GOP reaction and the reaction to the reaction

RJ Matson

The Grand OldMan Party: we haven't heard a whole lot from them since the Ukraine scandal broke. Most of them have been quiet. There have been a few who have spoken out in defense of TЯUMP, and a very few that have dissented.


It's actually to their credit that they have been mum. They certainly haven't rushed to assail him, but they haven't rushed to defend, either. It's a start.

Who's been saying what?

Senate Majority Leader Turtle from Kentucky hasn't said a whole lot. Early on, he affirmed that he would "have no choice but to take it up" if the House voted to impeach. Since then, he has been fairly quiet, until late last week, when he used the issue in his fundraising efforts, saying in an ad, "Nancy Pelosi's in the clutches of a left wing mob. They finally convinced her to impeach the president. All of you know your Constitution, the way that impeachment stops is a Senate majority with me as majority leader."

Only three sitting GOP Senators have criticized Lord Dampnut. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and Susan Collins (R-ME). Sasse, in a statement to the Omaha World-Herald, said, “Hold up: Americans don’t look to Chinese commies for the truth. If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that’s a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps.”

SCROTUS hasn't come down on Sasse (in fact, a month ago, before the story broke, 45 praised him highly), but Mitt Romney is a whole 'nother story. Romney tweeted on Friday, "When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated. By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling."

Romney has had an abrasive relationship with him already, and when he criticized on Saturday, Donny brought out his championship bullying gloves, calling Romney a "pompous ass" in tweets on Sunday morning, with tweets continuing into today. He called for Romney's impeachment. Captain Confused showed once again the depths of his knowledge about the United States Constitution. Senators cannot be impeached, idiot. They can only be removed by a two-thirds vote from their fellow Senators (same with U.S. Representatives).

This continued abuse by President Fascist toward his fellow Republicans makes me wonder. Why do they continually put party over country when TЯUMP doesn't put party over himself, let alone country?

Susan Collins (R-ME) is teetering on the edge. She has long been considered a moderate Republican, and has said 45's behavior is "completely inappropriate." Tsk, tsk! You might not get $5 in your next birthday card, sonny!

Collins, like so many Republican senators, is in a hard spot. She is up for re-election next year. It's politically dangerous for campaigning incumbents to vote to convict him. But please, for the love of all that's holy, this man must finally face consequences! If not, just what will be next?

I could find only one current Republican representative who has criticized 45's actions. Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) has called it "terrible" and “I think some of these things are indeed damning.” Rep. Hurd is not running for re-election in 2020.

Most other GOP lawmakers are just tiptoeing around. They are afraid to say anything that might come back to bite them in the rear, either from new-found facts to come, or Hair Furor's spitting venom. Like schoolchildren on the playground, they cross to the other side when the bully comes out to recess. WaPo and NYT both have good pieces on their dilemma.

The two Republican senators from Iowa, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, have not gone so far as to condemn the president* but they have spoken their support for the whisleblower.

Former lawmakers, though! Many have been speaking out against SCROTUS. Recently resigned Republican Senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake, who left right after the Kavanaugh vote, has said recently that if the vote was secret, 35 Senators would vote to impeach. The trouble is, the vote isn't secret. We don't run this country that way!

Former Republican Florida Rep. Carlos Carbelo has called on his former colleagues to get on "the right side of history." And former Rep. Neil Cavuto (R-NC) has also entreated House Republicans to "find the courage" and "speak truth."

But biggest of all, Vice President Mike Pence has condemned the use of foreign interference when he said, "This is basic stuff. Foreign donors — and certainly foreign governments — cannot participate in the American political process." Oh, oopsie. That was in a 2016 VP debate. Our halcyon days when up was up, facts were truth, and vice presidents had integrity.


So, will there eventually be enough Repugs to vote for conviction? It's really no use to speculate, but we humans love to try to predict the future. Five-Thirty-Eight muses about a possible, though improbable, cascade of Republican turncoats. Prospect.org speculates that there will be no turn as there was for Nixon, in part because of modern "counter-factual counter-narrative" a la FAUX News.



And finally, for our comic relief. Saturday Night Live is at it again!






...Stay tuned for more from LSR, including breaking news about a second whistleblower, this one with the coveted first-class, or first-rate, or second-tier first-hand information.