The day Donald Trump began his campaign
For the presidency, a few in congress
(Mainly presidential candidates),
Called out his cruelty, corruption,
Incompetence, racism, and lies. But after
He won a freak victory, they cowed and quickly
Joined the other cowards in the party, and
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he refused to release his tax returns,
Exploiting technicalities like a crime boss
(Can he take the fifth on tax returns?),
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he mocked the handicapped, and drove
His rally crowds to frenzy with a wink and smile
Beckoning racists, anti-Semites,
Sexists, gay-bashers, xenophobes,
And other inhabitants of the darkness in our society
Now freed from the bounds of shame and public decency,
When he insulted his political foes with vulgar
Names and called the press the people’s enemy,
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he shattered decades old alliances,
Duped by flattery, by the soft kisses of dictators in
Russia, North Korea, Venezuela,
Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, and when
Our allies turned to China for trade and treaties,
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When over a dozen women made credible
Accusations of sexual assault,
Harassment, and even rape, he hid behind
Lawyers, non-disclosures, and illegal bribes,
Behind an army of willing stooges and fixers, and
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he named three to the Supreme Court:
Two anti-choice extremists and the third
An accused rapist and belligerent drunk,
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he used his office and influence to fill
His pockets with money from the lobbyists, donors, and
Foreign diplomats in his hotels,
(Men in suits lined up like whores in the lobby),
And filled his ledger with favors owed to him,
When he used the State Department to pressure
Britain to bring a lucrative tournament to
His nearly bankrupt golf course in Scotland,
(It failed but left our reputation in the rough),
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he illegally diverted Federal funds
To build an unnecessary border wall,
When he attacked immigrants as rapists,
Criminals, and drug dealers, and when
He threw their children in cages, frightened, alone,
And dying for lack of proper medical care,
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
When he refused to accept his ultimate defeat
In an election his own Attorney General called
Free and fair, that Republican State officials
Validated repeatedly, that fifty
Lawsuits failed to overturn, he played
The martyr, alternately whining and raging,
His allegations based on innuendo,
Bigotry, and conspiracy theories,
Void of evidence or credibility,
Driving the fools still in his thrall to madness.
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
But when he conspired and incited an angry mob
Of white supremacists, of neo-Nazis
In t-shirts bearing the phrase “Camp Auschwitz,”
In camouflage waving Confederate flags,
When nihilists broke into the Capital
To disrupt certification of the vote, and when
They erected gallows on the Capital lawn,
And called for legislators to be hanged
(Even their Republican comrades),
Republicans in Congress seemed to stir.
They stood on their hind legs like men and women.
Cries of outrage, calls for his impeachment,
Lamentations over the violation, the floors
Strewn with broken glass and human shit.
Grief for police attacked, beaten, and killed
Echoed from a conga-line of self-righteous,
Podium clutching grifters, but ultimately
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
I once read that a political poem should always
End by repeating its central point three times:
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
Republicans in Congress did nothing.
