McCain, Ryan are gutless. Worse than Trump?

A couple of items in not-so-mainstream political media have noted who the real villains have become in Donald Trump's 1-month Reign of Error. And it proves the axiom of "actions (or lack thereof) speak louder than words," and it's especially true when we talk about Republican politicians.

The first comes from Deadspin editor Alex Pareene, who takes a break from sports to call out US Senator John McCain. Sure, McCain's going on TV and making speeches about how President Donald Trump is acting like a dictator when Trump calls the media "an enemy" and makes reckless moves on foreign policy. But as Pareene points out, when it comes to actually stepping up to stop Trump, McCain shrinks away.

A more accurate way of phrasing “(ambivalently, agonizingly) taking on the president” might be “not actually taking on the president.” McCain has supported every one of Trump’s nominees besides one: budget director Mick Mulvaney, who lost McCain’s support because he has supported defense budget cuts. McCain’s sole inviolable principle is that we must spend an unlimited amount of money on war with everyone forever.

Ever since his longtime aide and ghostwriter Mark Salter wholly invented McCain’s “maverick” persona from whole cloth in the late 1990s, the sum total of McCain’s record of brave or maverick-y actions consists of “giving good quote to reporters.” That’s it....

Most of the political press is amnesiac and sycophantic enough to fall for it again, but it is obvious at this point in his long career that Senator John McCain is not going to “fight” Trump. He’s going to say various anti-Trump things, on TV and to reporters, while never using his very real power as a senior Republican senator to interrupt the implementation of Trump’s, and his party’s, eschatological agenda.

McCain is especially chickenhearted when you consider that
1. He was just elected a new (7th!) term in 2016, which means he doesn't have to face voters until 2022, when he'd be in his late 80s and Trump would likely be long gone as president.
2. It only takes 3 Republicans in the Senate to stop anything that Trump does with these appointments. If McCain truly cared about this country, it wouldn't take much to put a "shape up or ship out" ultimatum on Trump and grind things to a complete halt. But instead, he (and younger version Marco Rubio, also re-elected in 2016) just speak empty words, allowing this destructive agenda and incompetent, clueless administration to continue.

In the House of Representatives, it's much of the same story, and TBS's Samantha Bee rightfully pointed the finger at an alleged Wisconsinite (who's never held an adult job that wasn't based in DC GOP Bubbleworld) that has been the most gutless wonder. Paul Ryan has publically said he doesn't approve of the racism and protectionism that Trump talks about, but has backed down continually from any chance of standing up to Trump in recent months, which makes him worse than the Donald.

And why are these alleged "GOP Congressmen with a conscience" letting this disgrace go on? So they can live out their Ayn Rand/Grover Norquist fantasies of messing up the country's economy and social contract beyond repair? Sounds like Marge Gunderson needs to give these guys a visit.

No Republicans can be trusted to do the right thing until they actually vote for it. And even then, they deserve no credit until the bad things in Congress ARE ACTUALLY STOPPED. Otherwise, they are making pointless poses that rely on a lazy voting public to keep falling for their act, and they ALL MUST GO as a result.