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As Republicans flee Trump, the question becomes, ‘Why now?’
10/09/16 02:04 PMBy Steve Benen
What makes Donald Trump’s latest scandal different from all the others is the reaction from his party. From Friday night to Saturday night, we saw more than a few Republican officials – senators, governors, U.S. House members, et al – abandon the controversial GOP presidential nominee in droves.
There are quite a few lists available of those participating in the Republican stampede, but I’m partial to this one, put together by the University of Chicago’s (and Daily Kos’) Daniel Nichanian, who broke down the list with helpful categories.
To be sure, even now, a clear majority of Republican officials are still aboard the Trump Train, and no one from the House or Senate leadership has formally abandoned the candidate. That said, the dozens of GOP officials who have given up on Trump since Friday afternoon is both striking and without precedent in American campaign history.
There’s a temptation among many to see these departures as a noble act. As the argument goes, many Republicans, rather than defend Trump’s indefensible comments (and professed actions), are putting principle above party and giving up on a candidate unfit for office. By this reasoning, these GOP officials deserve credit for responding to the latest revelations by finally doing the right thing. But the truth is more complicated. Politico had a piece on this yesterday that summarized the problem nicely.
The problem for Donald Trump’s supporters as they rush for the exit over that 2005 tape of him bragging about sexual harassment and assault: answering why this was what pushed them over the edge on him, or if it even did.
Anyone who bails or rushes to condemn him now implicitly accepted everything that’s come before – his saying Mexicans are rapists, that Megyn Kelly must have been menstruating when she aggressively questioned him at an early primary debate, that Muslims should be banned, that he didn’t know enough about David Duke to condemn the former Ku Klux Klan wizard, that women should be punished for having abortions, all while welcoming the support of Nazis and white nationalists, mocking a reporter for his disabled arm, insisting a judge with Latino heritage couldn’t rule fairly against him, smearing Khizr and Ghazala Khan, suggesting Hillary Clinton be shot, keeping up his birtherism softshoe and encouraging Russian hackers to go after his opponent’s files.
Anyone who bails or rushes to condemn him now implicitly accepted everything that’s come before – his saying Mexicans are rapists, that Megyn Kelly must have been menstruating when she aggressively questioned him at an early primary debate, that Muslims should be banned, that he didn’t know enough about David Duke to condemn the former Ku Klux Klan wizard, that women should be punished for having abortions, all while welcoming the support of Nazis and white nationalists, mocking a reporter for his disabled arm, insisting a judge with Latino heritage couldn’t rule fairly against him, smearing Khizr and Ghazala Khan, suggesting Hillary Clinton be shot, keeping up his birtherism softshoe and encouraging Russian hackers to go after his opponent’s files.
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-flee-trump-the-question-becomes-why-now?cid=sm_fb_maddow
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