Despite Donald Trump’s disgraceful performance in the highest office in our country, up until recently serious criticism from Republican leaders has been generally limited to those individuals have nothing to lose. John McCain is battling brain cancer. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker and Arizona’s junior Senator Jerry Flake are not running for reelection. Most of the other GOP members of Congress have been cowered by Trump’s popularity among Republican voters and the possibility that he might oppose them in their upcoming Republican primaries if they were to publicly critisize him.
Therefore it was not surprising the individuals with little skin in the game were the sources of the harshest criticism of Trump after he slobbered all over Putin at their Helsinki summit press conference and essentially said that he believed the Russian dictator over his own intelligence team. McCain issued a scathing statement which began, “Today’s press conference was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in recent memory. President Trump proved not only unable but unwilling to stand up to Putin.” “The damage inflected by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate”
Senator Flake accused the president of providing “aid and comfort” to the enemy. He went on to say, “I never thought I would see the day when the American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful.” Bob Corker said the “President made us look like a pushover” and that Putin gained a “tremendous amount” today and was probably eating caviar on the plane home.
For once other Republicans also distanced themselves from Trump’s near treasonous performance. Among them was Senator Marco Rubio who questioned the veracity of Trump’s remarks and offered the opinion that Putin “thinks the only way to make Russia stronger is to make America weaker,” and “any policy or rhetoric that is not built on that reality is destined to be counterproductive, perhaps dangerous and destined to fail.” Texas Senator, John Cornyn told reporters. “I don’t think we should be taking a former KGB colonel’s word for what their intelligence apparatus is doing or not doing.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard M. Burr of N.C. declared that his panel verified that the Russians meddled in the 2016 election. “Any statement by Vladimir Putin contrary to these facts is a lie and should be recognized as one by the president.” Ohio Senator Rob Portman said that Trump had “failed to stand up to Vladimir Putin on some of the most critical security issues facing our country and our allies.”
Even Fox News personal displayed their dismay with Trump’s performance during the Helsinki news conference. Fox news reporter, Abby Huntsman, daughter of U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, called Trump out in a tweet, “No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.” Responding on the air to a guest’s comment, “This was the time and place for the President to look Putin squarely in the eye and say, you will be punished for what you did in 2016 and don’t ever think about doing that again,” Fox Business Network host Neil Cavuto responded: “But he didn’t! That’s what made it disgusting! That’s what made his performance disgusting! I’m sorry, that’s the only way I feel. It’s not a right or left thing with me; this is wrong. A US president on foreign soil talking to our biggest enemy, or advisory, or competitor, . . I don’t know how we define them these days . . is essentially letting the guy get away with this without even offering . . you know . . a mild . . a mild criticism. That sets us back a lot!”
Meanwhile U.S. Senate candidate and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney weighed in with a tweet, “President Trump’s decision to side with Putin over American intelligence agencies is disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles.” Frequent Trump critic James Comey joined in on Twitter, “This was the day an American president stood on foreign soil next to a murderous lying thug and refused to back his own country. Patriots need to stand up and reject the behavior of this president.” Texas Representative Will Hurd, a former CIA undercover officer, offered perhaps the most devastating assessment saying that he was shocked by the president’s comments and that, “I’ve seen the Russian intelligence manipulate many people many people in my career, and I never would have thought the US President would be one of them,”
However, while some Republicans were impelled by love of country or simple political imperative to condemn Trump’s behavior, the majority of Congressional Republicans found shelter in cowardly silence, still unwilling to test the vengeance of Trump’s devoted followers. As a consequence the Republican caucuses in both Houses of Congress have been unwilling take meaningful action to check the excesses of a presidential administration which has run roughshod over not only the basic principles of their party, but those of country at large. For instance, they have shown no inclination to take action keep Trump from disingenuously sighting national security reasons for starting trade wars or to enact legislation to protect the Mueller investigation.
On the other hand, while “talk is cheap” it is not inconsequential. Not every Republican voter is comfortable being included in the “basket of deplorables.” There are Republican voters who continue to claim that they support Trump when asked poll questions purely out of party loyalt. However, they still believe in the traditional Republican values spurned by Trump such as free trade, separate and equal branches of government, strong justice and intelligence agencies, and standing up to our country’s enemies. Hopefully those Republicans, emboldened by recent criticisms of Trump by some Republican leaders, will eventually turn against him, loosening the grip of fear which holds so many Republican Senators and Representatives captive.
It is perhaps equally important for local establishment Republican leaders who have the respect of their state and county Republican contingencies across the nation to have the courage to speak out against a president who is in the process of destroying their party. Here in Alabama, this is Trump country. Alabama voters may have turned against the religious zealot and child molester Roy Moore, but in the presidential election Trump received 62.1% of the Alabama vote, nearly doubling Hillary Clinton’s total. Yet, one locally influential Republican opinion leader evidently decided to be frank with his readers with respect to Trump in his regular opinion column in our local newspaper paper, the Birmingham News. He was evidently inspired by Trump’s treasonous Helsinki performance.
Cameron Smith is a conservative columnist for Birmingham News and Vice President of the R Street institute, a think tank in Washington D.C. According to their website, the Institute’s stated mission is to “engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government.” I usually read Smith’s column on conservative topics in our Sunday paper to understand the thought processes of the opposition. This last Sunday Smith surprised me with the following column, which in my opinion is one of the best condemnations of the Trump presidency I have ever read:
As I watched the president of the United States take the word of a former KGB agent over the comprehensive American intelligence, I couldn’t believe my ears. Sadly it is the direct result of the fear driving our politics. Many of my conservative brethren are so afraid of immigrants and the threats abroad that they’re applauding efforts to shut our doors, batten down the hatches, and scrap America’s leadership role in the world. We must reject these weak minded tendencies and make American lead again.
To be sure, the world isn’t all roses and gumdrops. Radical religious zealots in the Middle East want to destroy us. The Russians are successfully tinkering with our politics. The Chinese rival us as another global superpower. Authoritarian regimes in places like North Korea and Venezuela operate with impunity.
The presence of American’s republic as a beacon of self-governance and liberty has never been more important.
The United States is born from a ragtag band of colonist who seized independence form the most dominate empire of the era. There is simply no better standard-bearer for the oppressed around the world.
Regrettably, we ha we fallen victim to the idea that the rest of the globe has taken advantage of us, and it’s time we had our payback. It’s a cancerous false choice between promoting our interest and or those of other nations. Right now, we are treating even our strongest allies with suspicion.
China and Russia wouldn’t mind us vacating our leadership role. China isn’t shy about its global aspirations, and Russia has been eying a comeback ever since the Iron Curtain fell.
Instead of shoring up our international standing, President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs that amount to trade taxes on Americans and tick off our international allies at the same time. If that weren’t enough, Thump needlessly thumped our allies at a recent NATO summit in Brussels. “America first” might sound good, but it’s looking more and more like American alone.
Acknowledging that we live on a planet with other people doesn’t make us some kind of subversive globalist. It enables us to more effective meet our own objectives.
I’m all for securing our borders. Stemming the flow of illegal immigration is absolutely necessary. That’s a point which even Democrats like President Barack Obama agree with Republicans.
Even the biggest most beautiful wall won’t make a whole lot of difference if we don’t have the more complicated conversation about the myriad of reasons for the flood of immigrates into the U.S. Most sane people don’t pick up their families and head off to a foreign on a lark.
The United States doesn’t lead by playing patty cake with authoritarians either.
We should protect ourselves and our allies if we believe North Korea is a legitimate threat, but that shouldn’t involve glad-handing with a brutal dictator. Historically speaking, we thwart those types of leaders rather than extolling their virtues.
Russia isn’t an exception. Vladimir Putin and his acolytes simple to don’t share American values such as civil liberties and free elections. We should endeavor to have positive relations, but tomes of information about meddling in the 2016 elections are more than enough evidence about Russia’s intentions towards the United States.
Now trump has gone so far as to blame our strained relationship with Russia on “U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” We’ve gone from “tear down this wall” to “sorry our bad.” The party of Ronald Reagan should flatly reject this diplomatic departure.
More important, images of our president embracing and normalizing global tyrants withers the resolve of freedom fighters around the world.
American interests are best served when we have strong allies who share our values abroad. We mustn’t extinguish the light from the shining city on a hill simply because it offends our adversaries or attracts those who yearn to be free. If that day ever comes. Our grand experiment in democracy will have failed.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Now many of you probably believe that all of this is inconsequential, that it is far too little, too late. However, I believe that this criticism of Trump by some Republican leaders, especially with regards to Trump’s deep reluctance to confront Putin could prove crucial in diminishing Trump’s efforts to vilify the Mueller investigation. Should the Special Counsel’s investigation unearth evidence that Trump has indeed been blackmailed by the Russians, evidence that Trump has behaved like someone who has been the subject of extortion could prove crucial to a wider public acceptance of the investigations findings. Even if you don’t except this premise, you have to admit it’s been fun watching some Republicans turning on Trump.
Cajun 7/23/2018