Heimlich: Come on fellow Republicans, do something about Trump

Phil Heimlich | Cincinnati Enquirer

Symmes Township resident Phil Heimlich is a Republican who served on Cincinnati City Council and the Hamilton County Commission. He offers commentary from the radical middle on his podcast, “Hard Truths with Phil Heimlich.”

I’m organizing a search party. We’re looking for Congressmen Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup, and Senator Rob Portman. We know where they are – they live in Ohio and work in Washington. But we can’t find a trace of their consciences.

Remember the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for lying about sex in the Oval Office? Rep. Chabot prosecuted that case in the House but says he’s unconcerned that the FBI, CIA and NSA concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election. After all, what’s the big deal about a foreign adversary undermining the democratic process?

Imagine if Hillary Clinton was elected president and our intelligence agencies determined that Russia interfered in the election to help her. What if President Clinton fired the FBI director who was investigating collusion with her campaign? I’m sure Congressmen Chabot and Wenstrup would be tripping over themselves to file articles of impeachment – egged on by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and other fair and balanced commentators.

And then there are Trump’s lies, which Senator Portman gently refers to as “confusing and contradictory rhetoric.” Three million people voted illegally; Obama wiretapped me; the Russia story is fake news. No, Senator, these aren’t confusing or contradictory – they’re falsehoods. As a Republican, I understand our core values are balanced budgets and smaller government. But when did lying to the American people become part of the GOP platform?

We conservatives rightly fault the Clintons for using their foundation and Wall Street connections to enrich themselves. But they’re pikers compared to the Trumps, who are looting the country at public expense. Do our congressional representatives care that the Trump organization received expedited approval from China for 38 trademarks covering everything from hotels to escort services? Or that Ivanka got three – for jewelry, spa services and bags – on the same day she met with Chinese President Xi Jinping? No, they’re sitting this one out.

When Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Portman said, “The White House should provide a fuller explanation.” Wenstrup declared, “The public deserves clarity.” If our founding fathers had that kind of boldness, we’d still be a British colony.

Here’s the reason for their reticence, and it has nothing to do with principle: it’s the Republican base. They’re scared spitless of it. Their greatest fear is to be challenged from the right in the next primary. What would it take for these “statesmen” to speak out? Jailing members of the press? (To Chabot’s credit, he criticized Trump for describing the news media as “the enemy.”) Firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Putting the Trump brand in neon over the White House?

Rob Portman, Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup are good men. Rob generously helped me in my political career and graciously reached out to my family when my father passed away. But if he and other Republican leaders don’t stand up to protect Mueller, we’ll have another “Saturday Night Massacre” (when President Nixon fired a special prosecutor investigating him), and our republic will be in jeopardy. Portman needs to remember Edmund Burke’s statement that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

It’s good political strategy to hide in the tall grass and wait for Trump to implode – but our country needs acts of courage, not acts of partisanship.