On Meet The Press, NBC’s Chuck Todd made it a point to tell viewers that not a single member of the Republican Congressional leadership or the White House go on his show to defend Trump.
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Todd said, “To give you a sense of how reluctant Republicans are to talk about President Trump this week, not one member of the current Republican leadership in Congress agreed to come on the broadcast this morning. In fact, even the White House was unable, or perhaps unwilling, to provide a guest, right down to the White House press secretary.”
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From Paul Ryan’s wishy-washy tweets to Mitch McConnell’s refusal to condemn Trump by name, the Republican Party has been anything but a profile in courage after their president spent most of the week defending racists and white supremacists.
Meet The Press is an institution, so Congressional leadership and the White House turning down an appearance on the show suggests that the Republican Party is in hiding. They can’t defend Trump. They don’t want to defend Trump. Privately, they might even admit that Trump is toxic and they don’t want to go anywhere near him. Trump has not made any friends in Congress. Republicans in the House and Senate would throw him under the bus in a second to save themselves.
Chuck Todd was right to inform his viewers that Republicans don’t want to defend Trump. There has to be a price to pay with the public for the Republican Party’s Trump enablement. It speaks volumes about the lack of integrity of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and their respective leadership teams that instead of facing the American people and disavowing Trump, they hid from the Sunday shows.
The problem isn’t just Donald Trump. There is also a spineless Republican congressional majority leadership that is sacrificing the country so that millionaires and billionaires can get a big tax cut.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
