Following an overnight public relations disaster that followed a Republican Party vote to eviscerate the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, GOP lawmakers made an abrupt u-turn on Tuesday by withdrawing the reform proposal before a final vote on a package of rules that will guide the new legislative session.
In the wake of the development, many news outlets (ex. here, here, here) reported that it was a two-part tweet sent out by President-elect Donald Trump that may have compelled the Republicans to change course.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
……..may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
But despite the high-profile tweets, it was certainly unclear what role, if any, Trump had on the decision. As The Hill pointed out, even “before Trump weighed in, a barrage of negative headlines and public outcry made it difficult for Republicans to stand by the measure.”
And filmmaker Michael Moore—who earlier in the day had posted a message on Facebook urging consituents to call and admonish their Republican representatives for moving to gut the ethics watchdog—was among those celebrating the idea that it was public pressure, not Trump’s social media foray, which had upended the Republicans:
First victory! House switchboard jammed with calls from citizens opposed to Republicans killing its Ethics Office. Repubs & Trump back off.
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 3, 2017
Moore also critized outlets for so quickly giving Trump credit for Tuesday’s turnaround:
Media pundits will credit Trump 4 Repubs backing down but he only questioned their timing & ONLY after the public flooded their switchboard
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 3, 2017
Media, get it right: Trump isn’t against gutting of EthicsOffice, just the “timing.”
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 3, 2017
Simon Malloy, writing for Salon, agreed with the essentials of Moore’s argument.
“Trump’s position on this was clear,” Malloy wrote on Tuesday. “He didn’t have a problem with Republicans going after the ‘unfair’ OCE, he just mildly suggested that maybe it shouldn’t have been the first thing on the agenda…. But once this Twitter statement was sent, the political media tripped all over themselves to be the first to inaccurately report that Trump and the House GOP were at odds over ethics.”
As Moore tweeted:
Seriously- lazy, mainstream, celebrity-fawning, Trump-enabling media- do your job. It’s the 1st day of Congress & you haven’t changed a bit.
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 3, 2017