For four years now, it has been an open question of what it
would take to get Republican congressmen to break with Donald Trump. As the whistleblower
scandal widens, it appears that we may be reaching a point of enough-is-enough.
So far, at least three Republican senators have broken with the party to
criticize President Trump for requesting that Ukraine aid his personal attorney
in investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.
The first Republican senator to speak out against the
president’s actions was Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a frequent Trump critic. Back in
September, Sasse
said that the whistleblower allegations contained “real troubling things.” Sasse
added, “Republicans ought not just circle the wagons” to protect Trump.”
Earlier this week, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), joined Sasse in breaking
with the Administration. In particular, Grassley was at odds with Republican
attacks on the credibility of the whistleblower based on the belief that the
complaint was based on secondhand information.
“This person appears to have followed the whistleblower
protection laws and ought to be heard out and protected. We should always work
to respect whistleblowers,” Grassley said in Politico.
“Complaints based on second-hand information should not be rejected out of
hand, but they do require additional leg work to get at the facts and evaluate
the claim’s credibility.”
Now, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is also breaking ranks. “Whistleblowers
should be protected," Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa told a constituent at a town
hall yesterday. "I stand with Chuck Grassley on this. We have laws in
place."
NBC
News reported that the constituent also asked, “Where is the line [that
Trump would have to cross to lose Republican support]?”
"You didn't pledge an oath to the president, you
pledged it to our country, you pledged it to our Constitution. When are you
guys going to start standing up and actually be there for us?" the constituent
asked.
Ernst answered, “The president is going to say what the
president is going to do. It's up to us as members of the Congress to continue
working with our allies making sure that we remain strong in a face of
adversity."
A lot of Americans would like to know just what it will take
to break the bond between Trump and the GOP. This is not the first time that
Republican officials have criticized the president’s actions. Some Republicans
have criticized the president on issues such as the firing of James Comey,
interference in the Russia investigation, and the trade war. However, few, if
any, have gone so far as to retract endorsements of the president’s re-election
campaign.
It is beginning to look like the 2020 campaign may look a
lot like a mirror image of 2016. In the last election, Hillary Clinton was
damaged by the constant drip of damaging information from her email scandal and
WikiLeaks dumps of stolen DNC emails. This time around, it appears that the drip
of damaging information may be aimed at Donald Trump.
At this point, it appears that the whistleblower scandal
will continue to unfold in a slow dribble of embarrassing and possibly
incriminating leaks about Donald Trump. With 13 months left to go before the
election, Republicans have time to rally behind an alternative candidate, but
time is running out. If the leaks are coordinated, as it appears that they are,
Democrats may stage the scandal so that the most embarrassing and damaging
information comes out after Mr. Trump has clinched the Republican nomination
next year, leaving Republicans with both a mortally damaged candidate and an
economy that is slowing due to the trade war.
While most Republicans are still standing by the president at
this point, the excuse that “this is just Trump being Trump” only goes so far. If
continued revelations of poor judgment and possible criminal wrongdoing,
together with a slowing economy, continue to dog Trump to the point where his
campaign appears to be beyond salvaging, Republicans may finally start to may a
clean break with the president. By then, however, it may be too late for 2020.
Originally published on The
Resurgent
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