Dear Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and other leaders of the Republican Party:
This letter asks questions about a fundamental issue confronting the Republican party: What will be the GOP’s relationship with Donald J. Trump?
Please answer these questions without equivocation.
November 2020 presidential election: Former President Trump has been claiming that he actually won and only fraud on a massive scale lead to Joe Biden sitting in the White House. About 200 Republican candidates at all levels of government ran as election deniers in November 2022. Please identify three national Republicans who have clearly said that Joseph Biden won the presidential election legitimately. Statements like “we need to look towards the future, not the past” are evasions not answers.
What would it take for your party to say explicitly “Joe Biden won legitimately, Donald Trump lost”. Will the Republican party ever say that Donald Trump has been factually wrong ? More importantly will the GOP say that Trump is morally wrong for undermining confidence in the legitimate elections of which our democracy can be justly proud?
January 6, 2021: Do you believe that Donald Trump organized and incited a violent mob to invade the halls of Congress in an attempt to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes? There is a clear record based on his tweets, phone calls and public statements that he did exactly that. Former VP Mike Pence, himself a target of the insurrectionists, has said that Trump was “reckless”. That is an understatement which falls far short of placing direct blame on Trump. Mitch McConnell did identity Trump by name once as “…practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day”. That was in February 2021. Please identify a leader of the GOP who has explicitly condemned Trump by name since that time.
Donald Trump has said that he would look “very, very favorably” at pardoning January 6 insurrectionists. Why hasn’t the GOP explicitly denounced even the possibility of such an amnesty?
January 2022: The National Archives retrieved about 300 documents from Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago including over 150 that were marked as classified. This a violation of the Presidential Records Act and possibly the Espionage Act. The GOP was very upset about Hillary Clinton’s emails and is about to investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop. Does a large trove of classified documents illegally stored in a private residence bother your party?
November 2022: Former President Trump had dinner at Mar-a Lago with Ye , an outspoken anti-Semite and Nick Fuentes, a pro-nazi Christian Nationalist. GOP leaders have denounced antisemitism and are critical of his choice of dinner guests. However they have not condemned Trump himself. Please explain.
Our Constitution: Do you believe that our Constitution is the supreme law of the land or do you agree with Trump’s written statement “ that a Massive Fraud… allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles even those found in the Constitution”?
A number of high profile Republicans have criticized Trump’s statement. However, as of this writing, none have outright condemned Trump himself for saying it. Why is that?
Looking forward: Let’s give you a time out from Trump questions. What will be the agenda of House Republicans? So far we only know that they will be investigating Hunter Biden and may impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security. Republicans campaigned against crime, illegal immigration and inflation. What proposals, if any, will you put forward to address those issues?
During the lame duck session mainstream Republicans backed Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to audit US military and economic aid for Ukraine. She plans to re-introduce the resolution in January when the Republicans have a majority in the House of Representative. Will the GOP simply conduct an audit or will you move to limit US aid to Ukraine in its fight for survival?
Final question: Donald Trump is a threat to our constitutional republic. The Hill, a political newsletter, recently examined statements by Republican officeholders about Trump’s egregious faults. Those quoted questioned Trump’s electability in the 2024 presidential election. None questioned his moral fitness. Is electability more important than moral fitness?
For me, moral fitness is the most important criteria in judging a presidential candidate. Donald J. Trump fails that basic test on every count. Will the GOP denounce Trump by name for his multiple assaults against democracy and decency? Will you openly oppose Trump’s pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination in 2024? The stability of our democracy may depend on your answers.