Back in February, after Republican senators found Trump innocent of trying to shakedown the Ukraine to get them to investigate the Biden family, West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito excused the president's behavior by suggesting that he just needed to be a bit more careful in how he phrased things:

"I think he's learned that he has to be maybe a little more judicious and careful, the way he's phrasing certain things," said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia as she voiced her displeasure.

I thought of Capito’s response as I read a story by Greg Sargent in today’s Washington Post:

Trump just said the corrupt part out loud

From the president, earlier today:

Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020

And here's Trump on Nevada:

State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, “I think” I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020

Note -- as West Virginia demonstrates, what the states did is not illegal.

In his article, Sargent references the impeachment and notes a hypothetical question raised by a witness:

During the impeachment of President Trump, an expert witness called by Democrats floated a theoretical scenario involving the president threatening a state hammered by a natural disaster, to illustrate the corruption of Trump’s shakedown of Ukraine.

What would we think if Trump dangled federal disaster aid as leverage to force a governor to do his political bidding, asked Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, adding: “Wouldn’t you know in your gut that the president had abused his office? That he betrayed the national interest?”

Of course, this is what Trump is doing with the aid; Connecticut’s Senator Chris Murphy made the connection:

This is why so many of us thought it was imperative that Trump be removed from office. We warned that if he got away with using his office to try to rig an election, he would do it again. https://t.co/SQmTfYiJLv

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) May 20, 2020

I just searched and could not find any reaction to Trump's threats by our senator. Any thoughts, Senator Capito? Here's mine: Trump has learned that he can do whatever he pleases and Republicans will not say a word.