If it were a group of taciturn mercenaries hired to protect a Wild West border town from a gang of plundering bandits, then it would be pretty cool for Gov. Larry Hogan to be one of its founding members. Unfortunately, “The Silent Nine” is actually a name given by a group of Democratic governors for their nine Republican counterparts who have yet to officially state whether they will be supporting Donald Trump, now that he is the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
While it’s true that Hogan has refused to directly answer the question of whether he will support Trump’s candidacy, it’s not as if his opinion of the billionaire reality-TV star is a mystery. When Chris Christie — Hogan’s first choice — dropped out of the GOP primary, Hogan made it clear that he would not be transferring his endorsement to another candidate.
A day after Rep. John Delaney sent a mobile billboard to Annapolis to demand Hogan take a more definite stand on Trump, Hogan told the Associated Press: “I’m not a Trump fan. I don’t think he should be the nominee.”
Members of “The Silent Nine” are being publicly called out on a webpage at govtrumptracker.com. It’d be nice if these governors took a clear stance against Trump’s bigotry and nationalism, but of the 22 GOP governors who have made their feelings known, only one has refused to support Trump. So if it’s between Hogan’s staying “silent” (while throwing a fair amount of shade) and Hogan’s embracing a wanna-be dictator, I’ll take silence any day.
Being Governor of Maryland is Hogan’s job one!!