If anyone were to ever ask me about Republicans who support Donald Trump for president I would answer by starting with Speaker Paul Ryan. I would start with him because he is the number one Republican elected official and because he is (was?) a rising star in the Republican Party. I can’t recall whether or not it was before or after he endorsed Donald Trump but he said that Secretary Clinton was so irresponsible that she should not be allowed to receive classified security briefings. And Speaker Ryan believes that Donald Trump is responsible and should receive these briefings? Based on the following quote from Speaker Ryan, that must be the case.
According to an article in Real Clear Politics posted by Ian Schwartz on July 6, 2016 Speaker Ryan said “…But I don’t think she should get classified information, and I think the [Director of National Intelligence] DNI should block it given how recklessly she handled this from the start. It is Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Yes, Donald Trump is far better to be commander-in-chief than Hillary Clinton in my mind.”
Back on May 25, 2016, Josh Barro wrote an article about Speaker Paul Ryan in Business Insider entitled ‘All Paul Ryan has left is his dignity, and he must not let Donald Trump steal it.’ In that article, Mr. Barro said:
“Ryan cannot do anything about the fact that Trump has ruined his plan to work with a Republican president to dramatically reshape how the government taxes and spends. Ryan’s grand plans for 2017 are in ruins, whether he endorses Trump or not, and whether Trump wins or loses.”
“That means the only thing of value Ryan has left is his dignity – and it would be quite irrational for him to allow it to be taken from him.”
Well Mr. Barro, welcome to Trump world, the irrational world that Mr. Trump – against all odds – has somehow managed to create; or better put, to conjure up. A short time before the writing of this article, Speaker Ryan endorsed Donald Trump. Based on your tool of measurement, Speaker Ryan no longer has his dignity. And based on his silence about the totally unacceptable things that Mr. Trump has said since he endorsed him and his refusal to withdraw that endorsement, he has sealed that loss of dignity. Only time will tell if he will ever be able to regain it.
All of the other Republicans who have thrown their support behind Donald Trump have also lost their dignity. They put love of the Republican Party and political career above doing what is right and even the retention of their dignity. It is unlikely that any of those politicians who have endorsed Mr. Trump would publicly admit that they did so for party and/or career purposes. But when they are in the privacy of their own homes and look at themselves in the mirror I believe that they can’t help but to recoil in shame and feel the pain. They hurt for themselves, they hurt for their children and grandchildren, and they hurt for the American people. In the privacy of their own homes they feel the pain because political spin does not work there; it cannot fool the man in the mirror.
There is no doubt that the choices they are faced with and must make are hard ones, but those choices come with the territory. We elected them to make those tough choices. Just recently, Donald Trump said some harsh things about two Gold Star family parents, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, one of whom spoke at the Democratic National Convention. What that parent said about Mr. Trump was unflattering and most people, just like Donald Trump, would likely have retaliated with angry rhetoric whether or not what that person said was true.
But Mr. Trump is not ‘most people’, he is the Republican nominee to be president. His better judgment should have forbade him to respond in the way that he did; but it didn’t. Therein lies the problem: he could not resist! He could not help but to respond with angry rhetoric! He has done this kind of thing many times before and all of those Republican politicians who have endorsed him know that this is a major problem for someone who aspires to occupy the Oval Office and yet they tenaciously preserve those endorsements of him. Why is that? Why do they do this when they constantly have to repudiate the things that he says and distance themselves from him?
The Gold Star parent who spoke at the Democratic National Convention implored Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to rebuke Mr. Trump for the many demeaning things that he has said about Muslims, minorities and women and asked that they withdraw their endorsement of him. So far, they have refused to do so and Mr. Khan said that their refusal to withdraw their endorsements is based strictly on political reasons. This is likely the answer to the ‘why is that?’ question that was previously asked and, sadly, he is simply stating the obvious.
To be clear, despite the anger and frustration that is gripping our country, Hillary Clinton should be the victor in November. I hope that she will be because she has a proven track record that says that she is prepared to lead America in these daunting times. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has no meaningful record that says that he is capable of leading America and he has yet to reveal any plans as to how he will lead America if he is elected. The record that he does have is that of a narcissistic braggart and heartless blowhard with a temperament that falls far short of someone who aspires to hold the esteemed office of President of the United States of America. Which candidate will it be? The choice is yours, America.
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line