LuAnn Bennett: “Republicans like Comstock who Criticize Trump but Refuse to Disavow Him Are Complicit in Trump’s Attacks”

McLean – On CNN New Day this morning, Karen Meredith, a mother of a U.S. veteran, called on Republicans like Barbara Comstock to not merely offer their support for the Khan family, but to renounce GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump following his latest attack on military families. Link to video full video here; text below [emphasis ours]:

Meredith: The Republican leadership has called or has responded to the family of the Khan family and expressed their opinion that their son was a hero and thank you for serving, but nobody has told Trump enough is enough. And that’s what I’m looking for. If you don’t say something, then it means you’re okay with it. And apparently the Republican leadership is okay with his behavior and his denigration of the troops.

Meredith organized nearly 30 Gold Star families to demanded an apology from Trump in an open letter to the GOP presidential nominee, and to call for GOP elected officials to stop disavowing individual comments but instead clearly renounce the GOP nominee. Anything short of fully renouncing Trump reveals that Republicans, in her words, are “okay with it.”

Her comments pierce through the attempts from Republican elected officials, including Barbara Comstock, to deflect without ever actually repudiating Trump. On Sunday, Comstock offered condolences for the Khan family yet refused to renounce Trump, a move that emboldens the GOP nominee and signals clearly that she will vote this November for her party’s standard bearer.

Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza summed up the bind Republicans like Barbara Comstock are in on MSNBC’sMorning Joe. Link to full video here; text below:

It’s a remarkable thing because the problem is they are afraid of the Trump voter. They cannot walk away from him. At the same time — McCain in his heart of hearts thinks I can’t believe we nominated this guy, I can’t believe it is happening. At the same time, he sees what Trump has done in the primary process, and he does not want to get on the wrong side of it. It’s stunning. You read that statement and you think, he can’t possibly support him. Well, he still does.

“Our opponent continues to tap dance around Trump, refusing to renounce a man who repeatedly attacks Gold Star families,” Bennett spokesman Robert Howard said. “She is a Republican who has spent her entire life in partisan politics supporting the Republican party. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’ll be voting for the GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in November.”