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“Carl Bernstein [photo] on Sunday revealed the names of 21 Republican Senators who he reported show ‘extreme contempt’ for Trump and behind closed doors despite most displaying public deference to the president,” Forbes and other news outlets reported (read the Forbes report here).
Trump deserves extreme contempt. He’s a despicable human being: A racist, bigot, misogynist, prolific liar, adulterer, grifter, and bully. He isn’t merely uncivil; he’s uncivilized. He ran one of the most inept, destructive, and corrupt administrations in U.S. history. He’s the greatest threat to American democracy since secession and the Civil War. History will remember him as one of our very worst presidents.
But despising him behind closed doors did no one any good. All of these people, except for Romney (and I’m not sure he belongs on this list), not only refused to remove him from office, but even refused to hear the evidence against him of what (rightly) got him impeached. They put loyalty to party and partisan advantage above country and public good.
They’re comparable to soldiers who ran away from a battle and left the rest of us to face the enemy with gaps in our defensive line. And that makes them contemptible, too. They had a job to do — upholding this country’s values — and they didn’t do it.
They are:
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)
- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
- Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- Sen Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
- Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
- Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ)
- Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Mike Braun (R-IN)
- Todd Young (R-IN)
- Richard Burr (R-NC)