That’s not calculation in Republican eyes – it’s fear
The passivity of Republican senators in the face of Donald Trump’s behaviour remains a mystery if we reasonably assume there is a point at which personal political ambition runs into the hardened bunker wall of buried moral conviction.
Surely, we thought, traditional conservatives could no longer accept the amorality, the wanton fiscal irresponsibility, the challenge to their much-vaunted Christian values, that came to define the Trump presidency. Now, post-Trump, we still face that same difficulty as we try to figure out what it is that these Republicans believe that still makes them conservative. Is it a policeman being beaten by a thug wielding an American flag? A crowd gathered around a hastily-erected gallows, as they chant about hanging the Republican Vice-President? Is it the President threatening “revenge” on anybody who stands in his way?
At some point, rationalisations no longer sound convincing. Surely this must be about something more than political survival and weathering a storm?
When such arguments begin to sound thin, alternative rationales begin to sound plausible. We’re instead told that Republicans must be the kinds of people who genuinely believe in Trumpism, that the GOP was always the Party of white supremacism, or that QAnon was right all along about the moon lasers…
Yet in the search for answers, the start of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial could eventually be offered as evidence for some other explanation. It could well be forgotten in a few days, but it might yet go down in history as one of those moments that changed everything – one when the outrage was so acute that it altered the events that came after it.
The day began with reports of Republican senators looking away as the prosecution began to forensically detail events of 6 January 2021. Republican “bad boy”, Josh Hawley, sat in the gallery, his feet on the seats as he did paperwork and ignored proceedings. By the end of the day, the tone had changed. The media reported that Republican Senator James Lankford was seen “shaking” in the Senate chamber after watching the video of police being crushed by the Trump mob. He was comforted by fellow Republican Steve Daines.
The disparity between Hawley and Lankford is striking but this – or something akin to this – has been the constant tension that has been so difficult to resolve around America’s politics. Are Republicans old fashioned moral warriors or self-serving politicos with no backbone?
Based on Wednesday’s trial, one might answer “both” but we might also suspect something far more sinister. The footage of the Washington riot illuminates the reality of the American Right where there is a small-as-a-percentage but sizable-as-a-number demographic who are psychotic in their outlook and behaviour. “Brainwashed” is too thin a term to explain the Proud Boys or the unregulated, history smashing, bear-mace spraying, wear-the-flag-as-a-thong militia that gathered in Washington. It was chilling to hear a voice echoing around the halls of Congress shouting “Where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you!” It resembled a cheap Hollywood movie except this movie was documentary and the crowd intent on finding the House Speaker and executing her. How is this extremism not as dangerous as anything that comes out of any madrasa of rural Pakistan?
One was reminded of video footage that emerged recently of Senator Mitt Romney, alone (yes, he appears to travel alone!) at a Utah airport, being harassed by Trump supporters, and also of Senator Lindsey Graham being escorted through a different airport whilst a crowd chanted “traitor” after he had dared cross Trump by criticising the President’s actions around the Capitol riot. What is becoming more evident is that the Republican response might not entirely be about political survival. It is beginning to resemble honest fear.
This might well be the time for true patriots to stand up and do what’s right for the country rather than what’s right for the Party or themselves. The problem is that the people making those demands are rarely themselves asked to stand up and do what’s right for the country rather than what’s right for the Party or themselves. It is too easy for Democrats to demand that their Republican colleagues “do the right thing”. We are well beyond the point where any of this lies within the sphere of politics. A Rubicon has been crossed and on the other side of that line lie death threats, twenty-four-hour security, and some lowly-paid intern fearing every package they open.
It might sound glib to say that these people didn’t get into politics for the danger but they really didn’t. There is a natural tendency to highlight the violence of the protests but perhaps the most striking shots to emerge on Wednesday were those of Mitt Romney and Chuck Schumer running down halls in the Capitol Building as they fled the threat of the approaching mob. Then there was the video of staffers barricading themselves in a conference room before the mob arrived. This was in addition to the emotional testimony of Representative Jamie Raskin on Tuesday, describing how his daughter and son-in-law found themselves hiding from the rioters in a locked office just one day after they had attended the funeral of Raskin’s son.
Whether Republican senators join the Democrats to find Trump guilty or not (the latter most likely, the former more deserved), they and America face a problem far greater than acute partisanship. There is a cultural naivety about democracy and the mechanisms of power that was evident by the poor security around the Capitol Building. A small but significant part of the Republican base has gone feral and now advocates armed insurrection. There is no way for traditional politicians to negotiate with that. If this were an ordinary trial, a judge would have already decided that this jury has been intimidated and compromised, their verdicts rendered invalid. That perhaps is how we and history should now view this trial. Expecting this jury to make brave choices is to ignore why such choices are considered brave and why we consider the people that make them so special.