United States | News & Politics

Fully cognizant of that inner history of Trump’s first term, the Republicans deliberately chose not to check and balance Trump in his second, but instead to utterly abandon their constitutional duty. Fear and intimidation only partly account for the Republicans’ slavishness. Cowardice is the most generous explanation.

Republicans have done more than go along to get along, the old Washington way. They have gone along because by and large they agree with him and have profited off of him even as many Republicans, particularly in the Senate, detest him. They have endless personal stories to tell about their encounters with Trump’s narcissism, vulgarity and stupidity; and they do tell them, but not in public. They front for him for his utility to their agendas. The “big, beautiful bill” was a cornucopia of corporate tax cuts, while it slashed Medicaid and food stamps. Though many of the Republicans privately consider Trump vile, they have tolerated his bullying if it is directed outward against the enemies within and immigrants. The builders of the massive detention centers, reaping billions in ICE contracts, after all, are big GOP donors.