Congressional Cowards is a weekly collection highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—regardless of how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
You’d assume that Republican lawmakers—who love to evangelise concerning the significance of respecting states’ rights and freedom of speech—could be aghast on the sight of a president deploying the Nationwide Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles towards the needs of California’s governor with a view to police overwhelmingly peaceable protests.
However on condition that it is their Expensive Chief who sicced the army on civilians with a view to gin up assist for his Immigration and Customs Enforcement goons and unfairly tie Democrats to the actions of a scant few anarchists, Republicans are largely all on board with the dystopian imagery popping out of Southern California.
“Look, I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals,” Johnson mentioned on Tuesday.
Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin additionally voiced assist for sending within the Guard.
“I’m concerned about the violence and lawlessness that we saw last night in the community of LA,” Steil informed CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think what all of us would like to see is the reestablishment of public safety immediately. The failure of LAPD to be able to get that under control last night, I actually think, speaks volumes about the need to make sure that there’s additional human capital at the disposal to make sure that we are able to reestablish public safety.”
Over on the Senate facet of the Capitol, Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton wrote a whole op-ed in The Wall Road Journal saying that deploying the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles—despite the fact that town’s personal police division chief mentioned it wasn’t essential—was the suitable transfer.
“At the risk of again sending liberals to their fainting couches, it may indeed be time to send in the troops,” Cotton wrote, including that there must be “an overwhelming show of force to end the riots”—despite the fact that the protests weren’t riots and the LAPD mentioned they did not need assistance.
Associated | Trump simply deployed troops to California—the place my son is within the Nationwide Guard
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who’s someway struggling in a main towards a corrupt MAGA lawmaker in Ken Paxton, is outwardly attempting to win over Trump supporters by saying he was cool with Expensive Chief’s authoritarian present of power.
“I think he needs to restore order,” Cornyn informed The Bulwark. “I’m mainly concerned about public safety and the president has clearly got authority in his federal capacity to deal with the National Guard. So, plenty of precedent.”
A protester shouts at a line of California Nationwide Guard members defending a federal constructing in downtown Los Angeles on June 9.
“I don’t think that the president had any choice,” Kennedy mentioned. “These weren’t just protests—these were riots. And it was clear that the governor and the mayor—the mayor’s idea of containment was to give them a hug and a cup of hot cocoa. And the president did what he had to do.”
Even the Republicans who’re criticizing Trump’s authoritarian actions are doing so in a tepid method.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin mentioned he backed sending within the Nationwide Guard, however deploying the Marines was a step too far.
“You really don’t want to send in the U.S. military. You’ve got, I think, plenty of National Guard troops. If the governors use them,” Johnson informed an area Wisconsin radio present. “I think that is what President Trump is trying to do. Put a little spine into these governors.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska gave a perfunctory “Yes” when requested by a reporter on Capitol Hill if she had considerations with Trump’s use of the army to regulate protests, then jumped right into a closing elevator with out elaborating.
How courageous.
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