Very Little- And Meaningless

Asked how "congressional leaders reacting to the president's vulgar comment," Scott Detrow of Morning Edition on classic "liberal media"- acknowledged that President Trump's recent comments about third world nations are not out of character. However, he stated (hat tip to Steve M.) also

So there was broad condemnation. Many Democrats had reactions very similar to what Steny Hoyer, the number-two Democrat in the House said. His quote was that President Trump's comments are racist and a disgrace. They do not reflect our nation's values - many Republicans critical as well. Utah Republican Mia Love, who has Haitian roots, put out a statement saying the president's comments are unkind, divisive, elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values.

Another prime liberal bugaboo, The New York Times, termed critical reactions "extraordinary bipartisan rebukes to a sitting president."

As of when the CNN report hit the transom at 6:29 a.m. (the day after the Times report), the "extraordinary biparisan rebukes" of President Trump included four Republicans of their 291 members of the United States Congress.

Senator Tim Scott, an African-American from South Carolina, called Trump's remarks "disappointing," as if they were an aberration.  Utah senator Orrin Hatch remarked "I look forward to getting a more detailed explanation regarding the President's comments.," suggesting a full explanation might justify the sentiments and language.  Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, unwilling to acknowledge the report's validity, said "if these comments are accurate they are disappointing."

And Mia Love. Love is a  second generation Haitian-American and Republican representative from Utah. The New York Times gushed she "demanded an apology from the President" and TIME's headline blared "'The President Must Apologize': Haitian-American GOP Rep. Mia love Slams Trump's 'Shithole Countries' Comment."  She had tweeted

Here is my statement on the President’s comments today: pic.twitter.com/EdtsFjc2zL

— Rep. Mia Love (@RepMiaLove) January 11, 2018

Her remarks are worse than weak. They are standard Repub boilerplate, which would have made Ayn Rand- and probably her acolyte, Paul Ryan- proud. They never took a thing from our federal government, she claimed. As a candidate for the US Senate, Elizabeth Warren explained

There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.





Love evidently has parents fortunate enough never to have traveled on interstate highways or other roadways partly funded by the federal government; or to have benefitted from federal aid to education; nor to have experienced the indignity (as she might see it) of Medicare or of a Social Security check.

The Representative from Utah's fourth congressional district has paid it forward by voting to gut health care for millions of Americans with the GOP alternative to the Affordable Care Act and following that up by supporting the GOP's Corporate Tax Scam of 2017.





Most telling, however, is that she has advocated elimination of the estate tax, which applies to 75-80 family-owned farms nationally,  because "I have a lot of rural farmers" who are hurt by the  estate tax.

Mia Love is a fraud, determined to shove money upwards while extolling her own family's virtues. More serious is the naively favorable response of the media to her, Tim Scott, Orrin Hatch, James Lankford, and other Republicans who pander by declaring they are disappointed by Donald Trump's remarks, presumably because they are not  up to the high standard he has set for decency, compassion, and accuracy.

The media will continue to treat similar remarks as criticism of Donald Trump. Nevertheless, it must contrast that sentiment with the practice of GOP members of Congress to vote consistently with the President as they prop him up, give him political victories, a chance to boast of his greatness, and secure public support for dangerous and extremist policies

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