'Craven' Republicans called out for passing on chance after chance to rid themselves of Trump

Republicans have passed on plenty of chances to rid themselves of Donald Trump, leaving American stuck in a political version of "Groundhog Day."

In that 1993 comedy film, Bill Murray's character gets stuck repeating Feb. 2 over and over, just as GOP senators are stuck giving Trump chance after chance to corrupt their party and undermine democratic institutions, and The Bulwark's Tim Miller called them out as cowards.

"If someone as politically safe as [Maine Sen. Susan] Collins won’t stick her neck out, what hope is there that a meaningful group of others will find the mettle not just to privately hope for an alternative but to wage a vigorous, scorched-earth campaign on behalf the alternative?" Miller writes.

Collins and other establishment Republicans have privately opposed Trump all along but remain fearful of upsetting his base supporters, whose votes they may not even get anyway, despite two presidential elections and two impeachment trials.

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"Unless and until the gods of the actuarial tables intervene, excising Trump from the GOP was always going to require political pain," Miller writes. "Cancer doesn’t get removed without surgery and chemo and the treatment sucks. And when push comes to shove, the craven Republicans who know better have never been willing to face the red devil. They just keep hoping that the Trumpian storm will blow over and they can go back to 2012 without any unpleasantness."

Their cowardice leaves Americans stuck in a loop where Trump threatens democracy after nearly ending it last year with the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"No matter the reasoning, the reality is the same for the rest of us: Waking up every morning hearing Sonny & Cher sing about the love they have for each other and being reminded by a grating radio DJ that we shouldn’t forget our booties, because it’s going to be a cold one out there in Trump’s GOP," Miller writes.