When November Comes
President Trump shouldn’t get a second term. Neither Should GOP Senators that failed to do their job.
As the November election approaches, NeverTrumpers are faced with a question: do we punish just President Trump or do we punish his “enablers” aka GOP Senators?
Groups like the Lincoln Project want to work for the defeat of Republican Senators not just in 2020 but in 2022 as well. On the other side, NeverTrump commentators David French and Matt Lewis suggest that even though Congress has to share some of the blame for the state America is in, we don’t want to go after Senators because that means ceding all control to the Democrats.
I have a lot of sympathy for this argument. Lewis and French, two commentators that I respect, make a compelling case that giving all power to the Democrats means we will end up with policies that we don’t want, like raised taxes or a larger government. Voting out Republican Senators means saying goodbye people that I liked in spite of their unwavering support of Trump, such as Corey Gardener and Susan Collins and that means we end up not just with a Democratic majority in the Senate, but with a more “Trumpy” Republican party in both houses of Congress for the foreseeable future.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to vote out Republican Senators at least in 2020 in addition to voting against Trump. As I said earlier, there are some GOP Senators that I personally like. Susan Collins has done great work on LGBTQ issues as well as the environment. The issue is not one of disliking the Senators. The problem is one of integrity.
Every Senator-elect, be they a seasoned veteran or excited freshman, stands in front of the Vice President and take an oath of office. They swear to the following:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this…
