Elected Republicans, even those (especially those!) in leadership spots, when queried about their refusal to confront President Trump and condemn his racist outbursts, attacks on democratic institutions and obsessive lying, will often respond with a figurative shrug of the shoulders. What do you want me to do? The people elected him. My constituents adore him. In one way or another, they claim they are powerless to stop or influence Trump, and therefore, condone their indulgence of an unfit president.
That is the talk of cowards, and what’s more, it’s blatantly false. We’ve seen that when a small number of people, or even a solitary figure, pipes up, a great deal can change.
Consider the executives at Disney and ABC who canned Roseanne Barr. ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey; her boss, Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group; and his boss, Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, decided they would not merely slap Barr’s hand or force her to undergo sensitivity training. They labeled her tweet as racist and canceled a show in which they had already invested millions and that was a ratings winner. In doing so, they sent a powerful message and set a new bar for acceptable conduct for their stars and those responsible for Disney entertainment.
Likewise, Harvey Weinstein might still be cranking out movies had not Ashley Judd and a number of other actresses told their stories to New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Eric Schneiderman would still be New York’s state attorney general if not for four women who spoke to the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. A few brave individuals made a huge difference for millions of women in workplaces around the country.
And in politics as well, a solitary figure can make a substantial difference. The Post reports:
A Fox News guest, commentator and anchor all rebuked claims from the president and his allies that the FBI planted a “spy” in his campaign in an effort to undercut his candidacy.
Outgoing Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the House Oversight Committee Chairman and Trump supporter, said in an interview on Fox that the FBI was justified in using a secret informant to assist in the Russia investigation. Gowdy, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, attended a classified Justice Department briefing last week over the FBI’s use of the confidential source, identified as Stefan A. Halper.
“President Trump himself in the Comey memos said if anyone connected with my campaign was working with Russia, I want you to investigate it, and it sounds to me like that is exactly what the FBI did,” Gowdy told host Martha MacCallum.
Andrew Napolitano, Fox News legal analyst, followed with confirmation that Trump’s “implanted spy” allegations “seem to be baseless.” On Tuesday, another Fox News star, anchor Shepard Smith, shredded Trump’s conspiracy theory. (“There’s nothing to support that claim, and neither or the president nor the White House has offered anything to support that claim. … Lawmakers from both parties say using an informant to investigate suspected ties to Russia is not spying, it’s part of the normal investigative process.”)
On CBS News on Wednesday morning, Gowdy repeated his admonition. “When the FBI comes into contact with information about what a foreign government may be doing in our election cycle, I think they have an obligation to run it out,” he said. He continued: “I think the FBI, if they were at the table this morning, they would tell you that Russia was the target and Russia’s intentions toward our country were the target. The fact that two people who were loosely connected to the Trump campaign may have been involved doesn’t diminish the fact that Russia was the target and not the campaign.” For good measure, he took a dig at the president’s “Spygate” allegation. Gowdy remarked: “Undercover, informant, confidential informant — those are all words I’m familiar with. I’ve never heard the term spy used.”
Gowdy and the few Fox News heretics may not stop Trump’s cavalcade of lies, but they did much to expose and unravel the spy lie.
Now imagine if Fox News executives would tell their evening lineup hosts they cannot fan flames of a nonsensical conspiracy theory that the news side of the operation has debunked. Better yet, contemplate what would have happened had both House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) denounced Trump’s lie and attack on the FBI and Justice Department. Better still, consider how big an impact Ryan could have made by removing Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee way back when he concocted the baseless “unmasking” conspiracy.
Trump continues to lie, to spread racial animus (exhorting the crowd at a Tennessee rally on Tuesday to echo his “animals” slur), to attack the First Amendment and the independent judiciary and pressure the Justice Department to act as his personal legal hit squad because the Republicans who could make a difference — Ryan, McConnell, House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and others — have been mute. The same is true for each and every GOP member, many of whom are running for reelection on the pretense that they have been independent voices. That’s just bunk. Voters should ask of the embattled GOP incumbents: Have you denounced the president’s smears on the FBI? Have you demanded a censure vote for his Charlottesville comments or his “shithole countries” slur? Have you demanded a hearing on his receipt of foreign emoluments?
If they respond that it wouldn’t have done any good or they wanted to work constructively with the president, voters should refer them to the comments made by Gowdy, Napolitano or lonely figures such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), or even Iger’s comments. It’s simply not true that they had to go along with the Trump circus or that they had no power to halt his egregious conduct. The silent Republicans all had a chance to do the right thing; they chose again and again not to. Voters should cast their ballots accordingly.
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