Republicans, It's Too Late to Back Away From Trump

[dajoki]

Republicans, It’s Too Late to Back Away From Trump
G.O.P. lawmakers have enabled all of the president’s misadventures up to now. They can’t disavow his response to the coronavirus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-trump-republicans.html?

As the coronavirus pandemic creeps deeper into the election cycle, President’s Trump campaign team has a message for Republican lawmakers: Don’t even think about trying to socially distance yourself from the president’s handling of the crisis.

Mr. Trump’s leadership during this national emergency has not wowed the American public — at least not in a good way. The Republican faithful may continue to back him unconditionally, but polls show that a majority of the electorate gives him negative reviews.

And the shakier the president’s numbers look, the more nervous fellow Republicans become. On Monday, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, whose moral compass points always toward keeping his grip on power, cautioned that this year’s battle for the chamber would be “a dogfight” and a “knife fight” — choose your own bloody metaphor. Even with a favorable electoral map, Mr. McConnell & Co. fear that the president’s pandemic performance could hurt them in November. At the same time, Mr. Trump’s enduring popularity with the base means that his teammates cannot risk looking anything less than 100 percent loyal.

What’s a self-serving Republican to do?

The National Republican Senatorial Committee recently distributed a memo with guidance on how to split this political baby: When discussing the coronavirus, candidates should fully embrace the president’s efforts to shift the blame fully onto China. But — and here’s the part that caught Team Trump’s eye — “Don’t defend Trump.”

Prepared by a top party strategist, the bulk of the 57-page memo provides tips, talking points, timelines and background data geared toward making this crisis All About China. The “Short Version” summary suggests condemning China not only for causing the pandemic but also for stealing jobs, tossing religious minorities in concentration camps and flooding the United States with fentanyl. Democratic opponents are to be tarred as “soft on China” and unwilling to “stand up to the Chinese Communist Party,” they recommend, while Republicans vow to “bring our manufacturing jobs back home” and to work to punish China with sanctions.

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[The Magistrate]

1. Indeed, Sir --- Can't Shake The Tar-Baby, No Matter How You Try

That Republicans are Trump, and Trump is Republicans, is something everybody knows, like the sun rises in the east and nobody leaves this world alive....


"Defeat of a dangerous enemy is something to be for."

[empedocles]

2. Some governors are distancing from trump. 'Public sentiment' matters'

[exboyfil]

6. If the GOP gave a damn about the country

They would look to run one of those governors in the 2020 General Election. In fact they would work with the Democrats to force Trump and ideally Pence out and put in place a caretaker who won't run for President in 2020.

Unlike 2008 this is going to be a year from the start of the crisis to the beginning of the next administration.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. They've spent years cozying up to Trump and defending all his policies.

It's too late to back out now.

[malaise]

4. They should have removed him

in February - that effin' simple

[crickets]

7. Republican Senators really did think they would skate by with that vote.

They thought it was the same ugly partisan business as usual that they always get away with.

Not this time. This time it's a millstone around their necks that's going to take them down. Boo hoo.

[dalton99a]

5. Republicans are Trump's willing partners. They are 100% complicit in everything he does.

Heck, they nominated him to be president, and refused to remove him when given a chance.

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Playing the blame game too isn't going to work, that is, blaming the WHO, blaming China, ...

blaming the democratic party in some weird and obscure way, that they were responsible for not having boots on the ground in China keeping an eye on things, blame everything away and see what sticks. Now they're trying to accuse Biden of sexual misconduct, and considering the source (Trump), laughable and pathetic.

No, we do not need to get the damn knifes out or get our dogs involved.

What we need to simply do is a good job of legislating, a good job of implementation, a good job of governing. Is this so hard? Obviously, it is for republicans. They wouldn't know good governance if it hit them in the face.

Every one of them have been there when China was 'stealing' jobs (a lot of their business friends probably were in on it, like why does Trump's daughter hold copyrights in China), everyone of them were in the Senate / House when minorities in China were oppressed, when 'fentanyl' flooded the markets, etc. Where again, were they? Where?

[dalton99a]

9. +1. Exhibit A: Chinese-made products at Walmart

headquartered in Arkansas, which is represented by Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)