The walls are beginning to crumble around Donald Trump. From Sen. John McCain to Sen. Bob Corker to Sen. Jeff Flake, Republicans have been reviling “The Donald” left, right, and sideways. Even journalist Dan Rather took the gloves off.
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Over the weekend, Sen. McCain mocked Trump for using the excuse of an alleged bone spur in his foot to earn him 5 deferments from having to serve in the Vietnam War. On Tuesday, Sen. Corker questioned Trump’s fitness for office, saying he was “debasing” the country with “untruths and name calling.” He previously called The White House a “daycare center” that can’t afford to leave Trump without adult supervision and launched the now-popular hashtag #AlertTheDaycareStaff. A few days ago, former President George W. Bush also rebuked Trump, saying America needs to “recover our own identity” in the face of challenges to its most basic ideals.
Then on Tuesday, it was Sen. Jeff Flake who took a turn delivering a stinging blow to the so-called Commander-In-Chief.
During scathing remarks on the Senate floor, Jeff Flake roused many Republicans to a standing ovation and moved some Democrats to tears. Flake announced that he will not seek re-election because he cannot work with the “utterly untruthful” Donald Trump. He urged his fellow Republicans not to normalize the unpresidential behavior we are all witnessing. His words were poetic. His cadence was masterful.
“I rise today to say enough. … We were not made great as a country by indulging or even exalting our worse impulses, turning against ourselves, glorifying in the things which divide us, and calling fake things true and true things fake.”
The senator was only warming up.
“The impulse to threaten and scapegoat and belittle could turn Americans into a fearful, backward-looking people and the GOP into a fearful, backward-looking party.
“If I have been critical, it’s not because I relish criticizing the behavior of the President of the United States,” Flake said. “If I have been critical, it is because I believe that it is my obligation to do so, as a matter of duty and conscience.”
There’s more.
“The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters — the notion that one should say and do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and, I believe, profoundly misguided.”
He then added: “It’s difficult to move forward in a Republican primary if you have been critical of any of the behavior that’s gone on. We Republicans certainly can’t countenance that kind of behavior. We ought to stand up and say ‘This is not right. This is not us. This is not conservative.'”
Ouch!
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If the public verbal whipping from several prominent members of his own party weren’t enough, Trump also received a beatdown from former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather.
The noted newsman chided Trump for picking a Twitter fight with the widow of a slain US serviceman after she dared to express feeling hurt from Trump callously forgetting her deceased husband’s name during a telephone call, and for telling her of his death “He knew what he was getting into…”
In written remarks regarding the death of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, Dan Rather said this:
I hope we can let a family grieve in peace.
It saddens me that this has gone so far. It saddens me that the memory of a brave young man is being overshadowed by politics, and I daresay racial overtones that have plagued this country since its founding. We see once again words spoken behind the Great Seal of the United States fail in the face of facts. And we are worse for it, all of us.
This was so avoidable. If President Donald Trump and his Chief of Staff John Kelly are to be believed that the tone of the call to Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s widow was misconstrued, why not just say that? Why not just apologize for a misunderstanding around words uttered in a moment when any words are insufficient? But “I’m sorry” or “I was wrong” are sentiments that seem far beyond our current Commander-in-Chief, the political movement he leads and the media echo chamber he incites. The instinct is to always attack, attack, attack. Bring a gun to a knife fight. Impugn character even if the truth is otherwise.
So we have more pain. We have more division. We have more recriminations. And we have more rending of our social fabric.
Ecclesiastes tells us there is “a time to tear and a time to mend.” This was a time to mend. And that is part of the responsibilities of the President of the United States, with all the awesome power that rests in that office.
Check and Mate!
You are right they are coming for Donald Trump. Except where was all this a year and a half ago before the election? These dumb Repubs kept believing Trump was going to pivot and become presidential somehow. Like Maya Angelou said when somebody shows you who they are believe them. Trump showed everybody who he was a long time ago and he ain’t changed. Why didn’t nobody believe him? Now they are coming out too late. The other problem is the Repubs speaking out are retiring. So they can’t impeach him if they are not there. But I just read this morning that Flake said a whole lot more Repubs are about to come out against Trump. I’ll believe it when I see it but I hope so. This fool has got to go.