You break it, You Buy It – The Republican Dilemma
The Republican Party is facing a difficult dilemma. They leadership of the party accepted, with reservations, the candidacy of Donald Trump. They allowed him to have their nomination for President, against their own better judgment, and now they are faced with the reality of his actions as President.
Let’s look at the facts. The Republican leadership, and by that I mean, Paul Ryan, Reince Preibus, John McCain, and the rest; fell in behind the Trump juggernaut at the Republican convention. They were faced with a difficult choice: turn against the party they love, the supporters they worked with, and the voters they needed; or accept Trump’s legitimacy as the Republican candidate. They could have done it: John Kasich did. They could have divided the party, taking the moral position that Trump should not be the President.
They didn’t. They didn’t because they were afraid of the backlash of their own voters. They didn’t because they were afraid that taking that moral view would mean they would lose their personal power. They didn’t because (some) hated the Clintons with such virulence that they were willing to make a “deal with the devil” than to allow her to win the Presidency. They didn’t because they didn’t think it was possible he could win.
They had a second chance to do so when Trump demonstrated his own personal immorality in the famous “bus tapes.” Some stepped back from Trump then, stating that they couldn’t explain support for him to their families. Yet, a week later, they were back with personal endorsements. Jason Chaffetz is the prime example of this (and it seems the decision so soured his gut, that he left Congress.)
They didn’t. They swallowed their pride and their morals, and probably secretly wished that the polls were right and Clinton would win. They began planning their “resistance” to the Clinton Presidency, preparing more hearings on Benghazi and e-mail.
And then Trump won. The legitimacy of his win is questionable. There is the known Russian interference in the election, and the unknown question of whether votes in key states were tampered with. Republicans in those key states have block inquiry into the voting totals: but like the questionable elections of the past, Trump is the President (Bush/Gore, Hayes/Tilden, JQ Adams/Jackson.)
And as President, Trump is demonstrating the incompetence and incapacity that everyone from Jeb Bush on, knew. It’s not just his inability to get his own agenda through Congress; it’s his willingness to risk the nation by foolhardy saber-rattling in North Korea, and his tacit support of white supremacy in Charlottesville. The Republican leadership now is faced with the dilemma: can the country survive a Trump Presidency without irreparable damage.
As a Republican leader the choice is the same one that faced them in August. Allowing Trump to be President lets them temporarily keep their party, their power, their base. But there must be a “tipping point” where they recognize that they will inevitably lose that party, power and base with Trump: and perhaps their nation too.
There are more than just the political issues involved. To some principled members of Congress it is most difficult to overturn what they see as the decision of the American people by attempting to throw out a duly elected President (though they didn’t seem to have much of a problem when that President was named Clinton.) Their concern extends beyond the precedent of second-guessing the electorate: it also raises questions about the stability of the American government and the Constitution.
And to some, there is the real concern that Trump supporters will do more than just scream and wear MAGA hats if he is removed. Pence is not a legitimate substitute for those folks, he does not represent the “outsider” they were looking for in a candidate. The marches in Charlottesville, while NOT representing most Trump voters, might pale in comparison.
And what of the Democrats? Their role in this is to accept the “conversion” of Trump supporters to the current reality, without blame or recrimination. They must recognize that for the good of the Nation, those who finally recognize the incompetence and inability of Trump, even as late as now, have a role to play in what happens next.
But in the end, it is the Republican leadership that still controls what happens: Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and the number of Congressmen and Senators who can recognize that we have reached the “tipping point.” It will take the political courage that failed them twice already. But in the end – they broke it – they bought it – they better fix it.
