Hello, it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕
Donald Trump, with an assist from Mitch McConnell, made what could be a huge political blunder this week. And by far the most clarion voices laying bare the men’s cynicism and greed have been those of Republicans.
McConnell told Senate Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday that the “politics on this have changed,” referring to the border bill his members, with some Democrats, had been close to finishing. The border deal was conceptually linked to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, its anti-immigrant red meat meant to help drag the aid through the hostile Republican-controlled House.
But then daddy called and said no.
Trump ordered his congressional foot soldiers to drop the bill, despite their daily insistence that the border is in crisis and the greatest peril facing American society. Trump didn’t want to lose such an effective cudgel with which to batter Joe Biden.
“We don’t want to do anything to undermine him,” McConnell told his members. By all accounts, McConnell genuinely despises Trump; but he’s willing to lick the boots if it means he might be a majority leader next term.
This should be a golden opportunity for Democrats, a perfect retort the next time Republicans wail about “Joe Biden’s border crisis.” But it’s Republicans, not Democrats, who have so effectively denounced this unseemly curtain lift into their own party’s quest for power at all costs.
“I didn’t come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Thursday. “It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.”
“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) added. “And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”
I want to be clear in my criticism: Some Democrats, individually, have conveyed their disgust well.
“I think it’s crap,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) told NBC News. “We need to get that deal done to secure the border. If they want to keep it as a campaign issue, I think they need to resign from the damn Senate.”
And Democrats, famously, face many more barriers to getting their message out than Republicans do. If Democrats had been caught so unapologetically shelving legislation for political gain, so transparently whipping up a racist fervor to help their electoral chances, Fox News might explode from sheer excitement. There’s also the reality that intra-Republican criticism simply gets more play than Democrat-on-Republican rhetorical attacks. And to be extremely generous, there’s still a chance (I guess?) that this package isn’t entirely dead, so Democratic leadership could be reluctant to get Ramboed up before it’s off life support.
But that’s not good enough. Trump, and his Republican toadies, count on people forgetting about these scandals, moving on amid a constant and cluttered news cycle. It’s the Democrats’ job not to let them. Biden and his congressional allies should be talking about this nonstop, not least because it so obviously addresses one of the President’s greatest liabilities.
Romney and Tillis are displaying courage in laying bare their party’s cynicism. But Democrats should not be relying on the few Republican vertebrates left to make the case for them.
