Republican Senators

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Republican Values

Despite his rejection by a clear majority of the American people, and despite having lost the House and then the Senate to the Democrats, Donald Trump seems to have an incredible hold over the Republican Party. Whilst it is clear the leadership can’t wish him far enough, and criticise his role in the events of 6 January, they are still circumspect in their actions and words. Many members of the party have still failed to say a word against him.

The willingness to call out the ex-presidents behaviour seems to be closely correlated to the distance from re-election. For members of the House that is very soon and they are loath to risk the ire of a man renown for his commitment to revenge. The threat of being primaried or having some of the Trump war chest deployed against them retains their public if not private loyalty.

Some, of course, may be believers in Trumpism. They genuinely think the policies and practices of the past four years are consistent with the constitution and the principles of liberal democracy. In which case one cannot question their integrity though you might their judgement.

It is the ones that know Trump is definitely in the running for the worst American president of all time that are really difficult to fathom. They know the scale of the threat he has been to American Democracy but cannot bring themselves to stand up and be counted.

The job of an American Congressman, is reasonably well paid. The salary is $174,000 per annum for all members of the House and the Senate. There are no additional amounts for being the Chair of a Committee, however, the majority and minority leader in both houses receive $193k and the Speaker of the House receives $223,500.

On top of their base salary they can earn up to a maximum of 15% of a separately based figure with a current maximum allowance of $28,440 giving a potential total earnings from all employments of $202,440, approximately equivalent to £144k.

One cannot believe the concern Republican members have for the Constitution and their nations democracy is exceeded by their salary. There must be some other values which they hold so dear as to be willing to stand silent in the face of incitement to insurrection.

What can those values be?

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Will Donald J Trump be Found Guilty?

Well, of something, the answer is almost certainly yes. However, if we confine ourselves to the question of his second impeachment, and whether the Senate will find him guilty, that is far from certain.

It is pretty clear the Republican leadership would give a great deal to be rid of ex-President Trump. He has shifted the strategy of the party to focus on a nationalist, nativist, and white supremacist base that may be difficult to transform into a reliable majority vote even with the various Republican biases of the existing system. In the immediate aftermath of 6 January sentiment was running high and a strong impetus toward impeachment ran through both parties.

As time has gone by, however, a very loud cohort of the Trump base have started threatening to “primary”, if not hang, anyone who fails to support the ex-president 100%. Mitch McConnell quickly jumped back into line as some of the more extreme Republican members of the House and Senate started to compete to outshine others in their loyalty to “Trumpism”. People like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley, all seem to have their eyes set on 2024 and the 74m Trump voters they think will propel them to personal victory.

From a position of some optimism after 6 January, the brave talk of some Republican Congress men and women started to evaporate and conviction looked less and less likely.

However, this week there has been some great news. The ex-president is taking control of his own defence. The benefits of this were immediately apparent when Trump fired the lead of his legal team, a conservative and highly competent defence attorney called Butch Bowers. This resulted in a number of other lawyers in the team leaving, fired or resigned not clear.

Being fired by Trump as a lawyer is probably seen as a mixed blessing as you will not have to work with someone who is certain they know the law better than you and almost as certain is going to cut you on the fees. He is the kind of client you want a weekly fee payment with, if not daily.

Apparently, the Republican leadership are trying to convince the ex-president the strategy for impeachment should simply be that it is unconstitutional with him having left office. Trump, however, wants to rehash his bogus claims about a robbed election. The latter would certainly up the odds of him being convicted and the only thing that could make it certain is if he agreed to be a witness in his in own defence. If there was ever a need to claim the 5th Amendment, however, this would be it.

My heart would like a guilty verdict but my head thinks the republicans are still fixated on the Trump base which they think is transferable and manageable. I suspect they are wrong on both counts.

If I were one of the sensible Republican Senators I would condemn the whole trial as a sham and refuse to attend on the grounds that it would provide a spurious legitimacy to the whole business.

Obviously, I would be disappointed in the result if enough of my colleagues thought the same and thereby opened the way to a two thirds majority of those in attendance finding the ex-president guilty. Further, I would rail on Fox news about the outrageous injustice of the subsequent decision to ban Mr Trump from ever holding office again.

I would then go home and breathe an enormous sigh of relief before I got on with the job or trying to rebuild a credible Republican party committed to democratic values.

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A Frightening Disease

This is not about Covid-19, although it is related. It is about Richard Burr Republican Senator from North Carolina and Kelly Loeffler Republican Senator from Georgia. Both were given a private Senate briefing on the seriousness of the coronavirus by the US government’s top scientific advisors. 

This happened on the same day as President Trump tweeted some inane comments including “It will all work out well.” Did these two Republicans contradict their President or even attempt to shade his comments with some serious concern about the possible consequences of the disease they had just been briefed on. No. Not a word.

Was this because they thought the scientific advisors were part of the deep state attempting to undermine their President. Did they think the advice was exaggerated or unduly pessimistic. Did they think it was plain wrong. No.

They thought it was almost certainly very accurate. How do we know this? Because they went out of the meeting and sold large portions of their shareholdings before the market collapsed when the likely economic impact of the virus became public. Senator Loeffler sold a minimum of $1.2m of shares and bought shares in Citrix, a provider of teleworking software. Senator Burr sold a minimum of $600k in hotel shares which have subsequently dived.

Hard times bring out the best and the worst in people.

Some work long hours without the right level of PPE in hospitals trying to save those with Covid-19. Some expose themselves to the disease as they sit on the tills in supermarkets serving hundreds of customers to ensure the food supply.

And some use inside information to protect their wealth and increase it. You would like to hope they feel ashamed but the worst thing is they probably do not. I hope their constituents hold them to account as they should.

Covid-19 is a frightening disease but so is greed. We urgently need a vaccine for Covid-19, but just as importantly we need a vaccine for greed, and my preference is the latter should be in the form of a suppository.