GOP Senator just went and made things even worse for Donald Trump
The Senate Republicans are caught in their own impeachment nightmare. It’s not enough that the heat is on them whether they vote against Trump or not. Each decision pushes them closer to disrespecting a president who demands loyalty and offers none in return. Whether they know it or not, they’re enablers to a power hungry despot who has nothing but contempt for the rule of law, particularly when it’s not convenient to him. Things have gotten to a point where the news for Trump gets worse by the day, with more leaks coming out than his administration could have ever dreamed of. In the midst of where the impeachment trial is playing out, a Republican senator has gone and made things even worse.
Sen. Joni Ernst is the third least popular senator in the country and up for re-election this year in a crucial swing state where she’s facing a formidable contender in Theresa Greenfield. Perhaps it’s the weight of impeachment and her own diminishing chances of re-election that made Ernst say the quiet part out loud. When facing reporters on Monday morning on what they thought would be impeachment, they instead got Ernst’s not so subtle musings: “I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus goers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?”
While Trump’s “perfect phone call” was actually just about investigating corruption, if one were to believe Donald Trump, and not a deliberate attack on a political rival using a foreign country, Ernst pretty much blew that explanation out of the water. It’s not really a surprise that Trump’s original intent was finding something he hoped would stick to the opponent he feared running against the most and that he was lying about being anti-corruption – it’s the fact that a Republican senator has admitted this publicly. It’s hardly a wonder that they’re reluctant to convict – they’re just as guilty as Trump is and probably wish they’d thought of it themselves.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making