On Morning Joe yesterday, Scarborough also directed a similar couple of questions towards Paul Ryan, asking him why-- since he's denounced Mr. Trumpanzee as a racist-- he's still telling the American people to vote for him. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Arizona Sen. John McCain were both asked if Mr. T could be trusted with the nuclear codes and each-- clearly embarrassed, since both understand that he absolutely can't but are afraid his legions of fans will hurt their reelection bids-- refused to answer. They do, however, claim they're going to vote for him. Pat Toomey, a similarly endangered Senate incumbent in Pennsylvania says he still doesn't know enough about Señor Trumpanzee to be able to say whether or not he will vote for him. What a bunch of straight-shooters!The Republican House leadership-- Ryan's Team-- is all united around Mr. Trumpanzee. Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Republican Caucus, are all Trumpists, as are almost all the committee chairs. A few cowards, like House Energy Committee Chair Fred Upton, are paralyzed with fear and are trying to play both sides, not saying they're for Trump, which would turn off independents and moderate Republicans, but too scared of the zombie-Trumpists to denounce him. Even imbecile Mike Coffman (R-CO), who put out a gratuitously anti-Trump TV ad is publicly telling Trump supporters in Colorado that he still might vote for Trump. There's a lot of cowards among congressional Republicans, although McCain is probably the most pathetic of the lot. Justin Amash is the polar opposite of McCain. He told his Michigan constituents that the Trumpanzee "cares about power, he doesn't really care about things like the Constitution, and I'm concerned that he could push us in a very dangerous direction." He's not voting for him.The only members of Congress who signed the letter to the RNC-- Scott Rigell (VA) and Reid Ribble (WI)-- aren't running for reelection. But there are 123 GOP "leaders" who did sign the statement that calls for the RNC to immediately stop wasting money on the Trumpanzee. In part, the letter reads:
Given the catastrophic impact that Donald Trump’s losing presidential campaign will have on down-ballot Senate and House races, we urge you to immediately suspend all discretionary RNC support for Trump and focus the entirety of the RNC’s available resources on preserving the GOP’s congressional majorities.The signatories to this letter have been involved with Republican politics at the local, state, and national levels for more than three decades. We have served as past and current elected officials and as staffers for the RNC; appointees in every Republican administration since President Reagan; advisors on the last nine GOP presidential campaigns; aides on leadership, personal, and committee staff in both the House and Senate; grassroots workers; and delegates to multiple GOP conventions.We believe that Donald Trump's divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck.This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump’s chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day. Since the GOP convention, less than a month ago, he has alienated millions of voters of all parties by:• Attacking Gold Star families of soldiers who died serving their country;• Urging a hostile foreign government to intervene in a U.S. election;• Suggesting that gun owners take action against his opponent if she is elected;• Repudiating our NATO treaty obligations to protect our allies;• Reportedly expressing interest in the preemptive use of nuclear weapons;• Exposing his total ignorance of basic foreign policy matters;• Stating his admiration for violent foreign autocrats;• Refusing to disclose any of his past taxes, including those not under audit; and• Deliberately and repeatedly lying about scores of issues, large and small.Those recent outrages have built on his campaign of anger and exclusion, during which he has mocked and offended millions of voters, including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants, and minorities. He also has shown dangerous authoritarian tendencies, including threats to ban an entire religion from entering the country, order the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, kill the families of suspected terrorists, track law-abiding Muslim citizens in databases, and use executive orders to implement other illegal and unconstitutional measures.Those disqualifying elements of Trump’s personality and positions are reflected in his plummeting support.As respected polling analyst Nate Silver recently wrote, "recent Fox News, Marist College and NBC News/Wall Street Journal national polls show Trump trailing Clinton by 9 to 14 percentage points, margins that would make for the largest general election blowout since 1984 if they held."...Every dollar spent by the RNC on Donald Trump's campaign is a dollar of donor money wasted on the losing effort of a candidate who has actively undermined the GOP at every turn. ... Only swift and decisive action can save the Republican Party and protect the hundreds of other GOP candidates running for office.
These men and women didn't need be told yesterday that Trump had announced in Wisconsin that he has no intention of pivoting or changing his approach or style.
