What it takes for a Republican office-holder to stand up to Trump

Atlanta Journal-Constitution's opinion columnist Jay Booker writes about three Republican House members who have challenged President Trump's continuing to tweet and speak about the false news story claiming the FBI embedded a "spy" in his 2016 campaign.

This is a false story that has now been publicly discounted, not only by all three of our intelligence agencies, but also by these three GOP House members:   Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. who has been briefed on the classified documents by our intelligence chiefs, said:  "I am  even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got."

Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), member of the House Intelligence Committee said. referring to Trump's false claims:   "What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none? . . .  It's like, 'Let's create this thing to tweet about knowing that it's not true . . .  Maybe it's just to create more chaos but it doesn't really help the case.'"

And House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said:  "I have seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment that Chairman Gowdy has made."

These are all Republican leaders speaking out publicly -- But each one had already announced that he is not seeking re-election in November. 

That's where Jay Bookman starts his column.  He continues:

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"These top Republicans know that Trump is not just lying to the American people, but lying to them on a grand scale, and about something important.  They know that the president of the United States is falsely attacking the credibility and integrity of the FBI and the Department of Justice in a desperate attempt to save his own skin, and they are finally saying so, even if more delicately.

"Other Republicans know all that too, but unlike Gowdy, Rooney and Ryan, they don't dare to say so.  With rare and courageous exceptions, the only Republicans who dare to question the emperor's on so-fine, resplendent new clothing are those who are leaving the game in disgust at what it has become, and at the price they pay in self-respect to remain."

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Trump's devious purpose, it would seem, is to do everything he can to discredit the FBI and the Justice Department, so that, when Mueller's investigation brings impeachable evidence against him, the American people will believe Trump's claim that it was all a plot to get rid of him.    He knows he can't win in a court of law -- or at least his lawyers know -- and so they are trying to sway the American pubic to rise up and denounce any attempt to impeach him.

We need to also consider this from another angle.  With people like Ryan, Gowdy and Rooney leaving, it's even more vital that Democrats regain the majority control of the House.   Otherwise, we'll have the current lapdog Republican House, only worse -- without these belated, somewhat tepid, restraining voices.

Ralph