In a scathing column for the Washington Post, conservative commentator Jennifer Rubin dropped the hammer on Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) for blocking a bill in the U.S. Senate that would have required campaigns to report offers of information that are already illegal under current law.
As Rubin notes, Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub just warned Donald Trump and congressional lawmakers that accepting foreign help was illegal.
In a statement, following the president's explosive comments on ABC, Weintraub wrote, "Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office. It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept."
Despite that, Blackburn chose to not join her colleagues in unanimous consent on the bill proposed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) leaving it up for a formal vote at a later date.
According to Rubin, Blackburn's decision was "monstrously wrong."
"She is in favor of a brand of tribalism that is so morally blinding as to cause her to oppose safeguarding our elections from hostile powers," wrote the conservative columnist. "In a pathetic effort to defend her vote, she made a long, rambling statement insisting that the bill was overbroad, would somehow entrap volunteer doorknockers on campaigns and would cause campaigns to report “dreamers” (!?)."
"It was utterly ridiculous and utterly deplorable," she added. "All public figures have a choice. They can be resolute in defense of the Constitution, or they can be lackeys of a president who’s willing to betray our democracy."
Rubin -- who grown extremely disenchanted with the Republican Party under Trump -- then indicted the whole party.
"Blackburn is not an outlier. She is emblematic of a party and of a right-wing media machine, including pundits who know very well that Trump’s comments are monstrously wrong," she wrote. "These people have jettisoned principle, patriotism and honor. Americans of goodwill must run Trump’s party out of power up and down the ticket in 2020 — and shun those who carried their water when the country needed truth-tellers."
You can read the whole thing here.
