The AM Joy panel erupted Saturday when a Republican strategist quite stunningly defended Donald Trump’s new assertion that 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico didn’t actually happen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Former South Carolina GOP chair Katon Dawson brushed the president’s comments aside and said it’s time to “move on.” He claimed Trump’s rhetoric is in line with how other U.S. presidents reacted to bad hurricane press.
“Politicians have the ability to … try to dismiss bad things,” the GOP strategist said.
In response, the AM Joy panel – particularly conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin – teed off on Dawson for being a Trump shill and not denouncing the president.
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“I still didn’t hear Katon condemning the president … for denying the death of 3,000 Americans and that’s why, in my view, the Republican Party is unrescuable,” Rubin said. “You have too many people who are too invested in defending this guy and not calling him out and not calling him to account. You can’t have a party in power that does that. It’s totally irresponsible. It’s morally and politically irresponsible.”
Video:
It doesn’t go well for a GOP strategist after he tries to defend Trump’s Puerto Rico lie. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/wF1WEQkWZQ
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) September 15, 2018
Trump’s Puerto Rico rhetoric is indefensible
The half-assed non-condemnations Republicans have issued since the president claimed 3,000 Americans didn’t die in Puerto Rico is just the latest demonstration of how far the GOP has fallen in the Trump era.
As I said just after the president tweeted out his Puerto Rico conspiracy theory, this lie is on the same level as Alex Jones calling the Sandy Hook massacre a hoax.
Right now, the InfoWars founder faces lawsuits and is being banished from social media platforms for pushing such dangerous lies. Sadly, the President of the United States won’t face the same repercussions.
That’s because, day after day, he is protected by a Republican Party that has long lost the ability to feel shame.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
