Ask anyone in a happy marriage how they do it, and they’re likely to mention communication. They’re also likely to say that there’s nothing wrong with fighting now and then.
The husband and wife who can communicate even anger with one another have an advantage. But those who don’t communicate and hold everything inside are bound to explode someday in destructive rage.
The Republican Party today is that latter couple, which wouldn’t speak up about disagreements, until they started hurling the pots and pans last week.
The Washington Examiner has seen this communication failure firsthand. Editors have brought in or visited many Republican officeholders and noticed a consistent inability to offer even modest, constructive criticism of their new partner, President Trump.
This weighed heavily when Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor last Tuesday to demand a divorce. The same theme was apparent earlier that day when Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., hurled proverbial dishes at Trump, calling him a failure who will be remembered chiefly for “the debasement of our nation.”
Early in Trump’s presidency, we asked Mark Walker, the Republican Study Committee’s chairman, whether the new man in the Oval Office was making it harder to spread a conservative message to a wider audience. “Some of the rhetoric, um, can be a little tough at times,” Walker replied, but then swiftly praised Trump’s “very strong” style, as though in recompense for his just criticism.
In February, we asked Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is a constitutional expert and son of a Supreme Court clerk, whether Trump’s threats against judges eroded the separation of powers. “It’s not particularly helpful,” Lee said. “But compared to other threats that we have to federalism and separation of powers, that is miniscule.”
Reticence about Trump is unhelpful, and shows up in establishment and anti-establishment Republicans alike. We’ve encountered it in House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. We saw it, too, in Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who savaged Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc. with a smile but demurred repeatedly when asked to disagree with or criticize the president.
Our experience was much the same when we asked Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairmen of the House Freedom Caucus, whether Trump’s inconsistency, fruitless squabbles, and policy inexperience were making their jobs more difficult. Both declined to utter a word of disquiet, even as Trump was attacking them with barbed tweets.
This failure to communicate has created a vicious cycle. It has encouraged Trump to throw off all constraint, in turn causing more and more Republican lawmakers to simmer with an anger that dare not speak its name. Then, this week, it boiled over. Corker, like a wronged spouse, ran to everyone who would listen and let fly the words he calculated would most wound the president he had previously supported.
“He’s obviously not going to rise to the occasion as president,” Corker said. “I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth-telling, just the name-calling ― I think the debasement of our nation will be what he’ll be remembered most for.”
On Tuesday morning, as Corker and Trump were trading barbs over Twitter and cable news, we asked Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., if Trump was helpful or harmful on policy. He declined to comment.
Trump prides himself as a counterpuncher. If you don’t want to get punched, you just keep your mouth shut. Flake had often mouthed off, and Trump responded by going to Flake’s state and rallying a large crowd against him, and then encouraging other Republicans to run against him in a primary. With Flake’s retirement announcement, Trump has accomplished his mission.
The relationship between Trump and the congressional GOP cannot become functional unless Trump decides that a healthy partnership is more important than being the hardest counterpuncher. Without a newfound and unlikely round of self-examination, they cannot govern effectively together or improve the lives of either those who voted for him or those who voted against him.
Can a broken marriage be repaired? Can Trump rise to the occasion as president? Yes. But not without a willingness of partners to deliver and receive constructive criticism, and to change.
