Good morning, Playbookers. It is Sunday, and yes, it is the “Meet the Press” host here as your guest author.
Forgive us for being a tad bleary-eyed this morning. The Packers (my team) and the Bills (Executive Producer John Reiss’ team) had the nerve of playing SATURDAY playoff games. … But the good news: They both won. A fine distraction from an otherwise miserable start to the year. Now, back to work.
The Trump era is going to take years or even decades to reconcile when it comes to its place in American history. What we know already is consequential enough, and I’m certain what we don’t (yet) know will only add to the I-told-you-so’s that are already prevalent in the current discourse.
One of the hallmarks of the Trump era that anyone who works for a mainstream Sunday show knows all too well has been the selective silence of a large chunk of the elected leaders of the Republican Party, particularly in the United States Senate.
This week is no different from just about every other Sunday of the Trump era: a large swath of mainstream GOPers choosing silence over being forced to reconcile their role and the party’s role in the Trump era.
I’m sure many of these senators who chose to stay quiet in the beginning felt justified in staying off the airwaves. Why should we have to answer for the president’s behavior, some of them thought. Or perhaps more cynically, why stick my head up and let Trump supporters take a shot for being disloyal. Let Jeff Flake or Mitt Romney do it.
I say this not to discount the political or physical harm these folks may have felt in the moment. I’m sure the potential threats to their families and the risk of losing their political careers were also drivers of their near-silence the past four years.
No matter the reason, the silence only ended up reinforcing the belief that only Democrats and members of the media were feeling outrage at the president’s actions — that somehow this was some partisan or media-driven witch hunt for the president.
Personally, it’s been very frustrating to deal with, because of how cynical and exploitative the reason is for the avoidance. One of the laziest tropes in conservative circles is the issue of media bias. It’s such a reflexive response these days.
It’s about all many conservative infotainment hosts on TV and radio have left to fire up an audience, since Trump presents no seriously identifiable ideology to promote or defend. Media bashing works with much of the GOP grassroots; that’s translated into various Senate GOP press shops wanting to avoid poking the rabid right-wing bears by appearing on legitimate news shows.
It’s obviously hard to watch the media get abused this way so a few grifters can sell more newsletters or scam a few bucks. But such is the state of how the current Trump-centric conservative ecosystem works.
A handful of GOP senators have tried to regularly make themselves available. But they’re few and far between.
I do believe a majority of Republicans in the Senate are appalled by many things in the last four years. Many of these senators have said as much to us in private.
Some have even given hints of their disgust in strongly worded press releases and the occasional tweet. One senator appears to use Bible verses as a way to attempt to send some subtle message that he disapproves of the political climate on the right.
But these attempts appear designed to virtue-signal to the political elite of Washington or the donor elite of the GOP that haven’t been as shy about expressing their disgust for Trump’s behavior.
They aren’t comfortable leveling these critiques for a large audience to hear and judge for themselves. Many of these Republican senators would hide during the worst moments of the Trump era, then would pop up during the debates over tax cuts or a Supreme Court justice so they could somehow “look” as if they were still on Team Trump.
I’m someone who believes to cover American politics you do have to understand the dynamics of campaigns, not just general elections but primary elections too. I’m well aware of the strategic advice many of these senators got in the last four years from political consultants. Many have moral integrity, but many do not.
And while it’s politically explainable why a Nebraska Republican would be reticent to use a network bullhorn to criticize the president if that Nebraska Republican wanted to stay a senator past the Trump era, there is a consequence that comes with it — sending a subtle message that the president’s behavior is tolerable enough.
Fast forward to now, when all the worst fears of where Trump’s rhetoric could lead have come true. If this isn’t the moment for a reckoning inside the GOP, there’s never going to be one.
