Ronna McDaniel, on Meet the Press:
“When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team. Now I get to be a little bit more myself.”
Trump asks too much of loyal Republicans.
It will haunt them.
At some point Republican Party officials and officeholders will take off the logo-wear of being loyal Trump-supporting, MAGA-compliant Republicans. Ronna McDaniel is giving us an early look at what I expect will take place. Forgetting. Denial. And disassociation.
She wasn't really being herself, she said.
On November 17, 2020 Trump and McDaniel were together on a conference call urging the two Republicans on the four-person certification board for Wayne County (i.e., Detroit), Michigan, not to certify the election for the county. Biden had carried Michigan by 154,000 votes. "Do not sign it. . . We will get you attorneys," McDaniel urged.
McDaniel, a Michigan voter, claimed fraud. Michigan's Department of State said they had investigated and audited the election and said her claim was false. The Trump/McDaniel telephone call was part of the plan for Michigan GOP partisans to meet secretly and sign documents claiming that Trump's electors were "duly elected." Throughout the past three-plus years McDaniel has backed Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him and that the January 6 Capitol riot was "legitimate political discourse."
There is a problem once a person attempts to move on from Trump. Trump's actions are out in public. He is a scofflaw. He insists on things that are observably untrue. He proudly and openly sought to overthrow the election. He proudly and openly took classified documents, shared them casually, hid them and lied about it to the courts, but asserts today that doing this is OK. He sat quietly and watched his supporters ransack the Capitol, and now he calls them patriots and heroes. To be a Republican in good standing one needs to be on board with Trump. As RNC chair, McDaniel was loyal to Trump, but not loyal enough. She was replaced by Trump's daughter-in-law.
Now McDaniel wants a new life, back again as an American in good standing. Now she says that people convicted of crimes on January 6 deserve to be in prison.
In the aftermath of the German surrender in 1945, most Nazis and Nazi sympathizers said they weren't really Nazis. We were just caught up in the tragic madness of the era, they said. Their forgetting, denial, and disassociation mostly worked, and the world moved on. The victors focused attention on top leaders and the participants in death camps, not the rank and file people who made the Nazi war effort possible.
As time passes, Republicans will try to move on, as McDaniel is doing now. It will be difficult for them. There are videotapes, phone records, memories, and motivated accusers. Liz Cheney called out McDaniel in a tweet:
Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot & his effort to pressure MI officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome. She spread his lies & called 1/6 “legitimate political discourse.” That’s not “taking one for the team.” It’s enabling criminality & depravity.
Chuck Todd condemned NBC for "normalizing" McDaniel by paying her $300,000/year to be a contributor on NBC’s network. We saw her lie to the American public on matters of great consequence, Todd said.
Officeholders in current good standing as Republicans have a record. Nearly all are going along with Trump. They must. He demands loyalty. Candidates are stuck with Trump and his claims. Democratic strategists are elated that the most Trump-compliant of Republican nominees are winning key primary elections. They carry Trump baggage.
In the fullness of time, I suspect Republicans will try to shed that baggage. Do Republicans really support overthrowing elections? Do they really think prosecution of crimes done openly constitutes a witch hunt? Are they really OK with Trump's grift and lawbreaking? Some are indeed OK with it. Others, I suspect, are uneasy and are just going along with the team. They are caught up in the tragic madness of the era.
In the bright light of a general election in 2024, Trump and his claims will be a handicap for Republicans. He sounds wildly dishonest. Not to everyone, but to a majority of Americans. As time passes, in the post-Trump world perhaps 10 years from now, I suspect support for Trump will look indefensible.
What were we thinking?
"“The violence that happened on January 6th is unacceptable. It doesn’t represent our country. It certainly doesn’t represent my party.”"
Two out of three ain't bad.
Peter, I so value your daily missives. I’m sure I don’t comment as often as I should. Most days I am encouraged, provoked, and enlightened by your words. You are genuinely doing an invaluable public service and I thank you.