The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Congressional Republicans were hard at work last week at their labor of love: whitewashing the disgraceful record of their party’s leader.
Before a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether Donald Trump could be disqualified from the ballot by the insurrection language in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, more than 60 House Republicans introduced a nonbinding resolution declaring that Trump simply had nothing to do with anything bad that went down on Jan. 6, 2021.
Plus, they blamed Democrats.
“As President Donald Trump continues to dominate in the polls, extreme Democrats will stop at nothing in an attempt to prevent President Donald Trump from returning to the White House,” charged Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the Republican Conference chairperson.
So it’s worth pointing out: It’s not just Democrats. Some lifelong Republicans also think Trump isn’t fit to appear on the ballot.
One of them is from the state of Washington.
“He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and he clearly violated that oath. The principle is clear.”
That’s former U.S. Rep. Rod Chandler, now of Sedro-Woolley, who in the 1980s and ’90s represented the 8th Congressional District, then centered on Bellevue.
He’s one of 12 former GOP House members who submitted an amicus brief in the case, arguing Trump should be disqualified “from serving as president, or in any other role proscribed by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Three former GOP governors, including Marc Racicot of Montana, also weighed in against Trump in a separate filing.
“This is not a partisan issue,” Chandler and the other former congressmen argue in the filing.
Chandler, 81, is a Republican from another age — the Reagan era. But he isn’t one of those Republicans who has been driven totally out of the party by Trumpism. Last election cycle, he donated $500 to the campaign of fellow Republican Reagan Dunn, who was running for Congress. (Dunn lost in the primary.)
There are a few local Republicans who have endorsed presidential candidates other than Trump. There are others who decry Trump privately — who will say, off the record, what a toxic force he has been both for the local party and the political life of the country.
But it appears it’s only this one retired congressman who is willing to go to the mat publicly.
Chandler’s brief argues it’s blindingly obvious that Trump sought to block the democratic transfer of power. First off, Trump said that’s what he was trying to do. Plus, the brief notes dryly, “millions of Americans watched in real time.”
Since then, though, whatever spine the party had seemed to turn to jelly.
Why will so few in the party say this out loud — something so clearly true? It could be fear of the GOP base. More recently, it could be worries about what a resurgent Trump may do: “Republicans fear they will be targets in Trump’s ‘retribution’ campaign,” reads a recent Washington Post headline.
Chandler doesn’t have to answer to voters anymore. He hasn’t been in elected to office since he was defeated for U.S. Senate by Patty Murray in 1992. Still, it’s remarkable that he’s effectively alone in taking any public fight to Trump from within the orbit of Washington GOP politics.
I asked him about the argument that an effort to restrict Trump from the ballot causes backlash and perversely ends up helping him. He said you have to try to hold Trump to account for his anti-democratic actions. Otherwise, democracy is toast already.
“I doubt the Supreme Court will disqualify Donald Trump to run for president,” Chandler said. “But they might. If there is any chance to prevent his return to office, then I’m willing to stand behind the effort to make that happen.”
I wonder if there were more Republican leaders around like this today — who would try to sway the mob, instead of being cowed by it — if things would be different. But at least there is still one.
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