George F. Will is a conservative columnist who is regularly featured locally in the Wheeling Intelligencer. Today’s recently-posted column by Will is about Republicans who have uncritically allowed the President to do as he pleases:

The nation’s downward spiral into acrimony and sporadic anarchy has had many causes much larger than the small man who is the great exacerbator of them. Most of the causes predate his presidency, and most will survive its January terminus. The measures necessary for restoration of national equilibrium are many and will be protracted far beyond his removal. One such measure must be the removal of those in Congress who, unlike the sycophantic mediocrities who cosset him in the White House, will not disappear “magically,” as Eric Trump said the coronavirus would. Voters must dispatch his congressional enablers, especially the senators who still gambol around his ankles with a canine hunger for petting.

While no senator is mentioned in his column, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito certainly matches Will’s description. Here she is yesterday, demonstrating the extent of her criticism:

“We are obviously in a divisive situation right now that’s escalating, and I think he needs to make more unifying comments,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

Like her “he needs to maybe be a little more judicious and careful” after the impeachment vote, Capito once again demonstrates that she is unwilling to offer any meaningful criticism of the president.

Beyond Will’s criticism of Republican senators, his concluding paragraph does not offer much hope:

Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come.

Will is a regular in the Intelligencer’s stable of syndicated columnists and the paper usually runs his columns. Two years ago, however, they did not publish a somewhat similar Will column: “Vote against the GOP this November.” My hunch is that local readers will not see this column (at least not with the suggested title); while the Intelligencer has recently published some critiques of the president by its syndicated columnists,Will additionally criticizes Republican senators. Capito is also an Ogden favorite and I don't believe that she has ever been criticized by our local papers.

Afternoon update -- a "strong move" by Trump

Just out from CNN:

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, called it a "strong move" for Trump to go to the church and "walk out in public." She added the use of tear gas "strikes me as not right" but added "those are decisions are made by the security people."

Additionally, from reporter Alex Bolton:

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) says there was “zero” discussion of Trump’s handling of protests at Senate GOP lunch today.

— Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) June 2, 2020