GOP lawmakers respond to Donald Trump's post-Orlando comments & his not-so-veiled accusations against President Obama that conservative commentator & former Trump acolyte Joe Scarborough flat-out labeled "treasonous":
At least two Republican senators showed a suggestion of backbone. Senator Bob Corker - ""I do not think the comments that were made yesterday by Mr. Trump were necessarily the type of comments that needed to be made after 50 people perished." Ditto Senator Jeff Flake - "I'm not hopeful right now," adding that Trump's "ill-informed, ill-conceived ban on Muslims" was damaging the Republican Party.
Senator Jeff Sessions, on the other hand, gave his thumbs up to Monday's speech and/or comments - "It was a good speech. He told the truth about the threat we are facing," adding Trump "showed leadership and strength."
But most of our nation's top elected officials did their best to dodge the questions...
Senator Ted Cruz - “I’m happy to address the substantive challenges facing this country. But I have no interest in providing play-by-play color commentary on the ongoing political battles in the presidential battle.”
Senator Richard Burr - When asked for a response to Trump's insinuation that President Obama is working against America's best interests, replied "take that up with the Trump campaign." Asked about Trump's speech, he couldn't answer because he hadn't seen the speech, but promised, “I’ll go read,” said as he lit into an elevator at the Capitol.
Senator Orrin Hatch - "I didn't see that comment. Did he actually say that? I don't know anything about that."
Senator. Mike Enzi -“I don’t make any comments on the presidential candidates. If you’ve got an issue you want to talk to me about that I’m working on, I’m happy to talk about it.”
My state's Senator Pat Toomey - "I didn't follow it closely."
Senator Jon Cornyn - actually, he refuses to say anything about his party's presumed candidate because he considers it "a distraction." (But he has plenty to say about calls over the past days to make it harder for people to purchase weapons of mass destruction that belong on a battlefield, not a suburban rifle case.)
Senator Dan Coats - "I've said enough about Donald Trump for a while and I have to focus on a couple of other things."
Senator Tim Scott - "You know…hmm," then walked away from reporters & onto the safety of the Senate floor.
Congressman Patrick McHenry - "I just left a conference dealing with a [Defense] appropriations bill. That's where I'm focused."
Senator Lamar Alexander refused to make any comment, explaining that Trump is not the party's nominee yet. - to whit, "'We do not have a nominee until after the convention." When it was pointed out that Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, it's reported Sen. Alexander replied, 'That's what you say."
But as WSP* as each of those is, none comes close to the sheer breathtaking lack of guts found in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's stunning, “I’m not going to be commenting on the presidential candidates today.” Hopefully, we can hear something a bit more worthy of his position today.
Take the responses together & we get a stunning, frankly shocking abdication of leadership.
*Wimpy Spineless Pantywaist
ADDENDUM (2:15 p.m.) ~ ~ My thanks to Robert Reich for stating far more eloquently than I could my sense of utter disgust with what passes today for GOP leadership:
"Why are there so few statesmen left in the Republican Party? Are there no principled Republicans whose loyalty to the nation is greater than their eagerness to win back the White House? No Republican leaders with the courage to stand up and say this is wrong -- that this man doesn't have the character or the temperament to be president, and his election would endanger America and everything we believe in and stand for?"
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