Can you hear me, now? Not Really.

     In 2013, Representative King (IA) infamously said, young girls coming into the U.S. from Mexico “...had calves as big as cantaloupes from lugging drugs across the border.”

     He would not have spoken these extremely hurtful, not to mention stupid, words if he wasn’t certain his constituents would not only approve, but also reward him for them. He was right. They returned him to Congress in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

     For a long time, some would say, too long, it’s been impossible for Republicans to say anything so outrageous that their base would reject them.

     This was good for them because Republicans seem to be uniquely adept at saying things that make no sense. What isn’t unique about Republicans is that like Democrats, Independents, Whigs in the old days, and the Green Party in recent days, they like to talk.

     They kiss babies, eat food they wouldn’t otherwise go near with a ten-foot pole, take endless selfies, and shake countless hands; but most of all they like to hear themselves talk.

     Unlike Democrats who are known for their in-fighting—that’s what a big tent will do for you—Republicans are known for their unity. Reagans eleventh commandment, speak no ill-will of other Republicans has been their guiding principle for over fifty years.

     This has never been more evident than with the current president. Trump has said things so mystifying, so beyond the pale, so utterly ridiculous as to make normal people cringe, yet somehow, Republicans have always found a way to defend him.     

     Senator Graham called Trump an idiot during the 2016 campaign, adding he’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot, who will destroy the Republican Party. Today, because Republicans can’t afford to have Trump's base turn against them, Graham can’t say enough good things about the idiotic, race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. Idiots don’t generally start making sense when they turn seventy. A smarter Graham would understand this.

     Senator Cruz continued to support him through three-plus years of lunacy because the very thought of Trump’s base turning on him was worse than having to endure Trump insults against both his wife and father during the campaign.

     And Trump’s base will make them pay. Those who have stood up to Trump, and when I say stand up I refer to the most minuscule exhibition of courage one could possibly imagine, nevertheless, they have seen their careers ended, primaried out of existence so to speak.

     However, just as Trump appears to be self-destructing before our very eyes, his base is also beginning to crumble, albeit ever so slowly. His poll numbers, never high to begin with, are beginning to fall. People who once proudly wore tee-shirts bragging, “I'm Deplorable” are having second thoughts. They might not be saying it out loud, but the times, they are achangin’.

      The only thing worse than being deplorable is having to admit that the man you voted for no longer meets your deplorable standards. They’d rather you just forget.

     Just because his base can walk away, slither into the darkness and hope no one notices, doesn’t mean everyone can be so lucky.

     As Trump’s base abandons him, the big question is where the Congressmen and women and senators go, after bowing so cowardly before his unholy altar for three excruciating years. Is Trump’s base turning only on him? Do the sheep in Congress fight to hold on to the ones still loyal to Trump, or do they go after the ones that have left?

     Trump’s supporters have been a big question mark from the start. Only now, Republicans are beginning to question what everyone else has questioned from the start—what’s up with Trump’s base. Republicans no longer know which way the wind is blowing, only that something is in the air.

     We are seeing the by-product of this confusion every day in the halls of Congress. Politicians who talk for a living, who thrive on hearing their own voices, who can tell a lie without even blinking an eyelash have suddenly gone mute—afraid to say the wrong thing, afraid to say the right thing, afraid to say anything.

     These habitual motor-mouths can no longer find the words, when asked to comment on the president latest act of lunacy— something they could and did do without thinking just a few months ago. The poor souls have lost their voices, the only thing that ever mattered to them. They are reduced to making excuses, where they used to make waves.

     “I didn’t hear that.”

     “I didn’t read that.”

     “I’ll get back to you.”

     “Did he say that? I don’t know. I wasn’t aware.”

     "Hmmm, sooo, ahh..."

     “I’m late for a meeting.”

     “I’m late for lunch.”

     “I’m late. I’m late. I’m late.”

     Oh, if they could just say what Senator Graham said in the 2016 campaign? Trump is an idiotic, race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. If only Republicans could cut Trump and his base loose and take their chances with those Americans who have known from day-one that Trump wasn’t going to make anything great. 

     He was only going to make us the laughing stock of the world, trample on the Constitution and tear our country apart. That’s what idiotic, race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigots do.