Republicans Want Voters to Ignore Trump’s Words. Here’s Why They’re Wrong.
Washington Post, Aug 31, 2018: Don’t listen to the president.
Look at the tax reform. Look at the selection of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, the roiling pace of deregulation.
Just don’t listen.
Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and members of the Trump administration urge Americans to disregard the president’s words. They insist on ignoring the name-calling, the unflagging attacks on the media and the Justice Department and the intelligence community. They insist on disregarding the race-baiting, the riled-up rallies, the claims to unprecedented powers like the self-pardon. And those taunting tweets? Ryan recently maintained his doe-eyed “I didn’t see the tweet” posturing: “He’s just trolling you guys.” Best to ignore the “daily outrage cycle,” Rubio urged.
Nor is it just Congress. In upholding the third iteration of the president’s travel ban, the conservatives on the Supreme Court appeared to promote the same look-don’t-listen policy. They insisted on attending only to the statutory authority of Trump’s executive order while disregarding his vocal record of discriminatory rhetoric. They ruled irrelevant the president’s incessant calls for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
This focus on record over rhetoric is a striking deviation from how we are used to thinking of the power of the bully pulpit…
(Photo: President Trump speaks during a rally in Ohio. (John Minchillo/AP))