Time for many Trump backers to pause and reflect
The slow-moving blue wave that flipped the House of Representatives, seven statehouses and several hundred state legislative seats from Republican to Democrat this month appears to have caused stirring — however faint — among some who have been either reluctant to challenge Donald Trump or entirely petrified to do so.
Whether it is the American suburbs’ rejection of Trumpism on Nov. 6, or the specter of congressional committees with subpoena power surveying a Trump White House that redefines “target-rich environment,” or the quickening pace of the special counsel’s activity, some who have been perfectly comfortable sticking with the president seem to be rethinking how they would like history — or votpast ers — to judge them.
Three days after a Democratic tsunami painted Maine blue, Republican Sen. Susan Collins, up for re-election in 2020, decided that it was now time to call for legislation that would protect Bob Mueller from being canned by a president who regards the collection of evidence by Mueller as an existentialist threat, and probably with good reason. It takes little imagination to believe that Donald Trump is a crook, and a kind of peculiar credulousness to believe he isn’t. Collins, who once had a reputation for independence, has spent the two years squandering that reputation by going silent in the face of conduct by the president that she knows full well is historically appalling. Her concerns about being defeated in a Republican primary by Trump stalwarts has morphed into a well-founded fear of being swept from office by an electorate that looks unkindly on her failure to take a stand against him.
Like Collins, Sen. Jeff Flake had opted just weeks ago to look the other way and vote for Brett Kavanaugh, the president’s probity-challenged Supreme Court nominee. The Arizona Republican has made little secret of his interest in running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2020. Shortly after Arizona replaced him with a Democrat, Flake, a member of the Judiciary Committee, announced that he would block Trump’s judicial nominees unless the Republican leadership permitted a vote on the bill protecting Mueller from being sacked. The bill, he emphasized, referring to Trump’s obvious efforts to obstruct the investigation, “is designed to do one thing: protect the integrity of the special counsel’s investigation, including from those who themselves may be the subject of the investigation.” Flake’s statement may be regarded either as welcome statesmanship reflecting his thinking that Trump may actually be going down, and that the GOP presidential nomination, otherwise a pipe dream as far as Flake is concerned, may actually be possible.
It may have been more of a jolt when Fox News, a virtual arm first of Trump’s candidacy and thereafter his White House, announced its support for CNN’s lawsuit against Trump seeking the reinstatement of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. The Trump team revoked Acosta’s press pass for being “disrespectful,” which is Trumpspeak for not being servile. This, of course, was simply retaliation against Acosta and his network for coverage critical of the administration, and it was too much even for Fox News. “Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponized,” the conservative outlet’s president said in a statement. “We do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people.” The fact that the federal judge who ordered Trump to reinstate Acosta’s press credentials was a Trump appointee could only have generated muttered “Et tu, Brutes” — and a whole lot worse — in the Oval Office.
The week ended with an interview by George Conway, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway’s husband, revealing that he had withdrawn his name from consideration for an administration appointment after concluding that it was a “(expletive)-show in a dumpster fire.” This observation is straight from the lips of Captain Obvious for most Americans. It may be that the light has gone on for some others as well.