Jan 15, 2018 2 min read

As I watch the Republican talking heads try to spin the president’s latest clearly racist comments about refugees, I can’t help but wonder if there is actually no line he can cross to get them to distance themselves from him.

It is clear that winning the agenda battle has taken precedence over decency, ethics, and doing the right thing. In this climate, if Alabama Gov. George Wallace returned and promised a repeal of Obamacare or no-amnesty immigration, Trump Republicans would be willing to nominate, campaign, and tolerate him.

If President Trump showed up at his next press conference with a white hood on, Republicans would claim it’s just a new fashion statement. All that seems to matter is whether legislative victories can be gained.

In the year when we remember the 50th anniversaries of the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, it is hard not to feel despair over the superficial gains we have made in race relations. Is there no one in the Republican Party willing to grow a pair and take a stand against hate and bigotry?

I’m not sure how Trump Republicans can look at themselves in the mirror. When they do, I’m sure they can console themselves with the fact that they are on board with the president’s plan for providing relief for all those desperate immigrants from Norway.

Tom Trettel

South Strabane