The Washington Post recently wrote: "In the aftermath of the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Republican lawmakers and leaders face the most unpalatable set of choices yet in their relationship with President Trump. They are caught between disgust over his failure to unequivocally condemn neo-Nazism, a desire to advance a conservative agenda and fears of rupturing the Trump-GOP coalition ahead of the 2018 elections."
If you're thinking that sounds like being between a rock and a hard place, you'd be wrong. It's like being between a rock and a hard place - and facing a 1,000-foot cliff.
Seriously. Consider the spot that the poor Merck CEO was in last week: Should he stay with Trump at a time when the president seems to find no more reason to condemn racism and neo-Nazis than he sees reason to criticize Vladimir Putin? Or should he focus on the fact that the longer the Donald is in office the higher drug sales of anti-depressants will be?
As we all saw, most of our political leaders chose the head-down, sell anti-depressants route. Only a handful, including Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., have spoken out publicly.
CEOs had less trouble understanding. Key members of Trump's manufacturing and economic boards resigned, prompting Trump to dissolve the boards before they all bailed. And the entire panel of 16 on the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned en masse on Friday.
The Washington Post offered the path forward that the GOP is hoping for: "A lot of people will forgive a lot of sins if [cutting middle-class taxes and improving the economy] happens."
The trouble is: That's not the plan.
Despite the GOP's recognition that Trump hijacked their party with promises to be the little guy's voice, Trump and the GOP are pushing tax cuts for the rich - not the middle class.
Bill Moyers said last week: "Look at the consistency of his [Trump's] inconsistencies."
The same clearly can be said of our country's GOP leadership. As George Will pointed out, when you're explaining there are no good neo-Nazis, you're not winning.
Most of our lawmakers are not capable of navigating the straight and narrow path between the rock, the hard election place and that cliff. That's the reason Congress still has a lower approval rating than the president. And, no, you shouldn't content yourself with thinking that Congress is doing a poor job, but remain favorable toward your local Congress member and senators simply because you have that comfortable feeling of knowing their names and faces.
This is not a test of Trump's character. That horse was never in the barn to get out.
This is about the nation's character. This is an American moment.
Tell your Congress members. Tell them you understand that they might have accepted as their nominee a man who called Mexicans "rapists," who insulted a Gold Star family, who bragged about assaulting women, who built a political career out lying about Barack Obama's American birth and who thinks neo-Nazis are not all bad.
Tell them you don't accept those things. Remember, they work for you.