Maybe this explains his foul mood this weekend: Private Republican Memo: 'Don't Defend Trump'

[CatWoman]

Private Republican Coronavirus Memo: ‘Don’t Defend Trump’

Late Friday, Politico obtained an internal GOP memo circulated by the National Republican Senatorial Committee summarizing the party’s message on the coronavirus. Its main theme will come as little surprise to anybody who has heard a Republican sound bite: It’s all China’s fault. Its most interesting passage is its explanation of what the theme omits: a positive defense of President Trump’s response to the pandemic. “Don’t defend Trump, other than the China Travel Ban — attack China,” the memo urges.


The memo makes clear how perfectly cynical the party’s use of the “soft on China” charge is. It advises Republicans candidates to argue, “My opponent is soft on China, fails to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party, and can’t be trusted to take them on.” Note the telling phrase my opponent. The accusation is not specific to Biden, or any Democrat. Republicans have simply calculated they can use the smear against any Democrat, regardless of whatever the opponent has said or done.

The most ridiculous thing about the argument is its lack of any prospectively useful agenda. It urges candidates to promise, “I will stand up to China, bring our manufacturing jobs back home, and push for sanctions on China for its role in spreading this pandemic.” Even if these promises were feasible, none of them would do anything to contain the pandemic in the United States or to revive the American economy.

Republicans are already conceding that they won’t be able to argue that Trump kept us safe or has effectively managed the crisis. It makes perfectly clear the party’s obsessive focus on China is designed to distract from Trump’s catastrophic managerial failure. They are privately admitting his actions are literally indefensible.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/private-republican-coronavirus-memo-dont-defend-trump-china.html?fbclid=IwAR26TveZk8q1s_KAwuQawz5pkeLxYui-a2m5b2Z-gibx32zHbJsNgYyImEg

[grumpyduck]

1. This is really intersting given how much money POtuS supposedly owes China,

and that the loan is supposedly coming due.

[MyOwnPeace]

2. IQ45 owes SO many........

you can bet that is one reason we'll never see his tax returns. The problem for the RepubliCons is that they have allowed him to push them into the same "painted into the corner" that he has himself in - and you know he'll attack anyone who "defects" - look at how he's starting to complain about Faux Spews - look at how quickly he throws people out of his cabinet or oversight positions.
He's on his way to being a raging lunatic - and it is going to continue to grow, and grow, and grow..........

[DENVERPOPS]

21. Perfect commentary MOP

Is there anyway out of this insanity???????

It's almost as if it is "Check-Mate" at this point.......

People have really been "asleep at the wheel" for so long, it may well have passed the point of no return..........

WASF

[Baked Potato]

3. Republicans are beginning "separation" mode, too weak to divorce.

They don’t want to divorce him because he’s a deadbeat. But, they’ll do a separation. Democrats need to tie Trump to Republicans and keep them tied.

[crickets]

4. +1

[CatWoman]

5. like constantly reminding Americans that Republicans FAILED to do their duty

during impeachment.

[uponit7771]

6. +1, Dems should start tying Trump around the necks of all of them now

[DENVERPOPS]

26. When is the last time

you heard anything out of the DNC about anything.

I can't even tell you who is the head of the DNC????? Do we have one???????

Every once in a while we hear a sentence or two out of Pelosi, AOC, Hillary, and a few others, but really not that often......

[uponit7771]

30. +1, I thought dnc head was full time now

[global1]

7. I Hold The Repugs Responsible Right From The Beginning....

They should have vetted Trump and he should not have been allowed to run as a primary candidate. With Trump's unseemly background and track record of bankruptcies, sexual dallancies and racist remarks - he should have been disqualified from the start.

After 3 years of his antics as president, collusion and lying - he didn't display any qualities of a leader of the most powerful country in the world. The Repugs had the opportunity to impeach him and they blew it. Even today they still circle the wagons and make excuses for him.

I hold the Repugs responsible for everything that's happened and will still happen until the presidency changes hands in Jan 2021.

The scariest time that I fear are those days between Nov 2020 and Jan 2021. I won't feel safe until he's totally out of the White House.

[Baked Potato]

8. Agreed, and I think Republicans are scared shitless of the future.

They have emboldened crazies and have enraged Democrats. They have amassed their filthy lucre, but that comes with a price, a price that is unpredictable in it’s severity.

[Blue_true]

31. I agree. Republican office seekers may try to run from him, but our office seekers should

force them to stay tied to him. Force them to declare whether they are loyal to Trump, then tear down their excuses. Trump is starting to look like real poison for them, they helped brew that poison by their decisions on not standing up for what was right and the Constitution. Our office seekers must consistently make them drink that poison.

[Wounded Bear]

9. They got nuttin'....nt

[keithbvadu2]

10. My republican opponent is soft on protecting Americans.

My republican opponent is soft on protecting Americans.

He goes along with Trump's lies and medical disinformation.

[scarletwoman]

16. Excellent! Well said! (nt)

[hadEnuf]

11. Republicans RACED to move their business to China. They have been making mountains of money

off of the near-slave Chinese labor.

Now it's "Communist China" again.


Fuck the GOP hypocrites.

[scarytomcat]

19. Is that Capitalist Communist China?

that from Fascist republicons

[MarcA]

27. +1,000 n/t

[Auggie]

12. It's a ridiculous argument but it's exactly what MAGAs want to hear.

The GOP is creating a new enemy and fresh theme.

[maxrandb]

13. "Chi-Ghanzi"!!!!

[cstanleytech]

14. Oh hold on there Senate Republicans!!! While Trump's actions sucked your own were far, far worse!!!

After all you had every opportunity to stand up to him and hold him accountable since he was sworn into office but your only concern has been to stack the courts with conservative justices and to maintain your hold on the Senate.
Plus you also had the opportunity to remove him after he was impeached but again your goal to stack the courts made you stop so to you Senate Republicans I say...............go fuck yourselves you bastards!!!!

[MyOwnPeace]

22. NOW look what you've done, Stanley!

THAT is the PERFECT response - it needs to be heard over, and over, and over, and over.......... well, you get the idea.

IQ45 is THEIRS!!!!!!

They brought him to the dance - they gotta' take him home - and out of OUR White House!

[liberalgunwilltravel]

15. And how will they defend Trump's lips firmly planted on Xi's buttocks throughout the early stages?

All Dems need to do is show the videos of Trump's praise for Xi.

Here's one now:

Or just use all of Trump's quotes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/trump-china-coronavirus-188736

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/much-respect-trump-praises-chinas-understanding-of-coronavirus-pledges-to-coordinate-u-s-response-with-xi/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/trump-coronavirus-china/index.html

[kimbutgar]

17. Even though it was a ton of repukes companies that sent our jobs overseas so they could make

More money to please the stock market analysts.

I hope the Democratic Party has a good pushback.

[The Magistrate]

18. This Is Incredibly Lame, Ma'am

Weak sauce, as I believe they say nowadays.

Hard to imagine professionals thinking it will work, and therefore in seems an index of just how deep desperation runs in Republican circles.


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[Jarqui]

20. "They are privately admitting his actions are literally indefensible."

Then why don't they go ahead and remove him.

What Democrat could not vote to impeach him?

The fact of the matter is: the Republicans are as guilty as Trump for where we find ourselves today. They knew he was fucked up and they enabled him.

[DallasNE]

23. McCarthyism

Phase one has been Trump attacks on the FBI and CIA. Now the being soft on Communist China angle. Seems like that is backing Trump to the holy but without directly embracing the tarnished Trump brand. Use the McCarthy brand instead. But where will the traction come from?

[IronLionZion]

24. "for its role in spreading this pandemic."

What sanctions shall we put on the Trump administration and Republican party for their role in spreading this pandemic?

[NNadir]

25. They're going to have a hard time distancing themselves from the idiot they created.

Their contempt for the rule of law is obvious to a sixth grader, and they are simply left with people emotionally and intellectually at a 5th grade level or lower.

Granted there are some people who vote and who are at that level; they represent his "core." But they are not a large enough set of people, except maybe in some very rural states, to carry these people.

Their bankruptcy is inescapable, particularly given their behavior in the impeachment.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. "Attack China" to divert from Trump FAILED to DEFEND American LIVES. . . . nt

[TeamPooka]

29. Trump will undercut this tactic by praising China because he owes them money

[Hermit-The-Prog]

32. People won't forget the Grotesque Orange Pustule is a symptom of the GOP disease.

[keithbvadu2]

33. Don't defend Trump directly - but don't blame Trump either.

Don't defend Trump directly - but don't blame Trump either.

[Blue Owl]

34. Too late fuckers

n/t

[BComplex]

35. Then our ads need to tie the entire republican party to trump. They have enabled and cheered him

on, and refused to remove him from office even after he was impeached. They ALL need to be tied to trump and the horrible failures of the republican party, for the PREVIOUS economic collapse, Katrina, Iraq, and Osama, and then the COVID-19 spread WITHOUT PPE, THIS economic collapse due to the virus and their bad planning, and all the millions of other failures by republicans.

And it ALL needs to be tied right back to Fox "news".