Senator Roy Blunt: Missouri’s Ultra-Lame, Lame-Duck Senator
On August 11, 2017, the community members of Charlottesville, VA were bracing themselves for an onslaught of visitors, but not the kind that a town typically welcomes. As reported in the New York Times: “Charlottesville is bracing for a weekend of white nationalist demonstrations and counterprotests, and suddenly this tranquil college town feels like a city under siege.” That terrified community bore witness to a mob of organized white nationalists, motivated by the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the name of their rally no less-horrifying or vague. “Unite the Right” is never a rally cry that most Americans, particularly in a city that is 19% African American, want to hear.
As violence and chaos descended, by the evening of August 11 and the morning of August 12, the anti-racist tweetstorm began. Senators from all over the country tweeted their open repudiation to the members of the alt-right who’d been planning their confrontation for nearly 10 months. In great unison, members of the Republican party, hardly known for being the party of racial inclusion, were vocal and decisive:
August 11:
10:01 P.M.: “Their tiki torches may be fueled by citronella but their ideas are fueled by hate, & have no place in civil society.” Senator Orrin Hatch (R, UT)
August 12
11:03 A.M. “The hate and bigotry witnessed in #Charlottesville does not reflect American values. I wholeheartedly oppose their actions.” Senator Mitch McConnell (R, KY)
11:54 A.M. “The #WhiteSupremacy in #Charlottesville does not reflect the values of the America I know. Hate and bigotry have no place in this country.” Jeff Flake, (R, AZ)
2:41 P.M. “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. -OGH” Senator Orrin Hatch (R, UT)
John McCain (R, AZ) issued an official statement on August 12 that speaks for itself plainly enough:
“Nothing less is at stake on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, where a violent attack has taken at least one American life and injured many others in a confrontation between our better angels and our worst demons.
White supremacists and neo-Nazis are, by definition, opposed to American patriotism and the ideals that define us as a people and make our nation special.”
At 10 A.M. on August 12, Missouri Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill, tweeted: “The hate on display in VA is ugly, and morally repugnant. And it is the essence of anti-American. Shame on them.”
This week is significant in St. Louis for anti-racist activists. It marked the third anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson, MO police. To see a national, white supremacist uprising of this level held a level of significance here that perhaps stung a bit more. The wounds have barely healed . Even our Republican Governor, a staunch Trump conservative and outspoken critic of progressive politics had something to say before noon.
Where’s Roy…Again?
Senior Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt had these electrifying words to say at the late hour of 3 p.m., August 12: “The hate and violence in Charlottesville have no place in America.”
Cue the sad trombone.
In an era that calls for boldness from both sides of the aisle, it took him the better part of the day (after Hatch, no friend to the progressive left, had tweeted not one but two strongly-worded statements) to inspire himself to say, well…something?
When the equally conservative members of your own party (who do little more than lip service to prevent the scourge of racial inequality and racial violence in America) at least do us, a traumatized nation, the honor of a promptly issued statement: our GOP Senator is, as usual, missing in action and, well…completely, utterly, shamelessly, inexcusably, “What century is this?”, race to the bottom-worthy, complacently, lazily, jaw-droppingly…lame.
Blunt’s Only Consistency is How Consistently Lame He is
Blunt, like most of his GOP cohorts, was an anti-Obamacare mouthpiece. On July 25th this year, at the apex of the repeal and replace furor, he said the following about the Affordable Care Act on his Facebook page:
“I’m glad that the Senate today voted to move forward with debate on the House-passed bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. All senators will now have the opportunity to offer amendments and look at ways we can improve the final product. My hope is that we will be able to find common ground on solutions that meet the needs of Missourians, and create a more stable and reliable health care system.”
However: when reasonably asked by the national media about what a likely better option than the House utterly controversial and plagued healthcare bill would look like, his comment:
“I haven’t thought it through.”
He was about to vote to take access to health insurance away from over 20 million Americans. No biggie, right? Also: he only had seven years and seven months to plan. Ruling the country when your party has a supermajority is apparently much harder than it looks.
Oh, on healthcare? That same senator who co-sponsored and voted for repeal legislation no fewer than 11 times, who made it a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, after three Senators (from Alaska, Maine,and Arizona) thwarted the Senate’s attempts to squeak repeal and replace through, he said:
“I think this ends this discussion for a little while and Tom Price is going to continue to look at all of the 1,400 places in the bill that his department is responsible for defining how this might work better.”
So, all that bitter, divisive language about how the ACA was failing Missouri? Well…never mind.
Blunt is only notably vocal when there’s a simple and obvious party line that needs towing. He was totally fine with Trump’s firing FBI director James Comey (Facebook, May 9: “I believe new leadership at the FBI will restore confidence in the organization and among the people who do the hard work to carry out its mission.”). On Trump’s war mongering with North Korea? Also totally for it. Like the rest of his party: he supported all of Trump’s cabinet nominees.
Most notable in Blunt’s spineless lameness is his slow, meandering lean-in to Trump, a candidate who so thoroughly vexed the Senator during this past reelection campaign: he skipped his own party’s convention entirely. It would only take Blunt a few months to change his mind, though. After his party’s controversial candidate won the presidency: Blunt was the chair of Trump’s inaugural ceremony. He may have skipped the nomination, but when it came to the swearing in, Blunt needed to claim an immediate seat at that table. That day: they stood shoulder to shoulder.
We are stuck with Blunt for another roughly five-and-a-half years. Rumors are that he’s retiring (likely to a lucrative career as a lobbyist) after this term. While it’s clear where he stands on, um, whatever his party says, what isn’t clear is whether or not he can form any opinions of his own. He is the living definition of lameness, and the picture of the very type of career politician against whom Trump supporters were reportedly rebelling.
