Opinion

Opinion: GOP Senators Need To Get A Grip

By News & Guts
Welcome

The American flag flies outside the U.S. Capitol before sunrise in Washington, D.C., U.S. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

It was one of those leads that makes you roll your eyes in disbelief. It’s not the reporting, or the writing, both top-notch as usual from The Washington Post. No, it’s the content. Remember, what you’re about to read was said by GOP leaders in our Congress, a co-equal branch of government, to Post reporters. Here is the lead graph:

“Republican senators are lost and adrift as the impeachment inquiry enters its second month, navigating the grave threat to President Trump largely in the dark, frustrated by the absence of a credible case to defend his conduct and anxious about the historic reckoning that likely awaits them.“

The headline of the piece reads:

‘It feels like a horror movie’: Republicans feel anxious and adrift defending Trump

Here’s the deal, folks. It’s OK to get up and walk out of a really awful movie, especially if that movie was poorly directed. But, dear GOP, like it or not, you’re cast in this film. You can play a bit part or you can be a star. But for goodness sake, perhaps it’s time for someone to rip up the script and re-write the last scene.

According to the Post, hushed conversations are happening in the halls of Congress from “GOP senators lamented that the fast-expanding probe is fraying their party, which remains completely in Trump’s grip. They voiced exasperation at the expectation that they defend the president against the troublesome picture that has been painted, with neither convincing arguments from the White House nor confidence that something worse won’t soon be discovered.“

One Republican operative complained to the Post: “There’s frustration. It feels to everyone like they’re just digging a hole and making it worse. It just never ends. . . . It’s a total [expletive] show.” 

And it’s a show that’s entirely the Republican’s making. So perhaps it’s time for some spine and courage. The Post spoke with William A. Galston, a senior fellow in governance at the Brookings Institution who said:

“There’s a reason why ‘Profiles in Courage’ is a very short book. Courage is not the norm. It’s the exception.”