JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON @ The Federalist
The conviction of former President Donald Trump on manufactured charges in a Stalinist show trial this week marks a crossroads for the Republican Party. From now on, the civil war inside the GOP will be between those who understand they must do to Democrats what Democrats have done to Trump, and those who think they can trundle along with business as usual.
And make no mistake, that divide in the Republican Party is very real — and now, very obvious. In the wake of Trump’s conviction Thursday, for example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was submissively silent for most of the day.
Not that his conspicuous silence was a surprise. Recall that a year ago McConnell was likewise silent for hours after Trump was indicted in the classified documents probe, as was minority Whip John Thune. Eventually, McConnell issued the weakest possible statement late on Thursday, as did Thune, who belatedly called the Manhattan trial “politically motivated” and bemoaned the “partisan nature of this prosecution.”
Other Republicans were not silent but should have been. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whose last notable action before leaving office was to veto a bill that would have protected children from transgender genital mutilation, issued a craven statement that seemed to accept the legitimacy of the trial and conviction: “It is not easy to see a former President and the presumptive GOP nominee convicted of felony crimes; but the jury verdict should be respected. An appeal is in order but let’s not diminish the significance of this verdict.”
Hutchinson wasn’t alone in calling for the rigged, obviously corrupt trial and Soviet-style conviction to be “respected.” The former GOP governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, who is now running for U.S. Senate, encouraged people “to respect the verdict and legal process” and invoked the “rule of law” — a curious thing to say given how the entire trial made a mockery of the rule of law.
Former National Security Advisor and neocon hack John Bolton said Trump’s conviction was a “fire-bell in the night,” and that Republicans should “change course” and “not nominate a convicted felon for President,” as if he were reading DNC talking points. (Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance had the perfect riposte to this: “John Bolton finally encounters a war he doesn’t want to fight.”)
Republicans like these should be purged from the party immediately — especially McConnell. As Rachel Bovard noted on X, “There is nothing stopping Senate Rs from calling the leadership election now.” Given what the stakes are now, and what we know Democrats are willing to do to cling to power, the only way forward is to do politics on the terms Democrats themselves have set. .. Read More
President Donald Trump’s sacrifices are like no other leader in the history of America
The vile travesty of justice, where President Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies, caused history of the dubious kind in America. Many in the mainstream media, which is the PR wing for the Democrats, gloated over the fact that Trump became the first president in American history to be criminally convicted.
Since history is being mentioned, let’s look at another kind of history. ... Read More
