Republicans are 'too cowardly' to stand up for the morals they claim to have: Conservative columnist

Conservative Washington Post writer Max Boot called out Republicans for being more than willing to compromise their moral and "family" values for President Donald Trump.

In a Wednesday column, Boot said that GOP "scruples have eroded faster than the polar ice cap." There's the matter of the "Access Hollywood" tape, the race-baiting, xenophobia and now there's the matter of Jeffrey Epstein. But it was just four lone members who were willing to denounce Trump's order to four Congresswomen of color to go back to the country they came from.

"That is the GOP roll of honor," Boot lamented. "There were, to be sure, a larger number of Republicans lawmakers who criticized Trump’s comments but refused to call them racist or tried to balance out their criticism with attacks on Democrats. By The Post’s tally, of 250 elected Republicans in Congress, only 60 — about 1 in 4 — were willing to rebuke Trump in any form, however mild."

Meanwhile, 161 Republican officials are "too cowardly to say anything at all" about Trump's racism.

“I have a long-standing policy that I don’t comment on tweets,” Boot quoted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying.

"How convenient," Boot retorted.

Boot went on to nail retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who has nothing to lose by coming out against Trump. Yet, Alexander wouldn't do it. Even former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC), who's thinking of running against Trump, refused to give an opinion. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) "had the gall to not only absolve Trump of racism but to also accuse the members of 'the Squad' of being the real racists," Boot said. Leader Kevin McCarthy whined that "our rules of order and decency were broken," but not because of Trump, because Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump's tweets racist.

He also went after former U.N Ambassador Nikki Haley, whose parents emigrated from India. She was silent on the attacks as well.

To make matters worse, Boot cited a USA Today/Ipsos poll that showed 57 percent of Republicans polled said they supported Trump's remarks.

"The booby prize for moral imbecility is a close contest," Boot said. "I’m tempted to give it to Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) who tweeted like a 'love it or leave it' bar-stool blowhard: 'Montanans are sick and tired of listening to anti-American, anti-Semite, radical Democrats trash our country and our ideals. This is America. We’re the greatest country in the world. I stand with @realdonaldtrump.'"

But when it comes to Sen. Lindsey Graham, Boot said few can exceed the lows he manages to achieve.

"It’s hard to beat out Graham, who has gone from abhorring Trump’s despicable tirades to amplifying them," Boot wrote.

He quoted Graham, by saying he was clearly doing his "best imitation of Joe McCarthy," who shouted "communist" at everyone from politicians who disagreed with him to Hollywood actors and writers he hauled into Congress.

“Well, we all know that [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and this crowd are a bunch of communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own country,” Graham said, unaware of the difference between communism and Socialist Democrats.

"There is, in fact, no evidence that Trump’s targets are communists or that they hate America or even Israel," Boot closed. "But there is ample evidence that the GOP has suffered a complete moral and intellectual collapse."

Read the full column at The Washington Post.