GOP’s Emmer dodges simple questions about Trump, Hitler’s generals

Retired General Mark Milley helped get the ball rolling. The public learned two weeks ago that the man Donald Trump tapped to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently declared in the protocol that he now believes the Republican nominee is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person for this country.”

It was a week later that Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s White House chief of staff, retired also said that Trump meets “the definition of ‘fascist’.” This was soon followed by similar comments from Mark Esper, Trump’s former defense secretary, who admitted “it’s hard to say” that Trump hasn’t earned the “fascist” label.

Apparently, much of the American public thinks along the same lines: The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll found 49% of the country sees the former Republican president as a fascist.

CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked House Majority Whip Tom Emmer about his reaction to the survey data, and the Minnesota Republican replied that his party’s candidate “will win this election.” That may well be true, although it wasn’t much of an answer to a question that much of the public concluded that Trump is actually a fascist.

The interview continued, however, with the host asking the GOP congressman about allegations — raised by members of Trump’s own team — that the former president privately offered praise for Adolf Hitler’s generals during his tenure in the White House. Is Emmer comfortable with such rhetoric? He refused to answer, dismissing the question as irrelevant.

And so, Bolduan tried again. It was reported by NBC News:

Bolduan asked at one point, “Are you personally okay with Donald Trump saying he wants his generals to be like Hitler’s generals?” Emmer, after a brief pause, said in part: “The Americans don’t want to talk about it.”

It was tough to watch.

The weird thing is, there’s a pretty obvious answer that the House GOP leader could have presented. “Obviously no one in American politics should have anything positive to say about Hitler or his generals, but I don’t believe the latest reporting, and Trump has denied the claims.”

See how easy this is?

But the House Majority Whip, afraid of his own shadow, wouldn’t even go that far.

The latest story is a relevant part of the story: Most House Republicans voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, but Emmer was right and sided with democracy.

To put it mildly, Trump had a grudge – and derailed Emmer’s bid for House speakers exactly one year ago this week.

Republican from Minnesota went to humiliating lengths to work his way back into the former president’s good graces, abandoning all sense of pride, and his efforts finally paid off.

After Emmer embarrasses himself with excessive sycophancy, Trump reportedly boasted privatelyreferring to the congressman, “They always bend the knee.”

A year later, as Emmer’s pitiful showing on CNN helped show, too little has changed.