Republican leadership waves the white flag

| 3:05 pm EST January 15, 2018
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When the Republican Congress suddenly united behind Donald Trump in unanimous and almost cartoonish fashion in mid December, it wasn’t merely to get its tax scam bill passed, which by then was already essentially a done deal. The GOP was trying to set itself up for something in the new year. Yet now, after a tumultuous week internally, the Republican leadership is suddenly and rather strangely waving the white flag. But why?

The GOP’s reasoning seemed to be twofold. By throwing its entire collective weight behind a sinking Trump, it hoped to stabilize him long enough to pass some more partisan legislation in the short term, and it perhaps hoped to keep his approval rating from falling into the twenties before the midterms, for fear of getting totally wiped out. Paul Ryan and others were talking publicly and giddily about gutting Medicare and social security in order to give more money to the wealthy. Then came Trump’s “shithole” controversy.

Now Ryan says that he doesn’t expect to be able to tackle Medicare or social security this year after all. That was supposed to be the cornerstone of their 2018 legislative agenda, so if they’re giving up on that, it means they’re essentially packing it in. That notion is now being underscored by GOP Senator Jeff Flake’s sudden decision to begin attacking Trump (this time comparing him to Stalin), after having briefly fallen in line behind Trump for the past few weeks.

Maybe the republican leadership expects Donald Trump’s shithole scandal to do even more damage to him than the rest of us do, making him so nonviable that they no longer believe they can get anything passed amid the chaos. Or maybe they’re just so fearful of Trump’s antics pulling the rug out from under them, they’re now afraid to keep trying. If so, now what? Do they try to oust him before the midterms, or do they hesitantly sit back this year and get wiped out in November? It’s doubtful even they know what their plan is anymore.