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House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff (Calif.) expressed doubt, March 15, about President Trump's claim of a 2016 wire tap at Trump Tower. (Reuters)

On Wednesday, President Trump lost one of his most ardent apologists, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Post reported:

Nunes had beena member of his own transition team, after all, and he seemed to go out of his way to defend Trump in a way few others did,frankly.

That may no longer be the case.

Nunes delivered a reasonably strong rebuke of Trump on Wednesday for his tweet that President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, saying that if the tweet were to be taken literally, clearly the president was wrong (meaning Trump).

Perhaps Nunes saw some of Trumps rotten polling numbers. Maybe he realized his own credibility was too precious to fritter away defending Trumps nonsense. Perhaps he knew FBI Director James B. Comey would say the same thing next week and wanted to get out his statement first. Whatever the reason, this is as close as any Republican has come to calling Trump out for making stuff up.

Now imagine if all the Republicans started doing that.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) could say, Actually, Mr. President, you arent exempt from conflicts of interest. There is a rule right there in the Constitution, the emoluments clause.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) might say, Mr. President, you are wrong about sanctuary cities. They actually dont have more crime. And immigrants, even those here illegally, are less likely to be criminals than native-born Americans.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan could point out: Mr. President, you really did say youd cover everyone.

You get the point. Trump is so used to making things up and Republicans are so used to defending him that when one Republican finally tells the truth, which is readily apparent to everyone else, it becomes, literally, front-page news.

You do wonder what all these Republicans are so afraid of. Is Trump going to campaign against or threaten the guy in charge of intelligence investigations in the House? That would be very foolish. And if he did vow to start campaigning against incumbent Republicans, its not clear they would mind all that much. Trumps approval is at historic lows for a president at this stage in his first term.

Moreover, once a few Republicans started speaking up, Trump might actually stop saying patently untrue things. Until now, its the Republicans indifference to his lies or even rationalizations for them that allows him to gaslight the rest of the country.

Once Republicans inside the Beltway start telling Trump he is talking nonsense, truth-telling might spread like wildfire! Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) might fess up that the Medicaid cuts would be devastating to Floridas budget. GOP mayors could tell Trump his notions about sanctuary cities are all wrong. Border-state governors would tell him flat out that the wall is going to cost a fortune and wont work.

If we have learned anything from Trumps my-travel-ban-can-never-be-invalidated attitude, and my-health-care-will-cover-everyone posturing, it is that when the truth comes out, it makes all Republicans look foolish and prevents them from achieving desired political ends. His lies become attached to their policies and become a political weight around their own necks.

Nunes is right. The president was wrong in this case. Hes wrong about most things, and Republicans should start saying so.

Original post:
What if every Republican started telling Trump that he is wrong? - Washington Post (blog)