Hey Democrats - We Need All the Friends We Can Get

Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) released a statement yesterday criticizing President Trump's pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In his statement, McCain noted that the pardon of Arpaio, who was "found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos," undermined Trump's claim to respect the rule of law. This was maybe not the strongest condemnation of the pardon (McCain didn't call the President a racist as many others have), but the Senator's statement was criticism nonetheless. And, of course, this also wasn't McCain's first public opposition to some of the President's most disgraceful decisions. McCain was also among the first to speak out against Trump's Muslim ban, and when the President tweeted his intent to bar transgender Americans from serving in the military, McCain responded the same day opposing the ban and saying that transgender soldiers "should be treated as the patriots they are."

Trump and Arpaio (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)

Since the release of McCain's statement about Arpaio, I've had discussions with other liberals, both online and in real life, who argued that Senator McCain's repeated condemnations of Trump were essentially just "hot air." In these conversations, my fellow liberals argue that McCain, and others in the GOP who periodically speak out against the President, are all talk, and that when the rubber meets the road, when it comes down to Congressional votes, these anti-Trump GOP windbags simply fall in line the President.

Well, okay. There's truth to the accusation that GOP Trump critics frequently, if not almost always, vote in line with the President's policy positions. Check for yourself in this FiveThirtyEight.com Congressional vote tracker. The tracker shows the "Trump Score" (the percentage of time each member of Congress votes in line with the President), and various columns in the chart allow you to sort by political party, ascending or descending "Trump Score," etc.

If you drill down to the specifics in the tracker, you'll find that out of 52 Republican Senators, only Senator Susan Collins (ME) votes AGAINST Trump more than John McCain. By contrast, no Republican Senator votes more WITH Trump than Florida's Marco Rubio. Other GOP politicians who have been regularly outspoken against Trump, Senators like Ben Sasse (NE), Jeff Flake (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), and Bob Corker (TN), tend toward the bottom of the Republican "vote in line with Trump" list, but even among these more "independent-minded" Senators, the percentage of time they vote with Trump tends to be in the low to mid 90s. It's true, then — when voting on bills in Congress, these Trump critics tend to vote in favor of policies the President supports. So, what do we make of this? Maybe all this public Trump opposition is just GOP politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths? Maybe their criticism is nothing more than grandstanding for the cameras? Maybe they take principled positions on CNN, but not in the halls of Congress?

Or as one Twitter friend proposed, maybe most of the bills that have come up for votes in the Senate, excluding the healthcare bill which was defeated, have been on "standard line Republican legislation." More importantly, maybe the bills upon which the Senate has voted don't reflect the most heinous and reprehensible things the President has said or done. Let's face it, when the President has thrown the real red meat to his base (things like exiting the Paris Climate Agreement, attempting the Muslim ban and the transgender military ban, the Joe Arpaio pardon), he has done so unilaterally through executive power. He has not enlisted the support of Congress for such actions because he knows he wouldn't have it. In fact, when he's attempted to make good on the most despicable and hurtful elements of his campaign rhetoric, and when he needed Congressional approval to do so, he has failed. That's why Obamacare is still the law of the land, and there is little, if any, progress on a border wall, paid for by Mexico or anyone else.

I've dedicated a fair amount of this article to "defending" some Republicans in Congress, but that is not my ultimate intent. The bigger picture is this....

When the President supports traditional GOP positions, Republicans in Congress will, of course, vote in favor of those policies. When the President unilaterally takes executive actions that fly in the face of core American values like fairness and equality, some Republican leaders are vocal in their opposition to the President and we should not criticize those efforts.

When Republican opponents of the President speak out against his most egregious social, cultural, and political transgressions, those of us on the left must resist the urge to hurl "hot air" or hypocrisy accusations. When someone from the GOP steps forward to criticize the President for something appalling, outrageous, and un-American that he's done or said, we need to recognize and appreciate these rebukes for what they are, statements of disapproval and condemnation.

Are there enough Republicans, Congressional or otherwise, stepping forward to oppose the daily attacks and abuses we suffer from Donald J. Trump? Hell no. And that's exactly why we can't afford to alienate those who do. We need to help more Americans recognize Trump's assault on democratic institutions (voting rights, the free press, the judiciary, need I go on?), and we must act in ways that encourage Trump opponents of all political stripes to speak out.

There will, no doubt, be countless future attempts by this Administration to enact into law things that those on the left (and many on the right) find unequivocally wrongheaded, unfair, and even disturbing. There is also an increasing likelihood that ongoing investigations of potential Trump campaign violations of federal law will escalate and possibly lead to criminal prosecutions, and even Presidential impeachment. In all cases, it will be helpful to have voices from across the political spectrum who are not afraid to speak truth to power. When it comes down to it, our most fierce and robust opposition to Trump exists not because he represents traditional Republican values, but because he tramples on fundamental American values like equality, decency, and democracy. In our fight to salvage these principles, we need all the friends we can get.