Ohio Republican U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted both swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and “bear true faith and allegiance to the same” before taking their seats. But their promised loyalty to the rule of law was quickly supplanted by unyielding loyalty to a twice-impeached felon with a vindictive streak.
It appears their unwavering commitment to “bear faith and allegiance” is first and foremost to Donald Trump. Obeyance without question.
They support and defend whatever he wants legislatively, regardless of consequences.
Moreno and Husted both approved massive Trump tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, businesses, and large corporations that will balloon our national debt by trillions while leaving behind or raising costs for millions of working families in Ohio and across America.
They voted for the “big beautiful” bill that overwhelmingly favors the richest 10 percent in the country while savagely gutting programs everyday families depend on from health care and food assistance to public safety programs.
The Ohio Republicans will dodge and weave about the severe ramifications of the wildly unpopular bill they enacted but rave over the “no taxes on tips” temporary program that will, in fact, result in little to no benefits for many workers.
Ohio’s GOP senators decided early on to singularly appease Donald Trump (and give lip service to constituents?) in straight party line votes on his flagship legislation (even if it cruelly defunds programs for Ohioans trying to make ends meet) and on whomever he nominates, regardless of quality or controversy.
For a minute last week, it seemed their slavish devotion would keep them in sweltering D.C. during the entire August recess. Trump demanded the Senate confirm his backlog of nominees, who “should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT,” before adjourning.
Moreno and Husted had their blanket “yes” votes ready to go — but Senate Democrats suddenly grew a spine to thwart Trump’s ultimatum. Who knew? They conditioned approval for “historically bad nominees (who) deserve a historical level of scrutiny” on the release of congressionally appropriated funds (largely for the National Institutes of Health) illegally frozen by the White House.
Trump went into a tailspin on social media, telling Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to “GO TO HELL.”
But the standoff went nowhere, and senators headed home without a deal and just a handful of confirmations.
Still, Moreno and Husted will always have bragging rights for their roles in confirming what is easily one of Trump’s most appalling picks for the federal judiciary. Both Ohio Republicans helped put Emil Bove, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney and so-called Justice Department “enforcer” of his retribution campaign, on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals — where Bove could conceivably review one of hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration. Where his impartiality would be a punchline in a bad joke.
Bove demonstrated total sycophancy to the president during his corrosive stint at the Justice Department.
Trump pardoned all the Jan. 6 insurrectionists criminally convicted for violently storming the U.S. Capitol. Bove complemented that depravity by personally firing Jan. 6 prosecutors (purely for political reasons) while echoing Trump’s assertion that their arduous case work was “a grave national injustice.”
Bove also called for the FBI agents who investigated the attack to be identified and fired. He ordered career prosecutors in New York to abruptly drop corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams in an apparent quid pro quo for Adams’s help in Trump’s immigration roundups. Stunned attorneys resigned in protest rather than “abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions from Washington.”
Multiple whistleblowers came forward with corroborating accounts of Bove encouraging Department of Justice lawyers to defy court orders and intentionally mislead judges about administration policies. They warned Republican senators that Bove had lied during his confirmation hearing. Over 900 former DOJ prosecutors and dozens of former federal and state judges pleaded with senators to reject such a manifestly unfit nominee for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
Yet, instead of recoiling at all the red flags raised about Bove’s alleged misconduct, nearly every Senate Republican, including Ohio’s Tweedledee and Tweedledum, rewarded him with an appellate court judgeship.
Clearly, it was more crucial for them to be counted as unswerving Trump loyalists than to preserve the integrity of federal courts.
Federal judges must adhere to a code of ethics that requires them to “maintain and enforce high standards of conduct,” to “respect and comply with the law,” and, most importantly, to “not be swayed by partisan interests.”
A ton of evidence plainly showed Bove did not meet these minimum qualifications but Republican senators, like Moreno and Husted, pretended otherwise.
They surrendered their constitutional mandate to advise and consent and lined up behind a faithful Trump footsoldier.
By rushing to confirm Bove to a powerful circuit court — without bothering to hear from witnesses with substantiated testimony about his purported lawless behavior — every Senate Republican, save two, declared fealty to Trump over duty to protect the rule of law and an independent judiciary.
They betrayed their oath of office and those who naively expected more of their U.S. senators than to blindly execute Trump’s agenda — no questions asked.
Shame on you, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted. Do better for your state and country.
