There aren't many stories that render me speechless. This is one of them. [View all]
Republican Lawmakers Said They Were Forced To Go Along With Trump’s Ways Or Face Retirement
After a rather telling interview with the New York Times, it was revealed that both past and present Republican lawmakers are and have been so deeply under the thumb of Donald Trump that they have virtually no choice but to go along with whatever hair-brained, manic, and unhinged policy Trump has laid on the table that day — or face his ire and consider an early retirement.
Per the Times report, “Just under four years after he began his takeover of a party to which he had little connection, Mr. Trump enters 2020 burdened with the ignominy of being the first sitting president to seek re-election after being impeached,” continuing, “But he does so wearing a political coat of armor built on total loyalty from G.O.P. activists and their representatives in Congress. If he does not enjoy the broad admiration Republicans afforded Ronald Reagan, he is more feared by his party’s lawmakers than any occupant of the Oval Office since at least Lyndon Johnson.”
One former GOP lawmaker admitted that he was personally faced with the quandary of bucking Donald Trump back in 2017 and knew full well the consequences he would face if he decided to do so.
“By the summer of 2017, Dave Trott, a two-term Republican congressman, was worried enough about President Trump’s erratic behavior and his flailing attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act that he criticized the president in a closed-door meeting with fellow G.O.P. lawmakers,” the report reads. “The response was instantaneous — but had nothing to do with the substance of Mr. Trott’s concerns. ‘Dave, you need to know somebody has already told the White House what you said,’ he recalled a colleague telling him. ‘Be ready for a barrage of tweets.'”
The ex-lawmaker revealed that he chose not to run for reelection, explaining, “If I was still there and speaking out against the president, what would happen to me?”
Trott is far from the only GOP lawmaker who has faced the nearly impossible conundrum of being a Republican who doesn’t agree with Donald Trump.
https://politicaltribune.org/republican-lawmakers-said-they-were-forced-to-go-along-with-trumps-ways-or-face-retirement/?fbclid=IwAR2_3qD33m4NwjlBPjFzRln5_0NnZbiKcUcP24s74RSbcu-U91Syx8fjo0E
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