A day after Trump reiterated his call for a Muslim ban after the terrorist attack on an LGBT nightclub, Republican senators avoided questions about their nominee

As Donald Trump persisted with his controversial and offensive comments on Tuesday, Republican elected officials on Capitol Hill continued to distance themselves from their party’s presumptive presidential nominee.



One day after Trump made national headlines in a speech in which he reiterated his call for a Muslim ban, implied Muslim Americans knew in advance about terrorist attacks, and called on Barack Obama to resign in the wake of the attack on an Orlando LGBT nightclub, Republicans had one consistent reaction. As Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told reporters: “I am not going to comment on the presidential candidate today.”

Republican senators on Capitol Hill set a new record for “being late to meetings” or urgently holding their cellphones to their ears in order to avoid questions about Trump.

Some of them even played coy. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who faces re-election this year, insisted that he hadn’t heard Trump’s speech on Monday. As Isakson told the Guardian: “I hate to comment on something I didn’t hear.” But the Republican did make clear his opposition to Trump’s Muslim ban, saying: “Banning immigrants coming into the country isn’t going to solve terrorism; banning guns is not going stop murder.”

Others, however, were more willing to face the music. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, who is also facing re-election this year, first required reporters to be more specific about which controversial Trump comment they were asking about. When the Muslim ban was specified, Portman insisted: “I don’t support a Muslim ban; it’s not practical and not consistent with the American standard of not having a religious test.”

Even elected officials who have had positive relationships with the presumptive nominee criticized him. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee and considered a potential vice-presidential pick, told NBC News: “I continue to be discouraged by the direction of the campaign and comments that are made. And I did not think that yesterday’s speech was the type of speech that one would give who wants to lead this country through difficult times.”

With Trump showing no signs of curbing his penchant for controversy, it leaves Republican elected officials in an awkward position. As one lawmaker told the Guardian: “It doesn’t leave you with anywhere to go. You can’t defend it all, because a lot of this stuff is indefensible, and it’s not predictable, so it’s hard to mitigate.” The Republican lawmaker added that in taking such a provocative approach, Trump “is making a decision that says he’s going to leave a lot of natural allies on sidelines and can win without them ... He’s basically saying, ‘I got it.’”

The lawmaker pointed out that in the long term, “you’ll just find fewer and fewer people willing to weigh in and put in a lot of risk” defending Trump. As the lawmaker noted, “previous nominees had been vetted and had a worldview and expectation of what their range was ... [Surrogates] may have to adjust somewhat” ... but their job wasn’t “going to be to put the best face on racism”.

So far, many prominent Republicans have refused to endorse Trump and some, such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, have made clear they will not vote for their party’s nominee under any circumstances.