Trumpanzee Lashes Out In All Directions-- Congressional Republicans Are Victims Of Domestic Abuse

Trump is fighting with Republicans again. He's all but endorsed one of the right-wing lunatics primarying Jeff Flake (R-AZ)-- and is expected to explicitly do so when he travels to Phoenix to pardon Joe Arpaio this weekend. He seemed peeved that Flake pointed out in his new book that Trump's antics are "the spasms of a dying party." On top of his feud with Flake, Trump's been on a rampage against Lindsey Graham again after Graham addressed him directly in regard to his horrifying Charlottesville comments that offered succor to muderous Nazis the KKK and domestic terrorists:

"Mr. President, I encourage you to try to bring us together as a nation after this horrific event in Charlottesville. Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them... I, along with many others, do not endorse this moral equivalency. Many Republicans do not agree with and will fight back against the idea that the Party of Lincoln has a welcome mat out for the David Dukes of the world." Trump's reaction was to call Graham "publicity seeking" and to say he "just can't forget his election trouncing." He then threatened "The people of South Carolina will remember!"

David Nakamura covered the spat between Trump and the 2 Republican senators for the Washington Post yesterday. "In a morning tweetstorm," he wrote, "Trump lambasted Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (SC) and Jeff Flake (AZ), calling Graham 'publicity-seeking' and Flake 'toxic,' and endorsing a primary challenger to Flake in his reelection bid next year.'"

Trump's tweets made clear that the president is willing to challenge fellow Republican lawmakers and potentially imperil their reelection chances if they criticize him. The GOP holds a narrow 52-48 margin in the Senate, though most political analysts say it will be difficult for Democrats to win back the chambers in 2018 due to the election map favoring Republicans.

But Trump also needs to maintain party loyalty to help pass his legislative agenda, including upcoming efforts at tax revision and, perhaps, infrastructure. Graham's fellow Republican senator from Arizona, John McCain, cast a crucial vote against the GOP's effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, prompting Trump to attack him repeatedly.

But it's worse than the Twitter rages. McClatchy's Katie Glueck reported Wednesday on how deeply anxious Republicans are that Trumpanzee is ruining their brand. And do they ever deserve it! "If Donald Trump’s campaign stomped all over the Republican Party’s 2012 plans to build a more diverse movement," she wrote, "his refusal now to squarely blame white supremacists and neo-Nazis for Charlottesville violence has destroyed those efforts entirely." So much for Priebus' autopsy report and any hopes the GOP might start making inroads with fast-growing Hispanic and Asian electorates. And people under 40. "[A]fter the president this week insisted that there were 'very fine people' among those who violently marched at a white supremacist rally, many Republicans fear that Trump is reinforcing the same negative perceptions about the party that they have spent years working to combat."

“Our plan is to reach out and talk to people who haven’t always agreed with us,” said Emmanuel Wilder, a North Carolina-based activist with the Young Republican National Federation. Trump’s comments, he said, make it that much harder. “It’s a major step back. The fact that the head of the party cannot call a spade a spade, it hurts…it’s near impossible for us to try to explain. It’s not really explainable.”


Added a dejected Republican state party chairman, “If he intended that-- that’s almost so crazy that it’s sad. And of course, it’s counter to what the Republican Party has been trying to do, and sincerely so by most of us, for years: to let people of all races and backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances know they have a home in the Republican Party.”


Interviews with a dozen Republican operatives and activists around the country revealed genuine frustration-- and for some, disgust-- over Trump’s repeated suggestions that there is an equivalence between the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists who marched in Virginia this weekend, and those who turned out to protest them, even as a woman died after a white supremacist rammed a car into a group of the counter-protesters.

“He is destroying the GOP one day at a time, one reckless statement and action at a time,” said Sally Bradshaw, a longtime adviser to Jeb Bush who co-authored the “autopsy” report and went on to leave the party over Trump. “Why would anyone consider supporting a political party when the leader of the party is anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-woman, and anti-black? He makes me sick.”


Some expressed relief that a significant number of GOP lawmakers robustly rebuked Trump’s remarks, and those looking ahead to congressional elections are hopeful that voters will be able to distinguish between Trump and hometown lawmakers, as was the case in many competitive 2016 contests.

We spoke with several Democratic congressional candidates about how that is playing out in their own districts. Derrick Crowe, Blue America's newest endorsed candidate, told us pretty much what almost all the candidates are saying about their own races. "Lamar Smith has issued no official press release on the events beyond a vague tweet. He's said nothing to condemn White supremacy as an ideology. He's not mentioned the death of an American at the hands of a domestic terrorist. He's said nothing critical of Donald Trump's stunningly insipid remarks on the topic. It's clear Trump's first congressional donor is no more willing to criticize Trump than Trump is willing to criticize Putin."

Sam Jammal is the Blue America-endorsed progressive Democrat running in CA-39. He pointed out that "These GOP ties to the KKK and Neo-Nazis are really concerning. We know where Trump stands, but really don't know where the rest of the Republican Party stands, especially Ed Royce. A few years back, he actually spoke at a rally against multi-culturalism which is kind of crazy when you consider that he represents a heavy immigrant district that is 2/3rds communities of color. Last election, the district even voted 60-40% to pass a ballot initiative returning bilingual education as an option in our schools. Proving just how out of step he is, Ed has a long history of supporting English Only policies. Ed's game plan seems to be to say reasonable sounding things when people are paying attention, but do extreme things when they are not-- like speaking at this rally or taking photos with hate group leaders. This is not the type of leadership we need, especially given Trump's full embrace of racial divisions. I think people are now paying attention and Ed is going to have a lot of explaining to do."  

Jenny Marshall, Virginia Foxx's opponent in NC-05, isn't shy about making sure residents of Forsyth, Watauga, Iredell, Wilkes, Davidson, Rowan counties know that "Foxx's silence on President Trump’s statement on Charlottesville shows that she supports a president who condones, and some would say encourages, white nationalists.  But again, let’s be clear-- Virginia Foxx has chosen repeatedly to ignore racism in our home state of North Carolina and throughout the nation. Just this year, federal courts struck down laws created by the North Carolina state legislature because they found that they had directly disenfranchised people of color. Foxx supports these laws and other efforts like them, showing that she has no commitment to at-risk communities. I believe that the people of North Carolina deserve representatives who will take a stand against racism, not just on twitter, but in the halls of congress. Congress must schedule oversight hearings of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland security to ensure that resources are allocated to combat white nationalists, neo-nazis and other hate groups. When elected, I will fight for this type of congressional oversight to ensure that every American is treated fairly and can feel safe."

In another sign of just how deeply the incident is resonating among people of color, two African American commentators-- one from the left, one from the right-- broke down in tears while discussing the issue on Fox News.

Trump’s remarks Tuesday were a stunning reversal from the more explicit condemnation of hate groups that he offered Monday, following several days of criticism for an equivocating initial statement on the Charlottesville violence.

The comments sparked the most significant Republican backlash his administration has faced to date, with leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushing back on Trump’s characterizations.

Notably, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers, not known as a routine Trump critic, swiped on Twitter: “I don't understand what's so hard about this. White supremacists and Neo-Nazis are evil and shouldn't be defended.”

“Politics is about expansion, not contraction,” said Glen Bolger, a prominent GOP strategist and pollster working on midterm races. “Language like that, as many senators and congresspeople have noted, is not exactly helpful in terms of expanding the coalition. Nobody’s coalition wants Nazis-- or should want Nazis-- in it. It was baffling to say the least.”

Bolger said that it was far too early to gauge what the long-term implications of the incident might be for the GOP brand in the next election, given the pace of the news cycle. But some Republicans are concerned that the moment has the potential to do long-term harm.

“I worry the president’s remarks yesterday undermine everything that we are as a party,” said former New Hampshire GOP Chair Jennifer Horn. “As the party of Lincoln, we are built on the very concept of inclusion, equality, freedom for all. His comments undermine that considerably.”

Indeed, in his remarks Tuesday, Trump did not emphasize the GOP’s “party of Lincoln” reputation, instead equating monuments to Confederate leaders with those for presidents such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. He suggested that if Confederate symbols come down, as rally-goers in Charlottesville were agitating against, then those honoring U.S. presidents and Founding Fathers could be next.

“As a party, we go out of the way to try to spread that message” of inclusion, Horn continued. “Having a president who calls himself a Republican and then makes these kinds of comments obviously undermines that message.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Democrats are already making clear that they plan to use Trump’s remarks to tarnish the entire GOP brand. Coming from a corrupt and morally reprehensible character like Debbie Wasserman Schultz makes it hard to take seriously, but listen to how Randy Bryce, Paul Ryan's 2018 opponent put it: