Molly Jong-Fast: Even a Damning Federal Case Can't Break the GOP's Devotion to Donald Trump

[Celerity]

An insurrection, a couple impeachments, and now a shocking second indictment aren’t enough for Republicans to jump ship and risk antagonizing the MAGA base.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/donald-trump-federal-indictment-case-gop

https://archive.is/dJmxc



When Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped a 38-count federal indictment Friday afternoon against Donald Trump and a co-conspirator, complete with shocking allegations of stashing nuclear secrets around Mar-a-Lago, it felt like everyone was holding their collective breath. Just like in the immediate aftermath of January 6, this was a moment when Republicans might finally decide to rid themselves of Trump.

Like so many aspects of the Trump era, this was historic—and not in a good way. Trump became the first former president in history to face federal charges, 31 of which were related to the Espionage Act. Even Richard Nixon wasn’t indicted! While one might argue the Stormy Daniels hush money indictment from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was politically motivated (it wasn’t), or that it presents legal challenges (fair point), the gravity of the federal indictment against Trump was such that it would seem hard to simply shrug off. Here was a former president being portrayed as putting the nation’s security at risk. The filing includes photos of boxes allegedly filled with classified documents piled high in a strange chandelier-adorned marble bathroom, in office and storage rooms, and a ballroom which looks like it deeply missed the previous owner Marjorie Merriweather Post’s dulcet touch.

For a minute, it felt like this indictment might move the needle. It was, after all, so detailed, and perhaps most damning was Trump’s apparent admission of guilt. “As president, I could have declassified them, now I can’t,” Trump reportedly said in a recording. So it seems we know what the (former) president knew and when he knew it. Legal experts have spoken about how devastating the case looks for the 45th president, with Trump’s own former attorney general Bill Barr saying that “if even half of it is true, then he’s toast.” The New York Times’ editorial board, arguing why Trump should never again be trusted with the nation’s secrets, noted that the potential prison sentences for these charges “add up to as much as 420 years.” And yet, if one hoped sanity might return to the GOP, anyone who’s been writing about this Trump-ruled party the past seven years knew Republicans would treat this federal indictment like they did the Access Hollywood tape, the first impeachment, the January 6 insurrection, the second impeachment, and the earlier indictment: They would rally behind him.

If Republicans could stand up to Trump, they could start taking their party back from this lawless lunatic and signal a return to a Republican Party that operated within the normal bounds of the law. But the writing was already on the wall shortly after the indictment was unsealed, with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt brazenly tweeting, “First read of indictment and my reaction is ‘That’s it? The conspiracy is with the aide who moved the boxes? No documents were sold or given to third parties not in his close employ?’” The defense by a fairly mainstream GOP pundit—someone who has had a column in The Washington Post and stops on Meet the Press—was basically that if the former president hadn’t actually tried to sell the secrets, was it really so bad? This seems like a low standard even for Trump.

Link to tweet

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[The Unmitigated Gall]

1. Orange-Blob could eat a baby

And Hugh Hewitt would defend him. These people are gone.

[MontanaMama]

2. It's a cult.

A cult that has damaged the United States of America and continues to do so.

[Karadeniz]

3. It's not every day people find a mirror of their own prejudices, ignorance and abject rejection of

any sense of justice or morality. When they find that perfect reflection, they hold on no matter what !!

[Chainfire]

4. One day Trump will fall, and when that happens, you will not be able to find a single Republican

in the whole country who ever supported him. When the tide turns it will turn like a tsunami.

[Lovie777]

5. I believe it's gonna be slow................

I know RWers, and they are not please with shithole at all.

[Johonny]

6. Every spy agency in the world went through those

Rooms. They were not secure and he boasted to anyone listening that they were there. He couldn’t sell them if he tried. You can't sell what you gave away for free due to incompetence.

[rubbersole]

7. Judge Cannon could require tfg to be held without bond...

...at the secret request of the oligarchs that control the repub party ( Federalist Society). Rid them of this burnt out POS once and for all.
Right after monkeys fly out of her ass.
One can dream...

[musclecar6]

8. The

Republicans who still support him, do it for one reason. Ego. They can’t admit that they were fucking morons, for ever believing this jack ass to begin with.

[Chainfire]

9. The perfect solution is find a criminal SS agent to serve time with him.

I bet there are plenty out there.

[Mysterian]

10. Thank the propaganda networks

For turning 30% of our citizens into traitors.