Consider This from NPR - Impeachment Fallout At Home And Abroad: GOP Fractured, America 'Tarnished'

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

After the Senate vote failed to convict former President Donald Trump, a clearer picture of the political consequences is emerging — both for the Republican party and for the United States on the world stage. NPR's Don Gonyea reports on Republican infighting the national, state and local level. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells NPR that the events of Jan. 6 have came up in conversations he's had with diplomatic counterparts around the world. Read more of Blinken's wide-ranging interview with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly here. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's a clip going around this week, you might have seen it, from a news report on the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, KDKA. Some of his fellow Pennsylvania Republicans are not happy with Senator Pat Toomey. That station ran a story about local reaction to Republican Senator Pat Toomey voting to convict former President Trump in last week's impeachment trial. Toomey was just one of seven Republicans to do so. And here's what a local county Republican chair said about that. We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him

there to represent us. We did not send him there to do the right thing. That's what you just heard from Republican Dave Ball of Washington County. And while the naked politics of that statement are why the clip got a lot of play, something else got lost in the conversation. Dave Ball chairs the Washington County Republican Party have voted to censure members of their own party for turning against Donald Trump. And not just in Pennsylvania. Three of the leading Republicans in the state were targeted for censures by their own party. In Arizona, Republicans voted to censure former Senator Jeff Flake and the widow of Senator John McCain, Cindy McCain, both that supported impeaching Trump. The GOP also censured the governor, Doug Ducey, saying his pandemic restrictions amounted to, quote, dictatorial powers. The censures are a sign of the party's embrace of Trump.

A censure is just a symbolic vote of disapproval. But in at least 10 states, Republicans at the state or county level have passed them. Compare that to the tone among some veteran Republicans in Washington, D.C. January 6th was a disgrace. Where Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Trump, but made it a point to say this after the impeachment trial. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. Consider this. Now that the Senate has failed to convict former President Trump, we are starting to get a clearer picture of the

political consequences for the Republican Party and for the U.S. on the world stage. From NPR, I'm Adi Kornish. It's Wednesday, February 17th. sponsor, Dispatch Coffee. Sourcing, roasting, and delivering quality and traceable coffee at a fair price. Try their flexible monthly subscription. Shipping is free. Go to dispatchcoffee.ca slash consider to get 50% off your first order. Support for this podcast and the following message come from TrackPhone Wireless, giving you control over your wireless plan. There's no contract and unlimited talk and text smartphone plans start at just $20 a month. All in America's largest and most dependable networks. Learn more at trackphone.com. Decades before the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s,

Marcus Garvey attracted millions of followers with a message of Black self-sufficiency and Black nationalism in Africa. For our Black History Month special series, The Seismic Influence and Complicated Legacy of Marcus Garvey. Listen now to the ThruLine podcast from NPR. It's Consider This from NPR, and we just told you about state and local Republicans voting to censure members of their own party. In some places, that's the least of it. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirky, in his own words, talking about the deadly January 6th Capitol riots, saying it was prearranged and that

it wasn't Trump's people. In Michigan, the state Republican Majority Leader called January 6th a hoax. That's been a hoax from day one. That was all for the rain. And said in a meeting that was filmed and posted online by fellow Republicans that January 6th rioters weren't Trump people. They went in on separate buses. I mean, that was all, you know, range body, somebody that was funding it all.

We gotta say, there's no evidence of anything like that. Mike Shirky later said some of his words in that video were, quote, not fitting for the role I am privileged to serve, but also reiterated he didn't think President Trump was responsible for the Capitol riot. President Trump could and should have acted sooner and more forcibly even to call off an attack, but he did not cause the attack. Meanwhile, in Oregon, the state Republican Party put out a statement calling January 6th a, quote, false flag operation, claiming it was staged to discredit the former president. And in Texas, the state Republican Party continues to use the slogan, quote, we are the storm. That's the same slogan used by QAnon followers, though the party denies that connection. Well, I think the president certainly felt and still feels that there was massive voter

irregularities across the country. North Carolina is another place where state Republicans censored their own Senator Richard Burr for voting to convict Trump. State Party Chair Michael Whatley explained the decision to NPR this week. You know, the concerns that were raised by the Republicans that I talked to all across North Carolina were that they disagree with that vote, particularly in light of the fact that the senator had already said and voted that this was an unconstitutional proceeding. So NPR's Steve Inskeep asked Whatley this follow-up. You say that you think the president somehow believed what he was saying, but he made these false statements for months. Do you not think that had anything to

do with people's decision to go and attack the Capitol saying as they did it that they were doing it for Trump because they believed what he told them? Look, I believe that the actions of those people who attacked the Capitol lie on those people who attacked the Capitol. By the way, the two senators who censured we just told you about, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and Richard Burr in North Carolina, well, they have something in common that may have made it easier for them to speak out against Donald Trump. They're both retiring at the end of their current term. So yeah, the political narrative about Republican infighting was already taking shape this week when former President Trump fueled the fire. In a statement that followed Mitch McConnell's post-impeachment criticism, Trump attacked the minority leader, calling

McConnell, quote, a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and said, if Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. That attack underscored a stark question for the GOP. Will Donald Trump shape the party's future or not? NPR national political correspondent Don Gagne has more. The Republican infighting is happening at every level, national, state, local. Among the most prominent of Donald Trump's unwavering supporters is U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. To the Republican Party, if you want to win and stop a socialist agenda, we need to work with President Trump. We can't do it without him.

Graham, who spoke on Fox News Sunday, was reacting to GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, who opposed impeachment but still put blame for the U.S. Capitol attacks squarely on Trump. I'm into winning, and if you want to get something off your chest, fine, but I'm into winning. But GOP Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who voted to convict Trump, told NPR that Trump is no winner. In just one term, the Republican Party has lost the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. That hasn't happened since Herbert Hoover got shellacked in 1932. Sass, by the way, has been censured by several county GOP organizations in his home state. Polls show that pro-Trump forces are the vast majority of the GOP,

putting the likes of Sass at a huge disadvantage when it comes to influencing future party path. Political scientist Janine Perry at the University of Arkansas notes that the GOP may not be thinking so much about that long-range future, because right now the party is in a really strong position at the state level. Currently, Republicans have total control of the legislature and governorship in 23 states, compared to just 15 for the Democrats. This is all part of the hyperpolarization that's happening nationwide. Perry says that GOP advantage on the state level gives them a leg up in things like redistricting and writing laws governing election rules. And she says don't discount the intense loyalty of the Trump base.

If you're going to break with the Trump brand, Trump might not even have to come after you. For a Republican to oppose Trump is to face a backlash that could well include a challenger in the next primary. Trump's voters and other Trump allies might come for you on their own. But watching all this in Pennsylvania's Erie County is a moderate Republican state senator named Dan Laughlin. We as a country need to get back into the center of politics where we can we can get along respectfully. He says the party's future is not to tether itself to Donald Trump, but he keeps any criticisms he has of Trump somewhat muted. Laughlin says Republicans need to focus more on the everyday needs of their constituents.

And have civil discourse without being angry at each other. And that's what I think America needs right now. But at this moment, the Republican Party, which seems to be proudly the party of Trump, is nowhere near ready to heed such advice. That was NPR national political correspondent Don Gagne. The fallout from January 6th is not just a domestic story. As part of a wide-ranging interview with NPR, America's top diplomat said that the Capitol insurrection and the events that followed continue to echo around the world. There is no doubt that our ability to wave the banner of democracy and human rights

to some extent has been tarnished by recent events, especially the egregious attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. On the other hand, what's so powerful about it is that our democracy is resilient. Members of Congress came back to the buildings that had been under siege. They stood up for the Constitution. They stood up for the Constitution. They stood up for the institution. And even as we're grappling with this ongoing problem,

we're doing it in a way that is transparent, that is out there for the entire world to see. And the very fact that we're constantly trying to build that more perfect union is an acknowledgment of our imperfection, but also it's in the striving that you really make progress. And I think, you know, there's a model there for others. When you said it has made it more difficult, though, to wave the banner of American values, can you be specific?

Have you been on a call with a counterpart overseas and they've said, hey, hang on, who are you to lecture us about the state of democracy and how to run our country? Yes, people have been pretty gentle about it, but certainly there's the occasional dig from someone on the other end of the line whom we are raising concerns with about something going on in their country. But again, I don't feel any hesitation about advancing our views on democracy and our views on human rights. But again, I don't feel any hesitation about advancing our views on democracy and our views on human rights. Because again, I find that there's actually strength in the fact that we're confronting these things openly, that we're confronting our own deficits, our own challenges for the entire world to see. And that's very unlike still most other countries

in the world. You know, when I speak to diplomats in Europe and beyond, some of them, many of them have argued that there has been damage to U.S. standing in the world and that much of that damage cannot be repaired. They would also argue that some of it predates the Trump administration. Do you hear similar when you have candid conversations with counterparts abroad? Oh, people raise these questions. And of course, they even raise the questions of the durability of some of the actions we're taking. Look, it's been pretty remarkable in the space of just a few weeks, we've re-engaged with allies and partners around the world. I think I've made myself maybe 50 calls already. It's a good thing we're on the family plan here at the State Department, otherwise we'd

be broke. But beyond that, we rejoined the Paris Climate Accord. We reengaged with the World Health Organization. We ended the so-called Muslim and Africa travel bans. And I could go on. The point is, I think people are seeing by our actions, not just what we're saying, by what we're doing, that, as the president likes to say, America's back, America's reengaged, America's leading, and I found an incredibly receptive audience for that. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, he spoke to NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about a wide range of foreign policy issues facing the new administration. And you can read a transcript of the entire conversation at the link in our episode notes. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish.