[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 88 (Monday, June 6, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3391-S3392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DONALD TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICAN LEADER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate is returning from a 10-day 
recess, but even though the Republicans took 10 days off, the Zika 
virus did not.
  Last week a child was born in New Jersey with severe birth defects 
caused by the Zika virus. Thousands of our citizens are exposed to Zika 
now, today, but the problem will only get worse. Zika is a problem that 
is here and is not going away quickly. As the weather continues to warm 
and the mosquitoes become more active, it will inevitably cause local 
transmission. The number of infected Americans will skyrocket.
  In light of the threat posed by Zika, one would expect Republicans to 
spend their break working on an emergency spending bill to send to the 
President's desk with the full amount, $1.9 billion. They did not. 
Instead, Republicans spent their recess boasting their Republican 
standard bearer, Donald Trump. The Republican Party's capitulation to 
Donald Trump is complete. As headlined last week in the Washington 
Post, ``It's official: The GOP is now the Party of Trump.''
  I was especially disappointed to see that our senior Senator from 
Kentucky personally led this pro-Trump propaganda tour. Senator 
McConnell spent last week as Donald Trump's head cheerleader, a 
trumpet. The Republican leader left Washington 10 days ago without 
doing his job on Zika so he could stump for Trump. In the last 10 days, 
it has become clear that Senator McConnell will go to any length to 
support Donald Trump.
  Consider the Republican leader's refusal to denounce Donald Trump's 
racist attack on U.S. District Court Judge Curiel, a man born in 
Indiana--in the United States. Donald Trump opined a Federal judge 
should be disqualified from presiding on his case because of his 
Mexican heritage. He went even further in saying he would feel the same 
way if the judge were Muslim. How did the Republican leader respond? 
Senator McConnell repeatedly refused to say Donald Trump's attacks

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on Judge Curiel's ethnicity are racist. This is precisely the type of 
failure that gave rise to Donald Trump in the first place.
  Senator McConnell and all congressional leaders have never taken a 
stand against Trump's vile rhetoric. That is because the hate emanating 
from Trump's mouth reflects the Republican Party's agenda in the U.S. 
Senate for the last 7\1/2\ years--the agenda Senator McConnell himself 
promoted. For years Senator McConnell and other Republican leaders 
embraced the darkest elements within their party. The Republican Party 
made anti-woman, anti-Latino, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and anti-
Obama policies the norm. Trump is the logical conclusion of what 
Republican leaders have been saying and doing for the past 7\1/2\ 
years.
  By refusing to denounce Trump's attack on a Federal judge for the 
racism it clearly connotes, it shows Senator McConnell is the poster 
boy for Republicans' spinelessness that allowed Donald Trump to be the 
Republican nominee for President of the United States. I have made this 
argument for months. I am not the only one making it now. Now, even 
some Republicans are joining me. The conservative blog ``RedState'' 
railed against Senator McConnell's refusal to condemn Trump's racist 
attacks.
  The conservative blog ``RedState'' said this: ``[Senator McConnell] 
fell back to the last coward's refuge: we have to support Trump because 
he won the primary.''
  The junior Senator from Nebraska, Mr. Sasse, a Republican, is willing 
to say what Senator McConnell will not. What he is saying today and he 
tweeted was: ``Public Service Announcement: Saying someone can't do a 
specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of 
`racism.' ''
  Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the House, called Trump's 
comments ``inexcusable.'' There are others. But for his part, Senator 
McConnell is doubling down on Trump. The Republican leader is waging a 
nonstop campaign to persuade any Republicans who have doubts about 
supporting Trump to drop their complaints and fall in line. The 
Republican leader even went so far--listen to this--as to compare 
Donald Trump as comparable to President Dwight Eisenhower, to GEN 
Dwight Eisenhower.
  Donald Trump is a failed businessman who bilked millions of Americans 
out of their hard-earned money. No wonder he will not release his tax 
returns. Trump doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as 
President Eisenhower, who led the Allied forces in World War II and, 
among other things, integrated America's schools. Comparing Eisenhower 
to Trump? Give us a break.
  Donald Trump is the converse of all for which leaders such as 
Eisenhower, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan stood. They stood for 
equality, fairness, and decency. Trump and McConnell obviously do not. 
Donald Trump stands for hatred and stands for division. Senator 
McConnell also defended Trump's temperament, reassuring everyone that 
as President, Donald Trump ``would be fine.'' That is what he said. 
That is a quote.
  The Republican leader also extolled Trump's intelligence. Senator 
McConnell even claimed the Republican Party is ``at an all-time high,'' 
with Trump at its helm. That is how the Republican leader spent last 
week. He wasn't fighting for resources to stop the spread of Zika. He 
was leading the cheers as he stumped for Trump.
  Senator McConnell was doing zero for the 100,000 poisoned residents 
of Flint, MI. Senator McConnell was doing zero to fund our Nation's 
response to the opioid epidemic. It is terrible. The Republican leader 
was too busy being a trumpet for Trump, and now that he has firmly 
entrenched himself in Trump's corner, I can't help but wonder just how 
far Senator McConnell's support extends. For example, were Donald's 
Trump's comments about Judge Curiel racist, as the Senator from 
Nebraska said? Senator McConnell wouldn't answer that question 
yesterday. He had numerous opportunities to do it. So I will give him 
another opportunity today.
  There are other questions the Republican leader needs to answer. Does 
he believe a Federal judge should be disqualified because of his 
Mexican heritage? Does he believe these attacks are acceptable for a 
man who wants to be President of our great country? Does he agree 
judges should face a religious test?
  Senator McConnell said last week: ``We know that Donald Trump will 
make the right kind of Supreme Court appointments.'' After Donald 
Trump's latest attacks on the judiciary, does he truly believe Trump is 
the right man to pick nominees to our Nation's highest Court?
  The Republican leader defended Trump's temperament, saying he ``would 
be fine'' as President. I ask the Senator from Kentucky, is it fine 
when Donald Trump calls women pigs and dogs? Is it fine when Trump 
calls immigrants rapists and murderers? Is it fine that his party's 
Presidential candidate urges violence at rallies? These are not 
rhetorical questions.
  The Republican leader has so fully embraced Donald Trump that we are 
all unclear as to where Trump's platform ends and the Senate 
Republicans' begins. If Republicans think a man who believes in 
religious and ethnic tests for Federal judges is fit to be President of 
the United States, they must explain why this is acceptable. The Nation 
has a right to know how far Senate Republicans' support of Donald Trump 
extends, and that starts with the Republican leader because now there 
doesn't appear to be any daylight between Donald Trump and Senator 
McConnell.
  I yield the floor.

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