Let’s not mince words. If Donald Trump had any moral authority at all, he lost it on Tuesday–and bigly–when he reverted to his bizarre claim that both the racist thugs who descended on Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend and those who countered them shared blame for the resulting violence.
Never mind that one of those “sides” was made up mostly of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Never mind that one of those thugs plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and gravely injuring 19. Never mind that these same thugs essentially tap-danced on the grave of the woman who died, and made noises about crashing her funeral. But hey, there was still “blame on both sides.”
Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post was just as horrified at Tuesday’s press conference as most of the nation. After all, she is a conservative who still has some scruples, and those scruples led her to not even consider supporting Trump in 2016. Those same scruples led her to conclude that there is but one solution to this–get Trump out of office, sooner than later.
Rubin found it downright laughable that Trump claimed he didn’t have enough facts to condemn the racists, considering that he apparently thought that “the facts we had all seen” about what happened still led him to think that the counter-protesters were equally responsible. And he apparently glossed over one 500-pound gorilla of a fact–that counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed by white supremacist James Fields.
She found it equally stunning that Trump believed that many of those marching alongside these racists and bigots were simply “good people” who didn’t want the statue of Robert E. Lee removed. And for good measure, he thought that taking down a statue of a man who “waged war against the United States” and fought to maintain slavery could potentially lead to taking down statues of George Washington. She briefly wondered if Trump managed to sail through the New York public schools, as well as Fordham University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, without acquiring “basic reasoning skills and a grasp of American history.” But then she chalked it up to the fact that Trump is “unteachable.”
But to Rubin’s mind, Trump isn’t just “unteachable.” He is “utterly unfit to lead a great country.” She believes that it is “morally reprehensible” to serve in his White House, and calls for Chief of Staff John Kelly to resign and denounce Trump. She also has a warning for the Trump diehards–they have “run out of excuses and credibility,” and need to own up to their previous enabling of him by “denouncing him and withdrawing all support.”
But Rubin believes there is another step–one that needs to begin quickly.
“In short, Trump’s embrace and verbal defense of neo-Nazis and white nationalists should be disqualifying from public service. All true patriots must do their utmost to get him out of the Oval Office as fast as possible.”
I couldn’t agree more. A president who believes that there are two sides to an issue when one of those “sides” espouses a hideously repugnant ideology has forfeited any moral authority. A president who believes there are two sides to an issue when one of those “sides” killed an innocent person has forfeited any moral authority. Both together? This president no longer has any moral authority to speak about anything to anyone, and has effectively incapacitated himself.
Rubin has spent most of the day trying to get her fellow conservatives to take off their red-tinted blinders.
Anyone want to argue HRC would be worse?
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 15, 2017
Strongly suggest @EdWGillespie call for Trump to resign. Nothing else will suffice at this point
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 15, 2017
members of Congress who refuse to denounce Trump and declare they will not support for reelection should not be elected in 2017 or 2018
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 15, 2017
and so what will @SenateMajLdr DO? No more words. What will he do?
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 16, 2017
And what if they don’t?
what can you do? Dont give money to Trump's party. Don't watch shows that condone him. Dont buy products from those who advertise on them.
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 16, 2017
Unless what passes for leadership in the GOP wakes up, it would be what they deserve, and then some.
It is beyond dispute that Trump either doesn’t understand or refuses to understand that there is no other side to Charlottesville. The obvious question–why? J. J. Goldberg of The Daily Forward suggests that, at best, Trump has “an empty void where there should be a conscience.” Even that best-case scenario, though, demands that “a national consensus” must be reached on how to get him out of office.
So now it is apparent that we have a president who, at best, has a moral blind spot as tall as Trump Tower. This cannot stand. It is now clear beyond all doubt that the administration of Donald Trump has run its course.
In a time where we have a president who doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to understand that there is no other side when Nazi thugs are involved, this is no time for Democrats to engage in purity trolling. It is also no time for Republicans to be afraid of how the Trump diehards back home will react. It is time to come together, as Americans, and tell Trump that he must go while he can still appear to be going decently.
(featured image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
