UNFIT: Trump rebuked in scathing op-ed by former RNC Chair Marc Racicot
On March 15th, former Montana Governor and Attorney General, Marc Racicot, became one more Republican to speak out publicly in criticism of former President Donald Trump.
Racicot, in an op-ed for The Washington Post, begins with the importance of character — referring to it as the “lens through which a leader perceives the path to be followed” — and the need for honesty and truth.
Knowing what we know about The Former Guy, it isn’t difficult to see where Racicot is going in his assessment of Trump.
According to Racicot:
“Donald Trump does not possess those essential qualities of character that leave him fit to lead this nation, most especially in a time of crisis.”
Tell us something we don’t know.
Racicot condemns Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin as a “genius” and calls Trump’s disparagement of NATO and its usefulness as “ignorant”.
Though Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. bomb Russia using planes bearing the Chinese flag was later downplayed as “a joke,” Racicot recognizes the danger in making a statement like that, jokingly or not, pointing out the insensitivity of it and the negative perception it could have on us as a country.
“In addition to revealing a complete lack of maturity and morality, such comments also expose an appalling lack of compassion for the death and destruction of the lives, culture and country of the people of Ukraine. And they remind us once more, how critical the character and stability of one person can be,” Racicot writes.
By that, Racicot is referring to the sycophantic and cult-like behavior that his fellow party members have exhibited in an effort to appease their twice impeached idol and curry his favor.
Racicot says as much in a letter he sent to RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel in February, He himself once held that same position. Nominated by then-President George W. Bush in 2001, Racicot served as chair from 2002-2003.
In the letter — published with permission by the Billings Gazette — Racicot condemns McDaniel and the Republican National Committee’s decision to censure House Republicans Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney via an RNC resolution because of their positions on the House January 6th Select Committee.
The resolution calls what Kinzinger, Cheney, and the Jan. 6th Committee are doing “persecution of ordinary citizens in legitimate political discourse.”
Thankfully for the rest of us, most discourses don’t end with seven people dead, 141 police officers injured, and a call to hang the number two most powerful person in the country.
Racicot hails the two ostracized GOP Reps, as being “consistent with the Constitution,” and for performing their assigned Congressional duties with “honor and integrity.”
Racicot cautions McDaniel that she and her cohorts will come to regret the resolution, alluding that Republicans tired of the performative game of Trumpian politics are gaining in numbers and will soon be making themselves known in a bid to reclaim their party.
Both Racicot’s op-ed and his open letter to McDaniel come off as well thought out, sincere, and intelligent, characteristics apparently unbecoming a Republican today.
But then I’m reminded that Racicot is a former partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, a law firm that represents several coal companies and lobbies against attempts to mitigate the impending climate crisis. Racicot himself was the attorney of record for scandal-stricken energy company Enron.
Well, that confirms it. Racicot is definitely a Republican. For how long, however, after his public criticisms of his party, only time will tell.
Original source Washington Post
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