How Important Is Disavowing Herr Trumpf

Pete'n'Fred-- Trumpf enablers

As funny as it sounds to Democrats that Mitch McConnell is encouraging vulnerable Republican senators to make ads to save their own necks by running ads against Trumpf during the general election, Democratic candidates for Republican-held House seats are already reminding voters that the incumbents are, at the minimum, implicitly backing Trumpf by refusing to distance themselves from him and his hateful, divisive, anti-American rhetoric.

Yesterday, Paul Clements, who's running against hereditary multimillionaire and job-outsourcer Fred Upton, a guy very much like Trumpf in several ways, asked media in southwest Michigan if Upton will be supporting Herr Trumpf if he's the Republican nominee for President. "The question," he wrote, "must be raised in advance of Michigan's March 8th primary. Will he support his Party if the platform is:

•      A complete denial of climate science?
•      Not disavowing hate groups, like the KKK?
•      Opposing raising the minimum wage?
•      Flagrantly disrespectful to women?
•      Advocating for appointment of Supreme Court justices who will overturn the LGBT marriage equality decision of Obergefell v. Hodges and promote a law allowing LGBT discrimination, like the controversial Indiana law?
•      Rounding up and deporting 11 million people, including people brought here as infants?
•      Ending birthright citizenship?
•      A foreign policy that includes carpet-bombing civilians and other war crimes, like murdering the families of terrorists?
•      Bring back waterboarding as an instrument of interrogation?

Clements called on Upton to openly reject Herr Trumpf’s policies and to stop hiding under his bed and shaking and to be man enough to urge Michiganders to vote against him in the upcoming Republican primary. He wants him to join other mainstream Republicans, like Sen Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA) and former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman (R-NJ) to pledge not to vote for him in the General Election if he's the Republican nominee.

Clements: "With Donald Trump emerging as the clear front-runner in the GOP race, it’s time for Congressman Upton to be up-front with people of Michigan’s Sixth District. It’s time for him to go on the record and state whether he will vote for Donald Trump in the General Election if he is the Republican nominee for President. Donald Trump embodies many of the worst qualities present in American politics today. His xenophobic views stand contrary to the principles that this great country was founded on, and the disrespectful statements on women, minorities, and the LGBT community need to be repudiated outright."

The South Bend Tribune tried to get an answer out of Upton. He had a spokesperson tell them that "Fred is staying out of the day-to-day dramatics of the presidential race. Fred’s focus right now is on the work right in front of him, of which there is plenty." But that was a lie. Tuesday Upton was on WHTC Morning News yacking away about the state of the presidential race, carefully keeping away from saying whether or not he'd back Herr Trumpf in the general election or try to help the establishment stop him before that.

DuWayne Gregory, who's taking on Trump-ambivalent Long Island Congressman Peter King this year, couldn't agree more. He also sent out a statement to the media, although his was calling on King to retract his promise to support Herr Trumpf should he receive the Republican nomination for president. "Donald Trump’s failure to disavow the KKK is further proof that he is completely unfit to be president, but Peter King has repeatedly promised to support him should he become the Republican nominee,” said Gregory. "I call on Peter King to retract his promise to support a Trump ticket and unequivocally disavow Donald Trump. The White House has no room for Trump’s misogyny and racism, and neither should Peter King."

On Sunday, King criticized Trump for his remarks on the KKK, saying that if Trump were telling the truth, "then he’s dumb. If it’s not true, then he’s lying about a real moral issue." However, following King’s endorsement last week of Marco Rubio, the congressman promised to support Herr Trumpf were he to receive the nomination, saying, "I will support the nominee of the party... If Donald Trump is the nominee of the party, you know, that’s the choice."



The growing list of Republicans who have publicly repudiated Herr Trumpf as of this morning-- who say they will not vote for him in November against Bernie or Hillary-- includes these elected officials and former elected officials:

• Gov. Charlie Baker (MA)
• Rep. Carlos Curbelo (FL)
• Former Senator Mel Martínez (FL)
• Former Gov, Mitt Romney (MA)
• Former Gov. George Pataki (NY)
• Former Rep. Ron Paul (TX)
• Rep. Reid Ribble (WI)
• Former Gov. Tom Ridge (PA)
• Rep. Scott Rigell (VA)
• Rep. Mark Sanford (SC)
• Sen. Ben Sasse (NE)
• Former Rep. J.C. Watts (OK)
• Former Gov. Christine Todd (NJ)

Upton and King are both cowards. They need to grow a pair, the way Christie Todd Whitman has when she said on national television she'd vote for Hillary before voting for Herr Trumpf. Don't these guys remember something about putting the country first, not their crackpot political party? Help release Upton and King with Clements and Gregory. How? Follow the magic thermometer:

UPDATE: More GOP Electeds Say No Trumpf Ever

The list is continuing to grown. Newest "No, not ever Republicans now include Justin Amash (R-MI) and Robert Dold (R-IL). Amash, who first endorsed Rand Paul and then Ted Cruz, told Reason TV that he thinks "Trump presents a kind of threat to our system that is maybe in some ways bigger than what the Democrats present because he’s attacking from the right, or what’s perceived as the right. I think actually what he’s pushing is basically a leftist philosophy but he’s coming at it from the Republican party side of things. So if he undermines the concept of liberty on our side of the aisle and you already have the Democrats weakened where they’ve basically given up on the concept of following the Constitution, I don’t know who’s left. So in some ways, it could be more dangerous."