If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney—and Colin Powell and Condi Rice and all the others accused by Donald Trump of lying us into war—aren’t going to be outraged, others aren’t going to be outraged on their behalf. So John Kasich decides it would hurt his image as a positive unifier if he were to be outraged. So Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who had moments of authentic outrage Saturday night, go back to sniping at each other rather than sustaining their outrage.
Once upon a time we had leaders who would have expressed their outrage at such a slander. They would have demanded evidence from Trump to back up his charge. Receiving none, they would have denounced and excoriated him. They would have explained to the American people how extraordinarily irresponsible his slander was, and would have done their best to discredit a man who could behave so irresponsibly. They would have pronounced him unfit to be president of the United States, and they would have mobilized their friends, supporters and admirers to ensure so appalling an eventuality didn’t come to pass. They would have been scorned by some for doing so, and they would have worn that scorn as a badge of honor.
We apparently no longer live in such a time.
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