A fish rots from the head down -- defined:
Focused read in 5 minutes
House Speaker Ryan, Senate majority leader McConnell, Vice President Pence, Senators McCain and Graham, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. (Photo Illustration by Matt Chase.)
“A Definitive
Guide to the G.O.P. Insiders Enabling Donald Trump” or a Fish Rots
From the Head Down …
“From Paul Ryan
to John McCain, Sarah Ellison takes a look at the men—and the
motives—that are propping up a Donald Trump presidency...”
1.
"THE OPPORTUNIST
… The bargain Ryan has
made is clear—it’s the one spelled out by Grover Norquist back in
2012, when Norquist defended the choice of Mitt Romney by saying he’d
also have endorsed a monkey, a plate of lasagna, or a potted plant.
All Norquist wanted was “a Republican with enough working digits to
handle a pen” to sign legislation. Ryan wants to gut the safety net
for the poor and cut taxes for the wealthy, and believes that with
Trump he can do that. He said recently that he had dreamed of cutting
Medicaid since his keg-drinking days. Having Trump’s digits on the
Resolute Desk—whatever the existential risk to the principles of
the country as a whole—is a small price to pay. … “
2.
"THE CYNIC
… As Alec MacGillis
has documented in his shrewd and doggedly reported book The
Cynic, McConnell has never had any longstanding political values. He
has allowed himself to be filled—initially by hired
consultants—with whatever positions would keep money rolling in and
ensure his continual election and, now, his supremacy in the Senate.
That is his enduring principle. Maintaining this status requires
fealty to die-hard Trump voters who make up the most active portion
of the Republican base. So be it.
McConnell’s track record
of disagreeing with Trump but continuing to support him is
impressive. … “
3.
"THE STOOGE
… more than anyone
else, Priebus held the G.O.P. together as a vehicle for Donald Trump.
After Trump’s victory, the president-elect named Priebus chief of
staff. In that job, for which no previous experience had prepared
him, and designed explicitly to be as weak as its occupant, Priebus
must defend himself against both his White House colleagues and his
boss. His role remains what it has been for years: to assuage
differences, to keep as many people on board as he can, and to allow
Trump to continue to be viable. … “
4.
"THE ACCOMPLICE
… Perhaps no one has
enabled Trump in his presidency more than Trump’s vice president,
former Indiana governor Mike Pence, and perhaps no one has paid a
greater price in terms of personal humiliation. Pence’s role has
been to serve as the genial presenter of what are already known to be
lies or what are soon to be revealed as lies. “How much can you
look yourself in the mirror when your boss sends you out to say
something in the media and within 24 hours he undercuts you?” one
of the Republican strategists noted. Pence’s personal agenda is a
vaulting ambition somewhat masked by a placid half-smile and a
demeanor of practiced sincerity. In his native Indiana he was seen by
some as a rung climber. … “
5.
"THE INSTITUTIONALIST
… Graham continues
to protect Trump’s foreign-policy flank, recently banishing hopes
of rebellion with the blanket affirmation to Fox & Friends,
“I’m all in. Keep it up, Donald.”
Graham continues to
protect Trump’s foreign-policy flank, recently banishing hopes of
rebellion with the blanket affirmation to Fox & Friends,
“I’m all in. Keep it up, Donald.” … “
6.
"THE GAMBLER
… One Republican
political strategist explained to me that what made Trump palatable
to McCain—despite everything McCain dislikes about the man—is
that Trump lacks any true convictions of his own, making McCain feel
Trump can be swayed. McCain, with Graham, respects the generals who
make up the national-security apparatus in the Trump administration.
According to a White House adviser who has spoken to McCain and
Graham, both men are “fired up” about the tax reform that Trump
promises. After Graham and McCains’ dinner with Trump, the
Daily Beast reported Cindy McCain was set to join Trump’s
State Department as a U.S. ambassador-at-large for human rights. Like Ryan, McCain seems willing to tolerate almost anything in return
for the working digits that hold a pen. … “
7.
"THE VERDICT
… Donald Trump will
suffer his own grim fate in the eyes of historians, but it will come
with an asterisk: he is a profoundly damaged human being with no true
understanding of his capacities, his emotions, his ignorance, his
job, or the fundamentals of human decency.
His enablers will get no
asterisk. They will be treated with the special contempt reserved for
those who acted knowingly and cravenly, with eyes wide open. … “
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