Memo to queasy Congressional Republicans. Subject: Opposing Trump
Learn and apply the central lesson from the 2016 Republican Presidential primaries. Do not wait for Trump to either self destruct or to be taken down by others before taking him on yourself. If you are not firmly in Trump's camp and personally loyal to him, he will come after you. Even if you are in Trump's camp and personally loyal to him, he may well come after you anyway, at any time, if he thinks it serves his interests to do so. And he will. Who do you think Trump would rather blame for his lack of significant accomplishments in office, himself or you?
If Donald Trump is a President you want to be closely associated with come the 2018 mid term elections, by all means stand by your man - and bet your seat on it. When 2018 rolls around any Republican not having previously firmly rejected Trump's presidency will be seen as a defender of it. Or at the very least as his enabler. There will be no middle ground left.There is barely any now.
If you wait for Trump to become unpopular enough with "his base" for it to be safe enough for you to come out strongly against him, you will have sealed your fate, just like Trump's 2016 Republican Presidential primary challengers did. Trump must be confronted early, and that means NOW, so that criticism of him has time to sink in before the 2018 races begin in earnest. He (or in a few cases she) who hesitates will be lost. If you wait for Trump to simply collapse you will only be pulled down with him when it inevitably happens. If you cast a spotlight on Trump's deformities yourself now, maybe your own constituents too will come to see them in time, and credit you for your leadership when they next go to the polls.
If you don't want to stand for Trump in 2018, stand out against him now. Do so openly, do so clearly. Yes you will take hits from hard core Trump loyalists for doing so, but you can not split this baby in half. They will hate you as much for trying to hedge your bets as they would if you flat out denounce him. And there is an added bonus if you tell the public openly what you now dare only say in private to friends about this President's unfitness for office. You will be serving your nation honorably in a time of crisis. And in the long run that will look a whole lot better on your resume than will jettisoning your integrity in a desperate attempt to hold onto your seat, regardless of the final election results.
I offer this advice to Republicans with some degree of reluctance. When viewed through a partisan prism I, as a committed Democrat, believe the Republican Party will suffer essentially irreparable damage if it continues on it's current course by temporarily propping up Donald Trump. If those of you in Congress who know better than to let Trump's rule go unchecked act with that certainty now, the Republican Party will retain the capacity to rise again. Remember that after enough principled Republicans in Congress made certain that Nixon resigned in disgrace, Carter became a one term President and Republicans then took control of the White House for three consecutive terms.
Democrats will do best in 2018 if Republicans stand by Trump now. But America will suffer if the damage Trump is doing isn't forcefully countered well before the a new Congress is seated in January of 2019. Country ahead of Party. We should all be able to agree on that.
