Back in June, after Donald Trump had peaceful protesters outside the White House tear gassed to clear the way for a bizarre photo-op with a Bible, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt asked Republicans on Capitol Hill for their thoughts on the matter. One by one, GOP lawmakers demurred. Some said they hadn’t seen it, even though the outrageous display of strongman tactics had dominated the previous evening’s news cycle. Some ignored her. Some, like Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi, claimed they were “late for lunch” and scuttled by. It was embarrassing, but hardly a new maneuver on their part: Unwilling to ever cross Trump, Republicans have to either defend his every move to the press or walk on by—and sometimes, it’s just easier to fake a phone call.
Their silence since the election is just another shameful example of their cowardice. Trump, who lost to Joe Biden, baselessly insists he actually won and refuses to concede, unleashing a torrent of transparent lies that a massive voter fraud conspiracy undermined his victory. Nobody really believes this, except for the most dedicated of the MAGA faithful and maybe Rudy Giuliani. But most of his party has gone along with it anyway, endorsing his unfounded challenges to the election results or keeping their mouths shut as he sows doubt in the legitimacy of the vote and threatens the peaceful transfer of power.
Seemingly aware they’d be asked to respond to the president’s tidal wave of bullshit, Republicans have shied away from television appearances outside the friendly confines of Fox News. Every single GOP senator was invited on Meet the Press this past Sunday, moderator Chuck Todd tweeted, but none accepted. They didn’t show their faces on the other major Sunday talk shows, either—unable, perhaps, to defend him with a straight face, but unwilling to suffer the consequences of breaking from him.
Two years ago, Republican Mike DeWine was an “outstanding man” who had Trump’s “total endorsement” in his gubernatorial race. But after the Ohio governor correctly referred to Biden as the president-elect in a CNN appearance this weekend, Trump hopped on Twitter to sandbag him. “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio?” Trump wrote Monday, after Fox News reported on DeWine’s comments. “Will be hotly contested!”
DeWine’s Republican colleagues, it seems, are still living in fear of the dreaded Trump tweet—his days in office may be numbered, but he still has a fervent base to wield against them. It’s unclear, though, how scared they should be of turning off the MAGA faithful, considering high-profile Republicans kept their seats in the election and the GOP made gains in the House, all while Trump himself was defeated. But even if capitulating to Trump remains in their political interests, it’s clearer than ever that it’s not in the country’s. Not every Republican has pulled a Lindsey Graham and actively cheered on Trump’s anti-democratic lies. A few, including Mitt Romney, have actually congratulated Biden on his win. But none of these lawmakers have forcefully denounced Trump’s unmoored conduct, and many have remained shamefully silent as he drags out his delusional crusade against the election results. Some certainly have their own craven motivations for enabling him. Others maybe don’t see the harm in “humoring” him, as one administration official put it recently.
But his lies already appear to be doing significant damage. A Politico/Morning Consult poll last week found that 70 percent of Republicans distrust the election results. That doubt could continue to grow if Trump’s lies are allowed to fester. This would pose problems in the short-term for Biden, whose presidency may be seen as illegitimate by a number of Trump’s supporters, and in the longterm for American democracy as a whole, which relies on a certain level of trust in order to function. It’s well beyond time for Republicans to put the good of the country first, even if it means the raving president will say something mean about them on the internet. If the last four years are any indication, though, it’s hard to imagine any of them suddenly finding their backbone now.
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