A open letter to House and Senate Republicans - By Jennifer Rubin

[DonViejo]

By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
August 22 at 9:00 AM

-snip-

Dear Republicans:

For the past eighteen months, many of you have chosen to ignore the president’s attacks on the courts, on the FBI, on the Justice Department, on the First Amendment and on standards of decorum observed by every other president. You have ignored his alleged receipt of foreign emoluments in violation of the Constitution. By and large, most of you have refused to confront his racist outbursts and his serial lies. Some have even joined in attempts to smear the FBI and DOJ. Your leadership has refused to take action to protect special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein despite the real risk the president intends to fire them or, perhaps in the case of Mueller, impair his work by revoking his security clearance.

Now the president’s lawyer Michael Cohen has implicated him in the commission of a crime as part of a plea deal. With that development and the conviction or pleas of other top associates the president can no longer claim the investigation is a “witch hunt” or does not concern him.

The Justice Department under unprecedented pressure and abuse from the White House has done its job, as have federal courts. Congress, however, has not. With a little over 2 months before all House members, a batch of incumbent GOP senators, numerous GOP gubernatorial and state legislative candidates face the voters, you have several options, which I’ll now describe.

The first option is to do nothing, to continue excusing and rationalizing the president’s behavior. After Cohen’s plea and Manafort’s conviction, not to mention the indictment of two of Trump’s earliest House Republican supporters (Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter) the voters may come to view the GOP as a hotbed of corruption. Voters have good reason to conclude you will never hold the president accountable for any of his actions, and that therefore, to preserve our constitutional system, Republicans up and down the ballot must lose in convincing fashion. History will regard those who were inert during this time as political cowards and fools.

The second option is to prevent the runaway train. Protections for both Mueller and Rosenstein can be concretized in law. A select, bipartisan committee can be formed to review actions to date and determine the scope of possible illegality in the administration. It could also make recommendations, which may include statutory anti-corruption measures and initiation of impeachment proceedings. The Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh must be held in abeyance. Should the president be found to have committed crimes in pursuit of the presidency, Kavanaugh’s position on the high court would be tainted. (Even if Trump leaves the presidency, Vice President Pence would ascend to the presidency and could at that point renominate Kavanaugh.) If the special counsel exonerates the presidency, Kavanaugh’s confirmation could proceed forthwith. These actions would demonstrate to voters that you have some appreciation for your oaths of office and constitutional duties.

The last option is to tear the bandage off now. Trump is a menace to the country and threatens to destroy the GOP as currently constituted. Disown Trump and repudiate his actions. Call for his resignation and embrace Pence as the leader of your party. Reject Trump’s receipt of emoluments and demand he sever ownership of his many business enterprises which pose an ongoing conflict of interest. Subpoena his tax returns and/or pass legislation requiring they be disclosed. In taking these moves you would disable Democrats’ campaign built around the need for a check on the presidency; you might even hold the House. In any event, your conscience would be clear and the party would have the opportunity to pick a new nominee for 2020.

I am under no illusion as to your preferred route. You then should be under no illusions as to the electoral fate that awaits you and the legacy you will leave. Choose wisely.

Kind regards,

JR

full column:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/08/22/a-open-letter-to-house-and-senate-republicans/?utm_term=.fb13d72291ff

[sandensea]

1. "We HAVE chosen wisely," you can almost hear them chuckle.

[dalton99a]

2. +1

[dalton99a]

3. Republicans up and down the ballot MUST lose. GOTV!

[ffr]

21. This

[kentuck]

4. Jennifer Rubin is a very intelligent lady.

Even though she has been a long-time Republican.

[dalton99a]

15. +1. Rubin has done a remarkable job exposing and denouncing Donald Trump

almost on a daily basis

[BSdetect]

5. The gop is complicit in every way. Remember when ryan told them "not to talk about it".

[Nasruddin]

6. I'm afraid they're chained to the Titanic

[Mr.Bill]

7. Actually, I think the worst thing that could happen

is that they take her advice and then hold the house and senate in the elections. The last thing we need is Republicans in charge in Congress and Pence as president. I pin my hopes on Mueller taking down Trump, Pence and most of the Republican leadership in the house and senate. They are all corrupt. They are not the solution, they are the problem.

[xxqqqzme]

8. To paraphrase: They will

'choose poorly'.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. K&R. Agree. They're all shackled to the oligarchs. n/t

..........

[MrsCoffee]

9. Uh... "embrace Pence as the leader of your party"

That's gonna take them down the same road.

The Manafort stench doesn't surround only Trump. Pence was handpicked by Manafort. Pence has tried to keep a low profile, but I'm convinced that Mueller isn't done with him yet.

[volstork]

12. This.

X 1,000,000.

[olegramps]

16. The beaded eyed weasel has been biding his time waiting for the ineffable crash and burn.

He has remained silent and in the background and only speaking out on sure fire issues. I have never trusted that two-faced bastard any more than I trust Trump. Every Republican is a scum bag or tolerates scum bags. Their party is the party of the die hard racists, white supremacists, end timers and oligarchs.

[robbob]

10. Unless they know something we don't

Re: Russian hacking capabilities.

[honest.abe]

11. Excellent recommendations.

But will the GOP congress heed her warnings? Not sure right now but as more and more indictments and convictions pile up they may not have a choice.

[The Liberal Lion]

13. I've never accepted the federal government in it's current interation as either

valid or legitimate. Although I have no proof, and despite the loud assery of those who support the orange anus, I am sure vote totals were changed in key states (including Florida and Pennsylvania). Republicans either knew before hand that Putin was working to empower them, or they found out after the coup and went along with it. Believing this I've labeled the entire GOP as a party of traitors with ZERO legal authority to operate the mechanisms of government. While there is still no proof that actual vote totals were changed, yesterday (8/21/18) showed what we all know, the white house, as it is illegally occupied by trump and his dastardly minions, is little more than a crime organization. This trump crime organization is being helped and supported by republicans at all levels of government. Even without proof of vote tampering, the level of criminality coming from the white house invalidates any imagined authority people may think it has. To do nothing about the criminality in turn invalidates any imagined authority congressional republicans may be believed to have. That all being said, it's a waste of time to ask republicans to do something. If we, the people, want something done about the crime boss in our white house, and his pawns in the congress who protect his ill gotten privilege then we are going to have to take matters in our own hands. donald j trumo is not king, and the congress is not his rubber stamp. These institutions, as corrupted as they are, belong to us, we the people. And in the end we the people must act. We can start with voting, I believe that will not work, but I'm patient enough to wait and see. What we must not do is expect republicans do do anything about this crime against America, and so it makes no sense to implore them to do so.

[olegramps]

18. I agree. It should be nullified on the basis of fraud and collusion with the enemy.

As a veteran, I am for trying them for treason and shooting them as low life traitors. No less than what Washington did to Benedict Arnold's coconspirator and Arnold if he could have gotten hold of the bastard.

[Pepsidog]

17. She may as well be talking to a potted plant, blah, blah, blah

[ffr]

20. True.

I think she eludes to the same in her final paragraph. We all know the GOP is a criminal enterprise, the very swamp they promised 63 million rubes they'd... ... clean up.

[Pepsidog]

23. The only entity that Dotart fears is losing Fox. If Fox turns on him, he will resign

[ffr]

19. K&R To the greatest page!

[ET Awful]

22. He chose . . .poorly