Jennifer Rubin thinks former President Trump’s standing with the GOP membership should be sliding, in the face of the news coming out of the House Select Committee:
… one would think that sentient Republicans would understand what is coming and start inching away from Trump. It won’t be one witness they have to smear or write off, but rather a mound of evidence including documents.
Here’s the problem: for the base, it’s all Fake News. Their leader is under attack and he cries out about persecution and, hey, Send me some money to defend myself while you’re at it! Most of the base will even survive a hypothetical arrest. He’s their people.
What may hurt Trump are revelations from his tax returns showing he’s not nearly as rich as claimed. He’s a third-rater with lots of money, that’s what makes him great. If he’s lying about the money, then his attraction suddenly lessens.
And among elected officials, it’s becoming painfully clear that at both State and Federal levels, names such as Stefanik, Boebert, Gaetz, McCarthy, Gosar, Greene, Risch, Gohmert, Nunes, Cawthorn, and many, many others are, at best, third raters; some are far worse. They know that Trump provides the environment in which they can win, but if someone else takes over the GOP, they may find their ass is out.
Trump, and his predecessors, constructed a party based on loyalty and discipline: you vote for Republican nominees or you’re a bad Republican, soon to be followed by an ex-Republican. Saying something bad about a leader can lead to calamitous consequences, too, although that’s not guaranteed, if you’re reading the currents properly and that leader is outbound: think Ryan, or even McConnell today.
But far too many owe their positions to Trump, and if they reject him, the base may reject those officials and wannabes. And, as politicos, they’re basically people who’ve learned the anti-abortion jig and the gun rights waltz and have no real applicable qualifications.
We’ll not be seeing a flood of betrayals of Trump as Rubin might expect. A few officials, yes, will feel their consciences prick, or foresee disaster if Trump’s not prosecuted nor barred from office, and either testify or at least officially reject him. But most will simply quiver their third-rate asses in their elective seats and quietly hope they can retain their prestigious position at the next election. Not based on any great skills, but because they’ve clung to Trump’s knees and learned a couple of dances that the base has been trained to acclaim.
