As James Comey wrote in his memoir, Trump and those who surround him are like La Cosa Nostra. Thugs.
"Trump Loves Trump!" That anthem is so successfully sold, it should be on a GOP bumpersticker.
Mr Blow unwinds the circular logic: Base loves Trump; Officeholder loves Trump; Base loves Trump.
Travelling that frontier (Arizona), they've NEVER HEARD of such a thing as - start impeachment, for good of county and party.
At watering holes, the primary candidates' biilings are posted "Conservative Republican" (a distinction made over and over - by every candidate).
Democratic candidates, who venture some mail-outs, assure voters that their primary opponent is "too liberal".
Today's news shared among neighbors, all of the US Senate candidates "pine" for Trump's endorsement.
"Trump loyalists/mega-donors Bob and Rebekah Mercer have spent heavily on (Kelli) Ward’s behalf.. In an unusual move, some reports say both Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Cory Gardner, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have asked the president to weigh in for (incumbent Martha) McSally."
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/08/23/arizona_senate_can...
Secretly, both his supporters and his detractors want Trump to start a brush fire - with a "Sheriff Joe" Arpaio endorsement.
Most of the Republican establishment opposed Trump as unacceptable based on his public record and perhaps suspicions of his underlying immoral and criminal nature. Then Trump's base appeal transferred leadership from their traditional values (free markets, fiscal conservatism, alliance with western democracies) to the mob who voted for Trump, most of whom are their partisan constituents. I heard the South Dakota Rounds yesterday say his constituents supported Trump's policies and wanted him to continue to focus on advancing those. He acted as if he was doing what he was told to do, essentially abdicating his role as a leader in clarifying to his constituents the higher dangers in continuing to ignore retaining a President who is now an un-indicted co-conspirator involved in a felony related to his own election.
It is time for the elected officials to honor their oath to uphold the Constitution. They should join with their brethren and call in witnesses like Cohen to hear first hand accounts of the President's actions in the matters including the Trump Tower meeting and the cover-up of the hush payments. It is time for the end of allegiance to the Trump mob.
4
Unfortunately it is likely many R's have been compromised. The RNC as well as many R's were likely hacked as well. Also some may have knowingly utilized Cambridge Analytica to secure their elections.
2
"They can't imagine their lives apart from the offices they hold." In a nutshell, this sentence captures the endemic corruption of our democracy by the prospect (and likelihood for many) of congressional service as a ticket to lifetime power, prestige, and legal bribe-taking. Term limits are the only way to redeem our national politics from a status quo in which careerism, egotism, and fee-for-service--rather than even the pretense of public interest--drive the decisions of our elected officials.
I very much doubt that any professional politician of either party will respond to a call, however heartfelt, to sacrifice his or her political career for the good of the nation. A lot of honorable Republicans are already doing that by retiring this year, recognizing what their party has become.
2
A keen analysis beautifully written, Mr. Blow. Sadly, I fear the human instinct not to be found “wrong” will, in this day and age in America, literally “trump” the draw to express a higher purpose. The heroic moment you so brilliantly plead for happens in Shakespeare and other great drama. It is not the stuff of the reality show democracy we are viewing and participating in 24/7.
6
There is another reason why the Republicans in the Senate and the Chamber of Representative are sticking with Donald Trump. JUST FOLLOW THE MONEY. They got tax cuts for their rich friends, the corporations, the millionnaires, Big Business and the1%. In exchange they got their electoral coffers full (See "Tax Cuts Are a Hit Whit One Pivotal G.O.P. Group: Rich Donors." NY Times August 18, 2018) and if they are defeated they could get very good job with a lobbyist firm.
9
Your exhortation to Republican members of Congress to abide by their oaths to work toward and uphold the good of the country is well taken, Charles Blow. You express what a vast majority of Americans feel deeply at this moment. Yet, strangely, a key word is missing from your column and plea that we have long associated with leadership: CHARACTER.
What is missing all too palpably among elected Republicans is the will to do what is right and to act nobly for the good of the Republic. When caricatures like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and their leadership teams replace men and women of character, the foundations of civil society are radically undermined. A sad day for our once lauded Republic, if they develop no spine.
8
also INTEGRITY
A well articulated plea. Sad to say, I am pessimistic it will be answered.
9
One of the many things that astounds me is that my Republican representative is not running again and STILL supports Trump's legislation and court picks. My Republican senator also announced that he is not running again - he speaks out against some of what Trump does but still votes with him. What happened to true patriotism?
13
"But that would require some sense of courage and patriotism among Republicans in Congress, and those qualities have been severely lacking."
That's not all that's lacking. The Republicans have lost all credibility. How can anyone believe what any of them say when they've lied and have approved the lies the president has told?
10
The GOP lost its soul when it decided, on the day that Obama won the election in 2008, not to work with him. There was no reason for that decision other than his being an African American male who won the presidency. The rest is commentary.
101
Are you really saying that all Republican congressmen and women who obstructed the policies of the Obama are racist? You are wrong; there are MANY reasons other than his heritage why they would not support his agenda - just ask them, if you've got the time. Whether or not they are good reasons is another story altogether. Personally, I believe the Democrats also "lost their soul" somewhat even before that when Obama picked his cabinet (before the election, under Axlerod's advice). He had momentum and good will. But he played it safe, like all successful politicians out of Chicago (my home town). Now Trump enjoys the support of down-trodden working class who voted for Obama (often twice).
1
I fantasize about an unemotional, rational conversation with a Trump-supporting Senator or Congressperson. "How can you support him?" I ask. "Because my constituents support him" they respond. But the very first phrase of their oath of office obliges them to "support and defend the Constitution" and nowhere is there any reference to any individual or office. For our representatives who have regrettably confused their sworn duties with their personal benefit, the solution must be their timely removal from office.
13
The silent majority, the Southern strategy, the moral majority, the contract with America, the tea party, the freedom caucus, Trumpism. For 50 years the Republican party has evolved to its current status. Bad for America, but not so bad for the billionaires that still fund the GOP. Give them tax cuts and they're happy, the hell with everything and everyone else.
22
Big money created a whole network of think tanks and other institutions designed to accomplish long term financial goals of low taxes, deregulation, and reduction of government investments in things like social security. They had/have a long range vision and means to fund all the intermediate steps to accomplish.
They have bought the Republican party, and much of the Democratic one as well. They fund the candidates, develop the talking points, amplify the memes through media which they also control like Fox.
Now that they have their tax cuts, are gutting regulations, and stacking the federal courts, they are arriving at the conclusion of their dream. Why would their hired mouth -pieces interfere at this point? They nearly have it all.
We are approaching, if not past, the point where this is reversible. The Republicans as they exist must be crushed, as they are financially and ideologically driven from the corrupt and self-seeking top. Republican politicians will not be receiving new orders from their masters/funders anytime soon.
As for the more "average" Republican supporters - they are lost in their fervor for an imaginary ideal past which never was. Giving the rest of the country the finger is their next best satisfaction . . .
6
Mr. Blow's words are right on the mark, as always. And Toya Sarno Jordan has great aim with his camera too.
3
This current state of affairs reminds me of a Lyndon Johnson quote: "Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right." I fear republicans no longer know what is right.
12
Once again, thank you, Mr. Blow. If only the GOP would listen.
5
Where are Trump's tax returns? Why has the Republican leadership not demanded their release, via subpoena if necessary? They are complicit in Trump's crimes.
13
Since when did election to high office mean catering to the lowest common denominator, the basest instincts of your own party's electorate and not assuming responsibility for representing all of your constituency? Last time I looked, officials take an oath of office to the Constitution, not the GOP or their own re-election. Is political power that intoxicating, that it obliterates any sense of duty to the country at large?
12
yes
Republicans now have only two values: 1) Gain Power and 2) Make Money. The former is the means to the latter. Nothing else matters to them. Therefore they will do nothing about Trump because he is 1) Making them more powerful and 2) allowing them to scam the American People with impunity to make more money.
The ONLY solution is to vote them out and NEVER EVER vote for any Republican.
4
The punishment imposed by the Trump Administration for those who have committed a misdemeanor (Improper entry - undocumented individuals entering our nation) is to rip them apart from their children, sometimes permanently. Let's start by ripping apart Trump from his enabling children-sons, daugher and son-in-law, never letting them back into the White House. Less we forget, Jared does not have the security clearance he needs to do his job - match that against Trump's stripping of security clearance for former intelligence officials. One might make a joke about Trump's dislike of 'intelligence'...
14
@Bruce Maier In addition Jarred attempted to establish a secret channel out of the White House with the Russians-- no doubt, with nefarious intent to cover up and continue to mingle family fraudulent business with national politics. Shouldn't he be charged with conspiring with a foreign enemy?
Mr. Muller, please hurry.
Not one problem the Trump electorate had before Trump has been solved by Trump
There is space for a GOP or Democrat to walk into this space
Someone who is not a racist, who doesn’t Tweet endlessly, someone who is not just noise and buster, but has an actual plan.
The social conservatives are getting what they want in the court picks (all Federal levels).
But they should be careful. Getting what they want may be far less powerful that campaigning for it. And it won’t put food on the table.
4
Trump is exposing the weakness of our "democracy." Any collection of people who call themselves a democracy, must accept the notion that every single individual in the group, have an obligation to protect the foundations of that democracy, or it will be taken away from them. Fearful, corrupt politicians won't save it. Only the people who value what we call democracy, can save it.
2
Our democracy will survive only so long as the fundamental checks and balances defined in the Constitution are honored. At this moment in history, one of the principal checks on the power of the executive --- Congress --- is AWOL. For the first time in my 72 years, I genuinely fear for the success of our noble experiment.
If the Republican-controlled Congress cannot face up to its constitutional obligations, the Republicans must be replaced with people who can. During WWII, through the Cold War, and continuing to the current day, Congress has ceded more and more power to the President. We have been fortunate that ultimately Presidents have put the Nation above themselves. Today that is not even remotely the case. We have an egocentric individual with poor impulse control, and no knowledge of history or the Constitution, sitting in the White House. Republicans, if you love your country, do your duty!
8
At this point in time, Democracy in America-the-'brave' is hanging by a thin shoestring. With the GOP's senior leaders cowering in the closet like guilty children who let the dog out by mistake, what is left to be proud in 2018 (circa 1984)? Maybe that would include fine folks like Stephen Miller, Jim Jordan, Betsy DeVos, Rudy Giuliani, the Ryan-McConnell twins, to name only a a few of the oddballs in power.... not to mention your elected man-child sitting on the throne in Washington (or one of his hotels/golf courses). This very dangerous white clown must be dealt with soon.... unless US citizens want to continue with this real-life version of 'Goodfellas'. Be Best!
5
I am a Navy Vietnam veteran (Fire Control Technician-Gunnery 3rd class '65-'69) and a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010).
The one thought that everyone, including the mainstream media, should take away from Charles" column is simply this: the Republican base is the enemy of the Republic.
We, especially (CNN, NBC, PBS, and ABC) need to stop feeling sorry for these "left behind" voters for several reasons. First, they are adults and should know better. Second, they left themselves behind many years ago when they began voting for Republicans and, accordingly, against their economic self interest. Third, they are not only comfortable with their willful ignorance but wear it proudly on their sleeve.
Finally, some food for thought: from what group do you think the death threats against Federal District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III, Paul Manafort's Judge, came? The answer of course is the same group from which the North Carolina father of two who drove to the District of Columbia and shot up Hilary Clinton's Pizza sex-slave operation.
I beleive that "upstanding citizen" is currently spending five years in prison. But perhaps, just perhaps, Alex Jones will call his Dear Leader and tell Trump that the individual has been treated "very, very unfairly" by the Justice Department. Knowing what we know now, no one can say "Oh, that will never happen."
50
@Richard: this excellent comment should be a Times Pick. Thank you.
1
I had become concerned about Mr. Blow. His op-eds had become banal, staid and stale. The old fire and brimstone from the post apocalyptic Nightmare in November had been replaced with run of the mill, just mail it in pieces. It was as if someone were ghost-writing for him. Where had the alliterations gone - "hysterical histrionics" - and the call to arms - Fight! Fight! Fight!"? But, my concerns melt away with this fine tithe. He looks down from his lofty pulpit and shames the "noxious base" and the "beastly base" that is the heartless soul that enshrines Trump in his evil kingdom of greed and grift. The good Mr. Blow makes it crystal clear that this noxious, beastly base is the Satan that casts his evil spell on the feckless Republicans, preventing them from doing what a god-fearing Democrat would do. Which is the right thing, of course. NEVER -----! Welcome back, Reverend Blow.
2
I have lived in US since 1983. Since then I have been watching the degradation in the Public Life and the HATE (If I may say it) both the parties or leaders have for each other. There is no effort for a common ground. The votes are looked only within their own caucus to pass a bill. Of course then their will be no communication. Just look at the Tax Break. Deficit, Deficit, Deficit. That was the mantra since 2010. Then what happened. And the sorry state is no one talks about it. You turn on any channel and the discussion is Mr. Trump. It is as if there is no other news worth talking about. Have any one thought of that he may start a war just to stay in office?
1
I did search my soul during the last presidential election - and could not bring myself to vote for Hillary. She doesn't receive my vote by default.
49
@Jp
A confusing response and more confusing Times Pick.
Hillary lost. While I know I would disagree with your reasons for not voting for her, that is besides the point today. Over and done with.
Trump is President. His behavior is not a theoretical concern. His behavior - including his comments - has been deplorable - dishonest, exploitative, fraudulent, from his past life to the present, and his associations with those who readily engage in criminal behavior right now seems indefensible. And I don't even care who he slept with.
5
@Jp - then you got Trump. Hope you’re happy with that choice. In this two-party world we live in, any other vote - and not voting - are essentially a vote for Trump. Getting someone who agrees with 80% of your views is better than someone who agrees with 2%. Sometimes the enemy of good is perfect.
5
@Jp we need to amend our constitution to: "none of the above."
I think Mr. Blow is overlooking the real long term plan of house republicans. They have little interest in preserving part of their honor, since that will have an unknown effect on their ability to move to lucrative private enterprises. Certainly, Trump will soon be gone, but the plutocrats he has promoted in oil and gas, steel and aluminum will likely continue to control the fate of retired congressmen. The base is quite irrelevant to this concern, offending them is not really an issue. Will the coming investigations and prosecution of the Trump family really hurt the job prospects of of the revolving door Republicans. I think not.
4
We expect the people in our armed forces to be willing to give up their lives in service to our country. A soldier who is derelict in his or her duty is subject to court martial.
Contrast this, with many politicians who are never asked to forfeit their lives but are unwilling to do their duty because it might jeopardize their political career.
10
So Peter Strzok gets an extended grilling by Congress because he sent texts disparaging Trump. But no hearings when Trump’s personal lawyer actually implicates him in a felony. And he also implicates himself. Pretty obvious where the GOP stands. Maybe one good thing to come of this is that possibly the GOP will have overplayed it’s hand and by November, only the most ignorant and uninformed voters will still support them.
12
@Alice Millard
Alice, only the most ignorant and uninformed voters are supporting the Republican Party now. It's already happened.
Charles, you have suggested that “it is only through submitting to what is right . . . that the rest of one’s life can be judged as respectable.” Really? Submitting to what is right? As if being water boarded into action can be judged as redeeming or honorable.
If you have to get your religion on the back of submission (e.g., dragging Republicans kicking, screaming and cowering, to do the right thing), maybe that’s better than nothing. But, history will still find little fondness for such weaklings.
In years to come 2018 will be known as the year the Republican party silently died. The remnants may keep the name for a while, but in short time it will be renamed the Trumpian Party.
Their platform is based on the belief that a known conman could shoot someone, anyone, down in the middle of the street and that will be okay because he is above the law. There will be no truth or facts because truth isn't truth and there are always alternative facts. The only loyalty will be personal loyalty to the man in charge.
So ends the Republican Party.
9
The fundamental error here is to believe that Republicans have souls or conscience. Very few do -- they sold them long ago.
8
Unfortunately, the answer will be "no."
It will be "no" because they are incapable of acting alone and against the tide of power-hungry greed on which they ride.
The base would turn on them. Wealthy and powerful interests would turn on them. White evangelicals would turn on them.
The basket of deplorables has grown large indeed. It will take an election to clean it out.
3
At this point, I believe the Republicans must be complicit in wrong-doing. Perhaps some received campaign funds from unethical and illegal sources, or have ties to Russia as well, just like Trump and his cronies. The GOP is corrupt and irreparably broken.
4
Them repubs. in "congress" are souless and soleless ... not putting themselves in the shoes of most of this country's souls.
5
"But that would require courage and patriotism."
Ever missing the point. They work for the rich, Charles.
8
It's just not going to happen.
2
I've read all of Charles on Trump - he remains hopelessly naive.
We entered our second civil war some time ago
2
Look at the picture by Toya Jordan that is included with Charles Blow's opinion piece. It truly is worth a thousand words. The Republicans stare blankly as the door of history closes on them. They still have a chance, the door isn't closed just yet. But there won't be any last minute energetic moves by the pictured individual. He's a tired old political hack. His expertise is not leadership. It's gamesmanship, rule bending, or disregarding them completely (a la SCOTUS nominees).
With McConnell, this is what we get... Half a man, staring with monocular vision at an unAmerican future that he's trying to make.
Let's brighten the picture... Reclaim the future. Make sure to vote for new thinking, real ideas, honest leaders!
8
How did Charles' soul deal with the damage the previous president to black America? Many people LOST their jobs and the younger workers suffered an unending agony with all was a big smile in the White House.
But the political party labels were cool, so who cared how the black family was suffering?
Then American wins an election, President Trump shows up, and seemingly every black worker looking for work FOUND it, and black families came off of dependency on government like never before.
At least Charles seems to be close to admitting that he couldn't care that black families are stronger under Trump, because he really preferred for that old suffering to go on.
Charles, your Democratic Party partners originated the whole IDEA of black suffering in America, and I'm not just talking about having to listen to Maxine Waters get up in front of microphones.
Life and death depended on the Dems being defeated once before. Let's not go back to those days. Peddle this hatred somewhere else.
I allus really enjoy these time-travel stories, which beam President Obama back to being President in 2006, where he caused the economic crash.
But hey, why stop there? Why not also decalre that he caused the dot-com bubble and the Iraq War? Hey, maybe he ran the Russian Revolution, blew up the "Maine," and personally arrowed Custer.
2
Republicans are not going to seize the moment. They are a dying party relegated to the dust bin of history. They were born during the civil war era and will end with the current political civil war.
We can look towards the future with optimism since there has never since been such an opportunity for a new party to arise, neither republican or democrat. The stage has been set with a majority of the electorate now independent - people are looking for an alternative since democrats as a whole are a group of indecisive and overly cautious wimps. They think they can compromise when compromise is impossible as opposed to fighting when the need arises and compromising when possible. It's no wonder so many republicans despise them, policy differences aside.
But of course republican corruption is like a cancer that is incurable. The party will be gone in due time. What will we replace them with? Let's not get fooled again!
4
Nope. They won't. It's up to us. VOTE!
8
The careerist cult that is the Trump party; those Republican supporters of Trump and his minions are like blooming algae on a pond. If they are allowed to continue to expand unabated they will deprive the rest of us the oxygen we need to survive.
4
This is crazy to ask the Republicans to search their souls. Their souls died a decade ago. What is left with the Republican leaders is greed for power and money. They know that they will be reelected in Red States again and again. Because the elected Republican leaders are cult figure in the red states where the voters are genetically Republican and they use their heart ( not their brain) in voting. The Democratic Party is hopeless without any message and they are busy in fighting among themselves. Bad luck for the poor and middleclass Americans.
3
Unfortunately the congressional GOP delegation consists (in Steve Schmidt's classic beau-mot) almost entirely of "feckless cowards" unwilling to act as patriots in this moment of existential crisis.
Uncaring it seems that their names will be entered as such in the ledger of history:
Mike Pence - feckless coward
John Kelly - feckless coward
Mitch McConnnell - feckless coward
Paul Ryan - feckless coward
Devin Nunes - feckless coward (and worse)
on and on.
Robert Mueller may expose the crimes in his report, and in the ceaseless drumbeat of convictions and guilty pleas - but it falls to voters to step up to the role of true American patriots in November. Now is indeed the time to make America great again and remove these poor excuses for men (and they are mostly men); time to ensure the political extinction of the cesspit that is the Party-of-Trump.
8
As Hamlet said to his mother, "Assume a virtue, even if you have it not."
2
There is no honor among thieves. And thieves are what these Republicans in Congress are.
They continue to rob the American voters by gerrymandering and voter suppression.
They continue to rob the American taxpayer every time they accept their paychecks. They do not deserve to be paid as they are not doing their jobs.
They robbed Obama of his right to nominate a Supreme Court Justice, a Constitutional right that Obama had.
They have robbed the American public by its backing of the most unfit Cabinet heads in history.
This Congress has no honor nor will it have if re-elected.
It is up to the American voters to bring back honor to our Country.
I hope we are up to the task.
10
Blow has the perfectly legitimate argument that Trump's campaign was led by crooks and cynical bigots. But Blow absolutely will not let go of the false claim that the Russian gov't was responsible for Trump's election. Trump bizarrely was able to convinced 60 million voters that he was a man of the people, who would use his skills as the preeminent salesman for the good of the little guy, and not a greedy plutocrat indifferent to the plight of average Americans.
2
@c harris: It's not so much that trump convinced people to vote for him. Social media propaganda played a huge part in the run up to the election with a huge "you must hate Hillary" campaign that was very effective on republican voters. It even worked on some democrat voters. And yes, a lot of this was Russian planned and executed. It's coming out - be patient.
trump lied through his dentures all the way through the campaign, and prejudiced republicans ate it up! In fact, trump is till lying and his republican supporters are still at the trough. Sad.
1
This article doesn't so much as mention the word, "Russia," and simply takes the view that Trump's campaign was a bunch of crooks.
And almost nobody says that Putin elected Trump: we say that Putin directed an extensive program of interfering with our elections, is still doing so, and seems to have benefitted Trump. Additionally, Trump benefitted from what can only be called racism in this country, as well as the support of wealthy greedheads.
Briefly put, our argument is that Trump's entire Presidency seems to be a series of payoffs to those who got him elected: crooks, Putin, bigots, greedheads.
Personally, I wish he'd get around to throwing a few bones to the idiots on the Left who also pitched in and helped.
1
This has nothing to do with Republicans. Remember the Clintons, Kennedys, Obama? This is a guy that paid off a hooker before being elected President. This is paltry compared to the past.
1
There is no need for Trump Republicans to pretend to reform, they will only get in the way. We are the majority and don't need them. Let the rats sink with the ship.
7
The same GOP that denies climate change, throws children in cages, raids the government’s coffers to pay off their crony backers, and supports a racist, sexist, addle-minded liar ? They best they’ll do is cry some crocodile tears until their gullible supporters have forgotten about.
6
@Josh Wilson
It was Obama who had 25,000 children in those cages. Go back & check the dates of the propaganda handed you.
Did you ever get a chance to ASK Barack about all that?
But Trump had twelve thousand kids in nice housing with decorated rooms scattered around the country with teachers and English language help. Your bloggers didn't tell you that? But - why not?
Before you buy into Cohen-taking-Trump-to-jail, check out how the exact same thing went for John Edwards.
John Edwards was never the president of the United States as far as I can recall. And Obama’s children were incarcerated with their parents, not taken from their parents and sent as much as one thousand miles apart from them. Ask your heroes at ICE about that.
1
None of the current Republican so-called leaders will ever receive the annual "Profile in Courage" award at the Kennedy Library in Boston.
They collectively earned a prize named "Profile in Cowardice" tattooed on their foreheads.
8
The best opinion piece, ever.
5
Greed for the 1% and n, n, n,. That's the congressional GOP. That's all they are. SAD
4
It is beyond me how someone like Michael Cohen is now a "model" of courage while the entire Republican Party cowers. My head is exploding.
8
“In effect, that means that if the base loves Trump, the base’s senators and congressmen and women are obligated to also love Trump — or at least fake it.”
This is the root cause of our current national crisis. As long as his cult-like followers, bolstered by the Fox News propaganda machine and Russian cyber shenanigans, continue to offer the blind loyalty Mr. Trump demands, we are in extremely dangerous territory.
I used to wonder how so many basically decent Germans allowed Hitler to lead the country into the horrors of Nazi Germany. I don’t wonder any more.
7
Mr. Blow, you must not have gotten the memo.
It's not a crime and if it is, it's no big deal. Obama did worse.
Plus, the economy.
And, Mueller is so conflicted and 17 angry Democrats.
Truth is not truth, build the wall, and lock her up!
Have a great day, MAGA.
6
@Rich Casagrande
Nice satire, but the Trumpenproletariat will not notice it.
And the motto should be MASA - Make America Stupid Again.
NO Rich. Nobody but you and yours got that memo.
Our fantasy fax machines must be broken.
I do wonder tho, why your side always trot out equivalencies. Usually of the Obama variety.
You cling to the notion that two wrongs make a right. They never will, and you will never have a clue. Please Go Away.
Squeezing honor out of this current class of Republicans is like squeezing blood from a rock!
4
Why should these (mostly) old white men do that?
Our white supremacist president found time to criticize South Africa for land reform while he hasn’t raised his voice for Rohingaya genocide, China “mass-education / incarceration” of muslims, or extra-judicial killings in Philippines....
There’s a reason why Trump’s base sticks with him.
He’s succeeded where Jefferson Davis could not.... on that note, has anyone asked him what he thinks of Jefferson Davis?
That would be an interesting dilemma for Trump. He’s not used to publicly liking losers...
3
Charles Blow: "Search Your Souls (What’s Left of Them), Republicans
Senators and representatives, now is the time to stand on the right side of history."
Duh: 20+ years ago: -Clinton Scandals-: "Search Your Souls (What’s Left of Them), Democrats
Senators and representatives, now is the time to stand on the right side of history. Well CB What did 98% of those righteous Democrats do? Fell on rusty swords to PROTECT the Clintons, YOU included!
It's only recently since HRC lost the 2016 election, how sorry she's reacted, and the #MeToo movement that major Democrats like Gillibrand and Warren have come out criticizing the Clintons for those transgressions, and that's only because she threatening to run again in 2020.
Dennis
2
@Dennis: Bill Clinton did not enlist the aide of Russia or any Russian oligarch to gain the office.
That's the story here - not how bad you hate the Clinton's
Please cite your sources on "She's threatening to run again."
It's amazing (and comforting) to read how many people are as ashamed, embarrassed, disgusted and appalled by the Republican Party and this man you call president. YET, SOMEBODY VOTED HIM/THEM IN?????? They are ALL in bed together.....Putin is in that same bed, and each one is paying off the other to do the others bidding. Its a vicious and criminal orgy of corrupt politicians who would do anything to keep their jobs. How they look in the mirror, face their families, is beyond me. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
6
The Democratic National Committee is now the ideological equivalent of the old Republican party on most issues. The Sanders-Warren- Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic party is the counterpart to the old progressive Democratic party. Trump supporters are effectively a new, quasi-fascist party. Blow is right - the old Republican party is dead.
4
I take it you've never spent five minutes looking at what Hillary Clinton's platform was, let alone the positions of the current Democratic Party.
Congrats: this is just the kind of stuff that helped elect Trump.
2
@willow
"Trump supporters are effectively a new, quasi-fascist party".
Nothing 'quasi" about it. They are the resurrection of the 20th century fascism pure.
.
1
Well said, Mr. Blow. Continued good work. Dark times, indeed. McConnell is himself a conscienceless traitor. Poor Ryan, merely invertebrate.
5
Wow. Very well said, indeed.
Thank you Mr. Blow.
7
Mueller has all of Trump's tax records. They will make Duncan Hunter look like a choir boy.
13
How can the GOP search for a soul they clealrly don’t have?
2
Years ago, basketball star Magic Johnson was surrounded by a group of young blacks trying to tell Mr. Johnson that because they didn’t have a father to teach them the difference between right and wrong, they just didn’t know. Magic smiled that famous smile and said “You Know!”
To every Republican, whether working in the coal mine, in an office, in school or in Congress I say to you “You Know!”
3
Good luck with that. Cowards and moral voids- today’s Republican Party.
2
Fat chance!
2
If it's ok to say...I will start a GoFundMe account to have these traitors shipped to Russia to be buried when their time arrives, as I don't think it's appropriate for anyone against America to be buried here. I wish no harm to come to anyone, however, I believe burial grounds in America are for Americans no?
5
Nonsense.
America was founded by white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned black African enslaved property, America was sustained by separate and unequal black African Jim Crow. Neither white liberal condescending paternalistic pity nor white conservative condescending paternalistic contempt accepts the individual accountable diverse humanity of black Africans in America.
Neither political party has historically had a humble humane empathetic soul. America has 25 % of the world's prisoners with 5 % of humans. And while only 13% of Americans are black like Ben Carson, 40% of the imprisoned are black. Because blacks are persecuted for acting like white people do without any criminal justice consequences.
See " Dog-Whistle Politics : How Coded Racial Appeals Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class " by Ian Haney Lopez; "The Half Has Never Been Told : Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism " Edward Baptist; "Slavery by Another Name : The Re-Enslavement of Black America from the Civil War to World War II " Douglas Blackmon; "The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness " by Michelle Alexander
3
@Blackmamba -- why is it that you answer every proposition with a recitation of the history of American slavery and subsequent Jim Crow, etc?
"Would you like some water?" ... is not a rational opener for such a recitation.
Further, while that history is long and ugly, not every white was culpable, nor is so today.
Yet further it should be obvious that the (southern) Democratic Party was the party of white racism and (Lincoln's) Republican party that of abolition from prior to the Civil War, up to the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, and that after the Civil Rights Act the roles of the two parties switched.
And NONE of this bears on the issue at hand (Mr. Trump's criminal acts and need for impeachment) except possibly the point you do not even allude to ... that Trump sells dog-whistle racism and entitlement, but he sure won't be impeached for it.
2
May I suggest that before the next time you string adjectives together and call it an argument, you give some thought as to whether or not you should start out by repeating the same old lie about history that right-wingers and racists tell?
America was founded by a lot of different people. The Iroquois confederation pitched in; Catholic explorers pitched in; the Jews who built the first synogogue here in the 17th century pitched in; Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams pitched in; Tom Paine the atheist and George Washington the agnostic and Jefferson the deist pitched in.
And an awful lot of unsung women and dead slaves and Chinese and Irish immigrants and Indian ironworkers, as always, did the scut work.
Literally, Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," has a better grasp of what built this country, and still builds it. So please: skip the WASPs did it all fantasy.
1
No, they won’t. Because they are also racist environmental criminals.
2
Search your souls, Republicans?
One can't search what doesn't exist.
2
Is pathological dishonesty a Republican principle?
8
@Thomas
Yes.
Requesting courage from today's Republicans, you might as well squeeze blood from a stone.
2
Its extreme and I understand not an equivalence, but I find myself thinking of the advent of Nazi Germany and how legions of decent, principled, law abiding, patriotic German politicians fell silent and accepted and awaited the gathering storm. Disbelief and disconnect are equivalent. And leadership in Germany was top-down whereas in our instance it seems to be the base leading the Republicans in Washington. It will require bravery and risk to resist the flow of sludge.
4
The column gets to the heart of the matter. Trump depended on help from Putin to get elected, acts like a traitor and is a pathological liar, enabled by the GOP. Vote out all of the GOP representatives on Nov 6. Start with Comstock (VA), Meadows (NC) Barletta (PA), Kobach (Kansas), Stivers (OH), Kemp (GA), DeSantis (FL), Scott (FL), Jordan (OH), Nunes (CA), Gaetz (FL), Goodlatte (VA), Brat (VA), Rohrabacher CA), McCarthy (CA), Sessions (TX), Gohmert (TX), Cotton (ARK), Steve King (IA). These are all trash.
2
Let’s go DEMOCRATS!! Get out there in front of every camera and ask the American people why it is ok for our president to congratulate a convicted felon for “not breaking” and stating that cooperating with the US Justice system is cowardly and weak! Keep referring to and showing Lindsay Graham’s video from 1999 when he states that impeachment is about cleansing the office... when your conduct as a public official is out of bounds...this video should be on every billboard in Times Square and across America. Call out the Republicans for the weak conniving hypocrites they are! Get the base energized for November - you're whispering now when you should be SHOUTING from every venue you can find, non-stop. Let’s go!!! Don’t blow it!!
4
Who or What has muzzled All of the Legislative Branch;
Answer....Citizens United/SuperPacs which rule our Nation.
Now...please Editors just try...a little harder to refute this.
and I am absolutely certain you do not dare...so...Editors
join those in the D.C. Swamp..
Talk about Citizens United...or I think I will give up on you.
3
Nothing burger.
No campaign finance violation.
Explained by Alan Dershowitz (no Trump lover)
Confirmed by Michael Mukasey (no Trump lover)
Get off it Charles, it's hogwash.
1
republicans have souls?
1
Fix the lede, please: "if not was a criminal enterprise itself?" Take out the "was" or rephrase as "if it was not." Otherwise, I concur!
Republicans are complicit & Myst be voted out.
It’s true, the Republicans have calcified into exactly what you see to day — a racist tribe of patriarchal profiteers and little else.
3
Wasting your breath. The crises we are facing isn’t Trump, it’s Trumpism. And there are 63 million of them afflicted with it. They caused the deaths of 1 million people in Iraq, crashed the economy in 2008, and elected a misogynist, racist kleptocrat to the presidency. And they are not done yet. After they win the midterms they are going to get punchy.
1
The people Blow's message needs to reach won't be reading this column.
1
Republicans will not seize this moment because they must serve both their masters (the Koch brothers and their ilk) and the increasingly angry mob that is the small heart of their base. Their congressional leadership has either left the building (Ryan) or never had a scrap of honor to begin with (McConnell).
4
Sorry Charles. You, the NYT and the MSM as a whole have zero credibility left. Trump as President is a joke. However, the larger joke is the MSM’s hyperbolic coverage of him. Anyone remember the NYT’s election “Predictometer” from 2016? The one which said Ms. Clinton had an 87% chance of winning? Shows how in touch you and the rest of the MSM are.
Trump’s power is with the support of Republican voters. Where he is popular the members of Congress who criticize Trump are unlikely to remain the Republicans’ candidates. Democratic candidates in such areas cannot be competitive if they criticize Trump. Trump’s power is two fold he expresses contempt for ideas associated with liberal politics for a century and he is making policies and appointing justices which will undo all of the liberal/progressive policies since the Civil War. Thirty percent of this country have given up on the America into which they were born.
1
“Noxious base.” Maybe there were reasons unrelated to vicious racism an hatred why people voted for Trump, Maybe people hoped that Trump would “grow into the office. But now we know Trump much better. And people who continue to support Trump are truly Deplorables. If they got screwed over by losing their job due to the trade war, if they can’t afford their ACA health care, or if their health is affected by environmental rule rollbacks, they get exactly zero sympathy from me. The rest of us don’t support Trump and we have to suffer also.
Phil
3
Unfortunately 'souls', honesty, integrity, ethics play no part in this game. Republicans made a pact before the election : pledge allegiance to Trump in return for carte blanche to pillage the country, not just of riches but of democratic ideals and the common good, shaping it to their self-serving desires for now and the future. They will continue to make the most of this, with the help of impunity granted by the WH supported by a section of the public and media propaganda that sees no wrong in corruption or monstrous behavior if it serves their purpose too. And a Constitution that didn't envision a rampage like this so has no teeth to address it, thus, possibly even the Supreme Court could 'interpret' such heinous and undemocratic behavior as lawful. The only way to put a stop to it is by vote and voice - if one can vote, and that's a whole other topic.
2
The bulk of the Republican leadership comes from the Slave States of the Confederacy.
They like the direction Trump is taking the Country, and these Neo-Confederates don't care about morality (obviously).
If they are able to support Slavery when it was legal, but immoral, and to argue that their Lost Cause of Family Values supports lynchings and disenfranchising voters who don't support them, then there is no hope that they will 'see the error of their ways'.
So - as long as the GOP remains in Confederate control, it will continue on its current path.
2
As a friend once said to me, "I don't think they souls, just wallets."
1
Why should Republican members of Congress take a principled stand when Republican voters do not? Throughout the morning, I've heard a litany of absurd excuses from Trump supporters for the criminal behavior swirling around POTUS. Then—finally—an honest answer: "The economy is booming and I have more money in my paycheck." As long as voters are this short-sighted and self-interested, Republicans who want to stay in power will not exercise the moral courage to save this country from decay, decline and ultimately, the death of democracy.
2
You must be kidding right? This is not an issue of Liberal or conservative. It is an issue of the elite vs the rest of us. Or put another way an issue of the politicians, Hollywood and the media vs the common people. There is corruption on both sides of the aisle. As long as people like Charles Blow try to make political hay out of the usual goings on in Washington, our system will never get better and become less corrupt. An example of my point is Ted Kennedy who murdered an intern and walked away and went on to serve The liberals of Mass. for many years. The voters of Mass. simply put their own interests over morality. That is what needs to change!
1
At this point, the GOP has nothing to lose by standing up to Trumpism, and everything to gain. Since this horrendous turn of events showing Trump as a probable criminal co-conspirator in election fraud (and his sickening misplaced sympathy for Paul Manafort), you can bet that there are people out there opening their eyes - specifically, the "traditional Republicans" who have been less than happy with Dizzy Donald.
It would be better to be voted out as an honorable public servant than to be voted out as a complicit, enabling worm.
3
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for pointing to the unfathomable loyalty of Trump's core base as the heart of the problem. The daily drip, drip, drip of revelations about the crimes committed by his enablers, the bald-faced lies of his spokespeople, and his acidic, psychotic Twitter rants should be enough to make anyone question the validity of this regime. To ignore all that evidence is to sacrifice your patriotic commitment to this country for a cult of pure immorality.
3
The national crisis is far worse than even Charles Blow may realize. We now have a reality whereby the Republican base, and the right-wing media machine that stokes it, has gone so far off the rails that they will countenance virtually any action, no matter how undemocratic and estranged from our norms and traditions, to protect and promote their agenda. They even hate Democrats, who are fellow Americans whether they like it or not, more than a foreign adversary!
This means they will support Trump to the bitter end and whatever disgraceful action congressional Republicans are willing to take in pursuit of that agenda. The GOP's refusal to move forward with the Merrick Garland nomination for SCOTUS was but one, albeit particularly egregious, example.
This crisis will not end with Trump even if we manage to kick him out in 2020. At some point we have to confront this new reality in which 40% of our population might as well be from Mars as far as the rest of us are concerned. How is forward progress in this country ever going to be possible? How is any non-Republican president ever going to govern given the new template of implacable opposition to anything he or she may try to do from the GOP base, congressional representatives and right-wing media, that we saw during the Obama years?
We cannot avoid facing these questions forever.
3
@NJB
My reading of the record says Americans prefer divided government. Let's see what happens in November, then reassess.
They can't seize this moment. They've all been hacked and living in fear that their dirty laundry will be exposed...or perhaps worse. What other logical explanation could there be?
1
"They have this moment to snatch a bit of honor from the ashes of what was their party. Republicans, won’t you seize this moment?"
I'm not holding my breath. YOU shouldn't either. All you need to do is look at the latest comments by Chris Buskirk in the NY Times opinion email. Campaign violations happen all the time, what's the big deal? Why should that be a death sentence?
Umm, Chris...there's a difference between an inadvertent infraction and a felonious attempt to break the law. What Chris Buskirk is stating is that the law should not be applied to Trump because Trump is President. The law is for little people and Trump is not little people. That is the republican attitude. Thanks, Chris for making that abundantly clear.
And thank you, Charles for pointing out:
"...Trump’s base itself becomes the enemy of the Republic. It is its enthusiasm for Trump that is the greatest impediment to a genuine search for truth and an honoring of it."
What I am sick and tired of hearing anyone write about is how Trump has been fooling his base with lies. NO. I believe they know full well what Trump is saying. They love hearing him spout lies...because it's THEIR LIES. Trump isn't leading the mob...Trump is being carried by the mob. How's that for an inconvenient truth?
We need to get rid of Trump not because he is fooling his supporters, but because he is there spokesman. He is their champion.
LOCK HIM UP. LOCK THEM UP. LOCK HIM UP. LOCK THEM UP.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
9
Mr. Blow, this is one of the best of many of your excellent columns.
Your read of the Republican Party is exactly right.
The Republican party sold its soul to the far right wing movement that began gathering its forces in the late 70's and it has been now overrun.
The evidence was there all along - Republicans signing no-tax pledges to Grover Norquist, Republicans bowing and scraping to the purveyors of lies, ignorance, propaganda and conspiracy theories in right wing media, Republicans purged for their "ideological impurity" because they were willing to work with Democrats to solve problems, Republicans abandoning all else - all semblance of commitment to the public good, to their Constitutional responsibilities, even to facts and common decency - in their avowed goal of trashing Barack Obama and his presidency.
And now, they have given themselves over completely to Donald Trump and his enablers, to the extent that our electoral system is at even greater risk of corruption by a foreign power than in 2016.
The Republican Party is a carcass, inhabited by something altogether rotten. If there is any Republican in Congress left who puts country over party, our liberal democracy over their ideology, public service over cashing in, they have yet to show themselves.
I can't remember a time when I would rather be proven wrong, but I don't think any of them ever will. The only viable option is to vote them out.
3
Thanks Charles for yet another on-the-mark article.
There is a quote from Al Mc Quire (Marquette University basketball coach) after a game with Ohio State in the NCAA finals of 1968 that comes to mind on this subject. He was asked what he thought of the OSU coach, Fred Taylor and replied: " You could put all his brains into a into a hummingbird, and it would still fly backwards." An apropo paraphrase for today would substitute the "current US Congress" for Mr. Taylor.
2
Mr. Blow’s challenge to Republicans in Congress is one that will very likely not be answered but it is nonetheless important for us all to make such a challenge, because by doing so they have been put on notice – so that they know from this point on if they act unethically they will have to live with this as their legacy. If Donald Trump did interfere with the 2016 election they will be seen as the equivalent of accomplices to a crime. We are past the point now in believing that this ugliness is going to evaporate away ., Tuesday was only the beginning , it’s going to get a lot worse in the weeks and months ahead.
And when these very Republicans who blindly support Trump realize that they have traded in their credibility for the purpose of passing their own agendas , it will by that time be too late .
1
It's not a question of 'souls', it's a question of price. The Republicans sold themselves to profit themselves. Where else are they going to get the enormous amount of power they have to use the country as a personal piggy bank to line their own pockets and direct its future to their personal aggrandizement and profit for decades to come – it's not going to happen unless they are backed into a corner and have to save their own skin. Look no further than the life and crimes of the not so "Teflon Don" and his cronies, the parallels are remarkable, right down to his fan club ignoring his crimes and cheering him on.
As usual, you are correct. Would that the Congressional Republicans would listen. Thank you for your continuing voice of reason.
1
As I recall, there was once a guy named Faust who made a deal with the devil, Mephistopheles, to secure earthly power. It did not end well. When this is all over, years down the road, what will be the legend left for posterity? What role did we all play?
4
We already know "if the president broke the law and did so for his own benefit to influence the election." Of course he did. Why else would he have made the payments? Had he not been running for office, he would have denied everything, slimed his accusers and perhaps sued them for defamation.
3
Re: "But Republicans now have a window to stand up before they are voted down — to say to history that they may have failed so far, but they came around in the end. ... Republicans, won’t you seize this moment?"
All true, but I sure hope there are no on-the-road-to-Damascus moment for Republicans *before* November. Because America loves redemption stories, fake or true, and "redeemed" Republicans might thereby sway just enough votes to keep Congress in Republican control for another two years. If you think things are bad now, re-elect these scoundrels and see what that gets you!
I know it's twisted, but for now, Republican malfeasance is America's best hope for a tipping point to a much brighter future. Voters are finally waking up -- don't hit "snooze," PLEASE!
For Dems to win they need to circle their wagons around Medicare, social security, high drug prices, and quickly explain to younger voters they (the young voters) will pay for their parents and themselves not social security and Medicare if Republicans stay in office. The only talking point should be, I WON'T LET THEM TAKE IT (SSN MEDICARE) AWAY FROM YOU
"Oh, I knew about the payments LATER" said Trump as he was asked, yesterday, if he knew that Daniels was paid off or not. The way he made that statement, so cavalier and with a tone of "of course I knew but LATER" is so contradictory to his former statements as to be nearly beyond belief. But if that weren't amazing enough, the REAL story here is the way his Republican supporters, those mindless faithful, stick to him like white on rice. It seems nothing can dislodge their immoral attachment to a man hellbent on circumventing everything decent this country has supposedly stood for these 242 years. My continued worry isn't how Trump will finally end up but how we can go on as a country AFTER this nightmare plays out. The issues we're currently dealing with are so starkly anti-democratic, our civil rights so under threat and the attempts to transfer more wealth to the 1% while everyone else loses protections to health care and other necessary services so onerous, that if these events aren't enough to dislodge those millions of Americans who still stand on the Republican side then where does that leave the rest of us? How can we continue as one country when the chasm has widened to such an extent between those who are fine with the state of this country and those abhorred by it has become too large to cement over? I feel nothing but the utmost contempt for the people I saw cheering Trump on yesterday in West Virginia, yet each votes for same government I do. NOT OK.
1
Well said, but I fear Congress isn't listening.
1
Sorry but the Republicans have to search FOR their souls before they have souls to search.
8
Charles, I too wish that more Republicans would take the long view as to how they will be judged by history for not standing up to the depredations of Le Grand Orange and his gang of ne'er do wells.
But, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of them are ultimately completely cynical about such possible judgment. I suspect, if pressed, they'd admit they couldn't care less about it, as by then they and everyone else they know will be dead. And the only thing that matters, at any time, is who's got the power and who's got the do-re-mi.
So appealing to their better long view instincts is likely to be futile, as they don't have any.
Now, appealing to their greed and powerlust, that might get somewhere. They need to be convinced that if they don't do their jobs and act as a moderating influence, if not brake, on the Trumpian Mafia, they won't have any jobs to strut like peacocks in and rake in the moolah from.
Which is simply a fancy way of saying that the only way they'll learn anything is if they're turned out of office in huge numbers.
1
Forget the Senate and Congress. There is not a courageous one in the bunch so stop looking. As hard as it is, we must acknowledge that the republicans have no shame and no patriotism. They want Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court and it does not matter what Trump says or does, they will put him there. You have to love Kavanaugh’s audacity. The documents published that show the very candid questions he sought to ask Clinton regarding his affair and how upset he was that Clinton lied to the American people are more revealing about Kavanaugh’s own hypocrisy. Trump lies daily to the American people about everything. He has also said some of the nastiest and most disgraceful things about people (especially women) and yet Kavanaugh has no problem with Trump. He grins and shakes Trump’s hand. At this point, we need to realize that we can only rely on ourselves to right our country and that means we all have to vote in November. Trump’s own base is being hurt by his trade and economic policies and still they defend him. They will never admit they are wrong so we must vote them out. It is up to us.
2
The Koch brothers bought GOP will stick with Trump as long as he can deliver on their dream agenda: Tax cuts (done), ending Social Security and Medicare (remember that is the first thing Paul Ryan spoke about when Trump signed the tax bill -- we need "entitlement reform, gutting environmental legislation (thank you Pruitt), ending safety regulations that are inconvenient, but necessary for worker safety, gutting unions (thank you Neil Gorsuch), etc. They really don't care about the culture wars, but will use those voters whenever possible while cutting their economic throats. When he can non longer deliver and their reelections are in jeopardy, they will turn on him in a heartbeat. The question is, will moderate voters remember their actions at the ballot box?
2
The GOP has been inert all the way back
to the 2016 election, deciding to back off on supporting a better candidate. They literally gave Trump nomination.
But things could have changed in the General election if the Dems had also gotten behind a better candidate. Hillary maybe thought she deserved the nomination, but there were better candidates out there. And sad to say, the Moneybag Democrats couldn't allow a Democratic Socialist.
Unless the DEMs and GOPers wake up and come up with a good candidate that has the connection to the people, AND preferably outside Washington, D.C, we may well see a replay of 2016.
2
Democrats stood up for their beliefs in passing the Affordable Care Act and paid a huge price in the 2010 elections.
Will Republicans stand up for theirs?
2
@jay
Regrettably they passed a republican plan that kept the Investor class happy with their Health fortunes on Wall Street and kept the working class indentured to their jobs to have health care.
We all knew they wasted their supermajority on an Insurance mandate!
1
@Sea Star RN
Yup but it was the only thing that would pass congress. The thing was the blatant lie that the ACA took $500 billion out of Medicare to pay for it. When it SAVED Medicare those billions, that's why instead of Medicare going bankrupt in 2017 as when Obama entered office it's now 2028.
The American people and more specifically senior citizens made a huge mistake!
Charles, this reader reads your column every time and appreciate your amazing insight and courage to speak truth to the power. However it’s a wishful thinking that the republicans in congress would do anything even if trump shoots someone on the fifth avenue. Only John McCain and the outspoken retiring ones are the exceptions. They have shown to American people why they work in the public service that is to serve their own interests, not our country’s.
3
Today's Congressional Republicans aren't worried about being on the right or wrong side of history. They could care less. All they are concerned about is the amount of money they can take in from lobbyists and special interests.
We're at a sad moment in our country's history when one of our country's two major political parties puts special interests ahead of the concerns and interests of our country.
5
As a Democrat I have to sadly ask, Only one of the two major political parties? Sorry, but the Dems have sold out to big money too, and have dropped any pretense of caring about the working class
1
If Republicans were politically savvy, they would form a committee to investigate impeachment then stay its proceedings pending a formal report from the Mueller investigation or obstruction of the Mueller by the Trump administration.
This would achieve the laudable patriotic objective of protecting Mueller while initiating steps to perform Congress's Constitutional duty to oversee the executive branch.
This will not happen, though, because there no longer are any Republicans in Congress who have any intention of patriotically performing their Constitutional duties.
This November will determine the fate of American democracy. If Trump's Russian-Republicans retain absolute control over all three branches of the federal government, there will nothing left to protect the United States from becoming an authoritarian kleptocracy.
The November elections may be American voters' final opportunity to live in a democracy rather than a police state.
4
Excellent, on point essay. Unfortunately, all the Republicans to whom is it is addressed are not reading this. They are whipping up border hysteria among the Deplorables (yes, they have proved themselves to be exactly that).
5
The way I see it 40% of America’s voters are holding the key to the asylum. They are never going to budge. When Trump pardons Manafort they will praise the president. The rest of us will be angry and appalled. The key is wresting back some power in November. If the Democrats fail, our great country will pay dearly.
11
Like asking a worm to grow wings.
4
I am not an American. I am a Canadian Jew and the problem is not Donald J. Trump it is an adjective that no longer has a meaning. Every year we study the entire Torah section by section to ascertain its meaning. There is one section that has always had the same meaning generation after generation. The destruction of Sodom and the Evil Cities. I suspect the same lesson is at the heart of Christianity. God does not destroy Evil he hopes for a turn around. It is the story of Nineveh in the Book of Jonah where after God pledges to destroy Nineveh he relents.
Our legend of Sodom ends with the Evil Cities being given one last chance at salvation and the wisest men of the city allowed to plead Sodom's case before God. The Evil Cities are destroyed not because of the Evil but because they attempt to justify the evil.
I have watched the Sophistry I have watched Buckley, Scalia, Buchanan and Reagan justify what they call conservatism. They denied their knowledge of what is right and wrong and justified what they knew to be wrong. Trump is there for a reason, he is not the choice of evil over good he is what you get when you deny we have a choice to make and choose what makes you happy in the moment.
As John Milton's Jesus and Satan both asked, "Is it better to Serve in Heaven or Rule in Hell?" America has finally answered with Trump the wisest man of Sodom.
521
@Memphrie et Moi
The same lesson is contained in the New Testament's Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 8, Verse 36 where Jesus says: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
2
@Memphrie et Moi
Yes! Where are our ten righteous men. One? The closest we come is McCain and he's dying -- too weakened to fight one more battle for his Country and relegated to a footnote by his Party, denigrated by our President.
The GOP's fear of losing elections and their sinecures is greater than their fear of losing the Constitutional Government they purport to revere.
Even the Flakes and Corkers who are not running for re-election don't seem to be able to stand up for what they say they believe. I stoop to quote our President; "SAD."
1
@Richard Green
I am old enough to remember when Richard Greene was Robin Hood and he would have been one hundred on Friday.
I still believe the vast majority of people are trying to do good but the Sophists have convinced us that robbing from the poor to give to the rich is what makes America great.
This paralysis in the House and, to a lesser degree, in the Senate has been a long time in the making. Republican refusal to work across the aisle with Democrats has allowed a minority faction to exert an inordinate amount of control. I'm speaking of the Tea Party/ Freedom Caucus. The better angels of collegiality and compromised have been banished to the outer regions of our internal cold war. I believe the best solution is for a revival of the spirit of compromise in both parties. We've seen glimmers of that in the Senate with regard to health care and will need much more cooperation between the two parties if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid issues are resolved in a fair manner. Those three issues will soon be on the table and millions of Americans will expect cooperation and not partisan wars.
Ultimately it will be up to the voters in November to help Congress to strike more of a balance. The current situation is simply too polarized.
2
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!
4
I agree with both the the opinion and most of the comments below. However, I'll politely point out that Congress is in recess. That means that anyone who isn't actively campaigning, and by extension their staff, is on an extended vacation. We're not likely to hear a coordinated response from Republicans until September. The media and the public are responding to the immediacy of these revelations. However, we're operating on a different wavelength from Congress. The White House are the only people capable of controlling this message right now and clearly, they have no idea how to respond.
Please call your representatives. Leave them a message in Washington. Send them a letter. Choose whatever means suits your preference. However, I wouldn't expect a noticeable response for at least a few days. The GOP is probably betting this whole thing blows over before they actually have to do something. The good news is Trump appears to running low on diversionary tactics. Keep the pressure on and remind your Republicans in office: November is coming.
2
Republicans don't need approval from Charles Blow. The Times has been on an increasingly desperate rampage to reverse the election. It won't work.
1
@Mike Livingston Do you enjoy having an unindicted co-conspirator for president? MAGA, indeed!
2
Do your job or be part of treason!
1
@Guess who
Treason is written by the victors.
I recently asked a wise American friend for his take on his country's current plight. "We are watching a slow and painful death", he replied. "The problem is we're not yet sure what it is that's dying. What is clear is that it is definitely one of two things; the Republican Party or the Country itself". He is hoping and praying that it is the former, but fears that this is just wishful thinking.
8
Liberals with no power need to stop counting what they will do with spoils that are not guaranteed. Democrats suck so bad, they lose to Republicans. Seriously that line is so perfect, let us repeat it. Democrats suck so bad, they lose to Republicans. Democrats need to stop the big tent and start on a few politically delicious morsels, no one can disagree with. Free college? Free daycare? Free off-the-job training? AND Democrats need to tell Americans that Republican freebies have a cost as well. Democrats are too stupid and they get painted as "tax and spend".
1
I'm afraid that the Republicans in Congress have already demonstrated that defending our Constitution and country is not their highest priority. Given that, I don't think they see much of an advantage to turning against Trump before the mid-term elections. After the election, the GOP may change their approach, but it won't be because they suddenly acquired a conscience.
2
Tax cuts first! Second! And third! That’s all that matters! Nothing else! Honor schmoner! Get real! It’s all to grab more wealth and power for the rich. Nothing else.
2
Where's the Benghazi outrage? Where's Republican Trey Gowdy's outrage about Trump? Gowdy and his committee spent millions of taxpayer's dollars chasing Hillary Clinton for nothing. The Republicans have a warped view of what patriotism and good government look like. When Trump is finally remove from office all the Republican will say in unison that Trump was no good, but there was little they could do to correct the situation and business will continue as usual. The mid-term election is a referendum on Trump and the Republican Party. Hopefully, Democrats will come out in heavy number to vote out the do nothing Republicans and their nasty agenda.
2
With their silence, they've made their choice o be derelict in their duty, and their sworn oaths, to uphold the very Constitution that's the backbone of our democracy.
But please understand it's not our system that's the problem. It's the cowards, sycophants, grifters, racists and soulless who refuse to use the system as it was intended - to protect We, the People - that is.
And, as it stands now, today's Republicans will do nothing.
2
There is a sad reason why the Republicans hang onto their jobs without principle or honor: it's the best gig they can get. Many of them would be jobless or take serious cuts in pay in the real working world. So, our beloved system of capitalism produces a job situation created for the public good that requires selfish calculation for self-preservation. The voter is the only antidote to this "harsh reality."
Of course, term limits could lessen the impact of tactics for self-preservation, but the country's mindset is a million miles away from improving our representative democracy. But to expect this group to rise up and proclaim decency, ideals, and show spine is just not going to happen.
2
I fear this appeal is pointless and far too late. The Republican Party is not just led by a criminal enterprise, it IS a criminal enterprise.
"Never appeal to a man's better nature - he may not have one."
The Republican Party is the Party of Trump. Period. Nothing more, nothing less - because Trump's values are their values. All Trump did was drag them into the open for all to see.
"GOPus delenda est." - Kevin Drum
1
Well said, as usual Charles, but your whistling in the dark. Ain't gonna happen. I've been calling Rubio almost daily for weeks...no response. They are cowards. It may take Trump shooting someone on 5th Avenue and even then, I'm not sure they will act. Self interest rules. Let's hope the tide turns n November.
4
Thank you, Charles. This is a moment of “truth” for Republicans. (Remember “truth”?)
1
The R's have completely abandoned any sense of integrity. Any sense of duty. Any obligation to the oaths they swore to serve our country in accordance with the Constitution. They've become totally rudderless and moral-free.
You ask, Charles, if they'll "seize this moment". The R's will only seize this moment in the sense that they'll scramble to pilfer even more cash (a la Duncan Hunter) before being shown out the door for good.
I saw clips of their *president* (not mine!) blabbering to a fox & friends host earlier on Morning Joe. His statements were even crazier than usual and we know the members of his party will say nothing and his band of wacky followers will cheer. His ramblings included praising Manafort and bemoaning the "unfairness" of his guilty convictions. And goes on to explain, as only a true mob boss can, that "flipping" evidence for a lighter sentence should be illegal. Unreal!!
I've been saying this for 18 months and each day proves me right: the comedy movie Idiocracy was actually a prescient documentary. Sad!
2
People need to understand that Mitch McConnell is a traitor. He subverted the constitution to steal a SCOTUS seat, and he will do nothing to slow Trump down when Trump is helping them pass all the handouts to their billionaire donors. What does some crooked 80-something power addict care about legal fuss?
3
A Congress and a public that, fifteen years ago, let a duped Bush start an insane war that, to date has murdered well over a million people can not be expected to get riled up about the vile criminality of Donald and his mob. My guess is that when the next step appears, that of domestic murder and destruction of law, we still won’t budge.
If Putin succeeds in the official Russian long-term plan to have the United States implode and go to war with itself, we may begin to notice. Congress, after all, is not what keeps our country from dissolving, nor is it an embodiment of democracy. That’s just what school kids were told. Congress has been involved in a civil war of their own doing, where the only objective is power. This war has been going on through most of the tenures of sitting congressmen, so they know no other purposes.
No, Congress can’t suddenly become enlightened and reverse our rapid descent into national failure.
Frankly, I don’t know what can be done.
3
I keep asking this same question -- don't they care if their progeny are ashamed of them -- and one response aptly pointed out that most Republicans are gambling with the destruction of the planet and the end of humanity by pretending that global warming is a hoax.
If they don't care about the end of the world, why are they going to care that the President is a crazy moral monster?
Nope... they got their tax cuts for the rich and now they’re just hanging tough to load up the courts and get Kavanaugh in place. They’re suffering through for their (misguided) vision of what’s good of the country? Playing the long game as it were, no?
3
You have put your finger on it, Mr. Blow.
The election of Mr. Donald J. Trump--minority President though he is--was indeed. . ..
. .. a major failure of the American electorate.
I am sorry and ashamed to say the things I am about to say--
--and it has been argued in the pages of this paper: I ought to take a more "nuanced" view of Trump supporters.
I know it. I acknowledge the truth of that argument.
But the fact remains: some of these people--MANY of these people. . . .
. . fill me with horror and loathing.
Fellow Americans though they are.
They have fallen into the hands of a demagogue. A man who (without scruples or principles himself) has PLAYED with a master hand. .
. .upon our own ignoble fears and passions.
I could go on, refining and qualifying without end. But why?
But I still remember my conversation (years ago) with a friend. May I add, an African-American friend?
Who LAUGHED TO SCORN. . . .
. .my naive notion that ANY politician for ANY reason. . ..
. .. would (as you rightly put it) "fall on his sword."
An American soldier--from the lowliest private to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--is expected to be WILLING. . .
. .. to die for his country.
How about a politician imperiling--even scotching--his own career. . ..
. .. for his country's good?
How about a politician--both eyes open--IGNORING the opinion polls. . ..
. ..and doing what's right?
Well, Mr. Blow. .
. . we can always dream.
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You're wrong again, Mr.Blow!
It's not just the Republicans that are guilty, but virtually all politicians. The so called "Russia investigation" is so biased that it has focused entirely on Mr. Trump and his campaign, while completely ignoring the wrongdoing of the Clinton campaign.
Why are we surprised by the self-serving, deceitful and duplicitous behavior of politicians? Day after day and year after year they show us their true colors, and we continue to elect and re elect them!
More than anything else, it's time to expose the Clinton wrongdoings. And don't tell me that they are innocent, Mr. Blow! We all know better, and we all know that is why Mr. Trump was elected!
The eloquence of silence would be a good choice for the title of a follow up column
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Charles, you are being much too kind. The true Republican Party is the party of Grant allowing his friends and relatives to plunder the nation and Harding, surrounded by crooked cronies, and Agnew with his graft and Nixon with his paranoia and nastiness. Eisenhower is the outlier. Trump is rather main line. That's why they must be voted out of office - all of them, even those who done wear ostriches.
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With limited exceptions, the Republican Party will continue to say nothing against President Trump. Led by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan the Republicans will cheer President Trump on like never before. These Republicans are spineless, mindless sycophants that would rather see our country flushed down the toilet than stand up for what is right. History will judge them as such. And by the way, that's a great photo of Mr. McConnell , cowardly and hiding in the shadows.
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Souls? Are you kidding me?
Nobody has created more atheists than organized religion.
No party has created and attracted more immoral human beings than the Republican Party.
They are without souls. They sold them a long time ago.
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This made me laugh. These people are so deep into the swamp they can’t even see the sun for some direction out. We as a country are slowly killing ourselves drinking a tiny bit of poison everyday and that poison is racism and trump keeps bringing the glass to us. What terrible days for America but I hope we are better after these dark souls are gone.
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The GOP accepted if not encouraged Trump’s demagoguery, corruption, lies, bigotry and misfeasance. They have now lost an ability to tame the beast. They deserve everything they get, if the Republic survives.
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Mr. Blow probably should rewrite this column november, 7th.
After the midterm elections would be a much more convenient time for Republican Representatives and Senators to recover their sense of responsibility for the Republic. Besides, about that time mr. Mueller will give them a hand in remembering they never liked mr. Trump, anyway.
Certainly not when a very conservative and far more predictable replacement is at hand.
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Charles, your concept of soul is very strange. We are souls, always and we are full, complete whole, no matter what our outward mode. No one is less soul than you are, or more. Kindly reset your understanding of what a soul is.
"That Atman (self, soul) is indeed Brahman. It [Ātman] is also identified with the intellect, the Manas (mind), and the vital breath, with the eyes and ears, with earth, water, air, and ākāśa (sky), with fire and with what is other than fire, with desire and the absence of desire, with anger and the absence of anger, with righteousness and unrighteousness, with everything — it is identified, as is well known, with this (what is perceived) and with that (what is inferred). As it [Ātman, self, soul] does and acts, so it becomes: by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil. It becomes virtuous through good acts, and vicious through evil acts. Others, however, say, "The self is identified with desire alone. What it desires, so it resolves; what it resolves, so is its deed; and what deed it does, so it reaps.
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5, 9th century BCE"
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Republicans and Republicans having souls is oxymoron.
They sold their souls in order to have a rubber stamp in the White House that will further their rancid agenda.
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Not going to happen as hinted in Mr. Blow's words.
I wish they would all be voted out and your electoral dreams were realized so you would write about something else. Its been what almost 2 years of the same column. They live rent free in your head and on these pages. Its getting unbelievably tiring.
Courage? How about simple decency? McConnell is the epitome of cowardness. This President made fun of his own wife and Mitch just shrugs. He despises the other side more than this vile subhuman. Both have got to go.
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I'm ashamed to admit that when the Cohen charges broke, I thought things would change. Then, like a stunned cow aimed at the final chute, I slowly realized that the Republican would do---nothing. They clearly now believe that they don't need policies, they don't need legislation, they certainly don't need ethics or even common decency and a pretense that they work for the American people as a whole. All they need it Trump and Trump is all they have. They aren't governing, they are holding one long, jeering, ignorant and hate filled rally. And that rally is our remaining civic institution.
I understand that the beastly base do not mind that he is a lying, cheating, philandering con man, they even admire him for it, but what I cannot grasp is why they think he is working for them? Why would he even notice them except as the ratings?
The religion of the Donald is truly the opium of the People.
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@Gerard
I think that to much of the base, their leader is the promised Anti-Christ, a sign of the End of Days and the coming Rapture.
He fits the description and thereby has an authority that transcends all reason.
Mitch McConnell has a soul?
Who are you kidding?
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Trump voters tossed a stick of dynamite into our government in their attempts to destroy it. Trumpers and Republicans have been told since Reagan that our government is "the enemy of the people" and they want to do everything they can to end it.
My prayer is that this stick of dynamite kills the Republican party and not our Democracy.
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Hold on, but what you suggested is "undemocratic"! Because the base clearly wants something different. Representatives are elected to represent their base. BTW, Hitler went to power through the process of democracy. The West simply cannot have both ways! The truth is people's will can sometimes be very ugly. Unfortunately, the great experiment of melting pot failed and tribalism is winning. With the looming demographic change, tribalism will only become much worse. This brings up what I have been saying for a while. Democracy was formulated in homogeneous societies. Tribalism is in our DNA. All (white) men are created equal.
Just to be clear, I am not attacking the West or Democracy itself. I am just realistic. Only when we are honest to ourselves, we can finally start the journey of finding real solutions. Most ironically, US democracy was designed at a different time with totally different concerns. I would argue that there is no easy way out of the mess because of the design. "Originalists" make no sense to me. The whole US democratic system is actually very undemocratic. Therefore, the real solutions can only come from the state level but not from the federal level. People's wills are better represented within their own states. Realistically, the only vote matters is by our feet. We are free to relocate. I am thankful that I live in the "left" coast. Relevant issues in elections are mostly at local level. Trump may be the President. But he doesn't affect me much.
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In the face of crony capitalism now so entrenched as to be indistinguishable from full-blown fascism, the Republican designers and beneficiaries of this nepotism and abuse of office for personal and family gain have no intention of giving up their absolute power now. It doesn't matter if the election was thrown by Russia. It's ok because Russians are white, too.
2
Nothing will be done as long as the Republican Congress must hold tightly to these deplorable voters that support Trump for re-election.
There aren't enough "normal" people left in the Republican Party to elect anyone from the GOP. So to hold onto their power they pander to their dwindling base, shouting guns! god! and grits! for all they are worth as they dine on their 65.00 Chilean Sea Bass and laugh about the rubes who will eat up anything they say.
The real question here is, how dumb is our side, clearly, widely in the majority that we let these horrible people take over our country and let them write the rules?
Ask that question. I dare you. The answer you get might appall you.
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Well said, Mr. Blow....unfortunately, the GOP has misplaced its spine.
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No, they won't stand up for what's right. The Republican base is a cult of Trump, and Republican leaders are craven sycophants.
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
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Welp, I also suspect the answer will be "no," but if ever there was an entreaty direct enough and simple enough to make an impression on the pea-brains of our GOP congress men and women, this is it. Thanks Charles Blow!!
Everyone that voted for Donald Trump did it with the full knowledge they were voting for a conman, a crook, a racist, a misogynist, a Russophile, a chronic liar, etc., but at least he was not a Democrat. That's where we were in 2016 and unfortunately, that's where we remain in 2018. It's going to take some unforeseen, transcendent (and likely catastrophic) event to change the conservative political, social, and cultural paradigm(s) that have driven so many voters to unconditionally circle their wagons around the petulant, taunting, incompetent, cretin "they" put in the White House.
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The New York Times
Aug. 23, 2028
Competing for space in a growing library, "A Soulless Party," is the latest book on the presidency of Donald Trump. In this new entry, journalist Charles Blow brings to light new details of the role Congress played in the Trump presidency.
In the last days of the Trump presidency the nation's attention was fixed on the Congress' complicity with what has since been documented to be an organized crime syndicate. Mr. Blow had himself raised questions about the role of Congress in the pages of this paper. He implored Republicans to investigate the president, "We need to know if the president broke the law and did so for his own benefit to influence the election."
What Mr. Blow has now documented is the extent of the complicity on the part of Republicans in Congress. Contrary to the popular belief at the time that Republicans were refusing to do their job, Mr. Blow reveals that the Republican leaders were in fact part of the Trump crime syndicate.
While it has long been conclusively documented that the Trump crime syndicate was an extension of the Russian mafia, what Mr. Blow adds is the money trail tying former Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Paul Ryan, along with dozens of other Republicans in Congress at the time, to a criminal conspiracy to seat syndicate members on the Supreme Court, and dismantle the DOJ, FBI, CIA and NSA.
The unraveling of the Republican conspiracy began with the November 2018 election. This new book is a must read.
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Charles,
To answer the question at the end of your column - “No, we won’t.” Sad, but true.
2
Fox indoctrination is the true culprit. Fox radicalises people. People who only listen to fox are lost for democracy as we know it.
Fox got worse with every year and their viewers followed.
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Much like the Catholic bishops who ignored and covered up the rape of children, Republicans in Congress are interested only in preserving their power and privilege. In both cases, they likely tell themselves that they are motivated by a desire to protect the institutions they serve (church and party) but their silence and complicity have fatally weakened those institutions. And they themselves have become corrupted by the evil they have allowed to flourish unchecked.
3
What a photo. A perfect portrait of cowardice.
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@bkwrm
If he wasn´t one he would have got "Boehnered" or "Ryaned" a long time ago.
Most of the Republican cowards did not like Trump before he won the primary, now they stand in line to lick his boots.
The must use what little courage they have to look at themselves in the mirror every day.
When this sorry, sordid moment in our nation's history is written, among those who read of it will be these corrupt and cowardly people's grandchildren.
1
Here's how I'd rewrite Mr. Blow's lead:
How many people from Donald Trump's campaign and inner circle have to confess to crimes and be convicted of them before it is clear to every person with a working brain that the whole entire bunch of Trump backers are nematodes?
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Republicans are in an abusive relationship with the President.
Charles, you're preaching to the Taliban of American politics, and your truthful words fall not only on deaf ears, but on a fundamentalist cult who loathe and trample daily on the constitutional obligations you put before them. Their Jihad leaders, Mc Connell and Ryan, have hearts full of only hatred and prejudice. Their bible, capitalist globalization and exploitation of the planet's resources and of its people. And their chosen salvation lies with the criminal in the Oval Office.
It's been made abundantly clear that Trump supporters either admire his sexual misadventures, or feel they don't matter, nor, more importantly, does his lying and hateful speech matter, as long as WASP nation is preserved and those dirty brown people are kept out.
I'll never look at those little old ladies the same again, I already had no respect for the jocks that admired Trump's dalliances and thought cheating on his wife was something anyone would do given the chance.
Most importantly, the policies they support are ruinous. Congress is unable to effectively govern and pass meaningful legislation. Instead of defending our country from real threats, Trump is focused on a physical wall on the Mexican border where the brown people come in, and leaves our infrastructure, and our elections, targets for foriegn attack. His followers follow him down the road to destruction, gleefully believing it's the path to heaven.
Trump and his followers are short sighted and ethically bankrupt. The older folk will die off, but there are plenty of younger idiotic bigots and just plain idiots out there to take their place.
I do hope that the majority of the country will come together and out-vote this destructive and frankly, embarrassing minority next time. We can't afford more of this type of "governance" and I am sick to death of having a leader that I wouldn't be able to entrust with the care of my granddaughters, and who will lie to my face more easily than combing his hair.
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I must admire your optimism, Mr. Blow. For clearly most Republicans have no soul -- or conscience, when it comes to standing up for the right thing, let alone standing up for our country.
How else would one explain the sheer complacency of their actions when it comes to what is going on in this White House?
Especially now, when there is little to no doubt about just how corrupt Donald Trump and his entire administration is? (And yes, Mitch McConnell this applies directly to you, as you've done everything in your power to undermine Democracy while feathering your own nest.)
Sorry, but I've lost any faith I might have had in Congress to wake from their narcoleptic sleep in order to do the right thing.
It's clearly up to We, the People now.
VOTE!
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