The degradation of the GOP

By Amy Davidson Sorkin

When Sarah Huckabee Sanders .. was explaining last week why .. Trump had chosen to endorse .. Moore .. she made the decision sound natura l— and perhaps, in the current political moment, it was. Moore may be facing multiple allegations that he preyed on teen-age girls (he has denied "sexual misconduct" ), but Trump.. sees him as "a person that supports his agenda." That prompted a reporter to wonder how much .. they shared. Does .. Trump .. "agree with Roy Moore that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress?" "I haven't asked him about a past statement from .. Moore," Sanders said. Her answer .. summarizes the nihilism of .. Washington, where, when questioned whether the President would ban a religious group from Capitol Hill, his spokeswoman won't say .. without checking.

In less than a year in office, Trump has led the G.O.P. into situations and alliances so degraded that the Party may never fully recover ... Last week, Donald Trump, Jr., refused to answer questions .. about .. conversations with his father, and a plea deal that Mueller struck with .. Flynn .. indicates that Trump's son-in-law .. may be under scrutiny ... Last Monday, the day that Trump endorsed Moore, Axios reported that one of the President's lawyers .. suggested that .. if the President does it, it isn't really a crime. But each day dawns with a possibility that Trump will disgrace the Presidency more than he already has ...

It would be inaccurate .. to say that the President has acted alone, or without the coöperation of his party. There have been a few eloquent protests from members of Congress who are retiring or seem to think that they have nothing left to lose politically ... But, last week, when Trump let the R.N.C. know that he was supporting Moore, it began pouring money into his campaign. "The President says jump and the RNC jumps," a Party official told the Wall Street Journal.

McConnell's acquiescence is .. striking since he has become a useful symbol of the Party establishment that Moore professes to oppose. Last Tuesday .. Moore told the crowd that he knew that Trump was "trying so hard" to do everything he had promised during the campaign — end Obamacare, tear up nafta, build the wall. He was just being held back by the likes of McConnell ...

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/donald-trump-roy-moore-and-the-degradation-of-the-gop