In his column for the Bulwark, former Republican National Committee spokesperson Tim Miller scorched the GOP for doing nothing to shed themselves of former President Donald Trump and instead just “humoring” him with the hope that he will go away.
As Miller notes, immediately after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and ramped up his efforts to prove the election was stolen from him, an anonymous senior Republican official told the Washington Post, “What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time? No one seriously thinks the results will change,” before adding, “He went golfing this weekend. It’s not like he’s plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power on Jan. 20. He’s tweeting about filing some lawsuits, those lawsuits will fail, then he’ll tweet some more about how the election was stolen, and then he’ll leave.”
As Miller wryly noted, that prediction didn’t age well as almost two months later Trump’s election fraud claims culminated in a riot at the Capitol following a “Stop the Steal” rally on the national mall.
According to the columnist, Republicans are still dithering when it comes to shoving Trump out into the wilderness, in part because they need his fundraising prowess and ability to get out the vote in some races.
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According to Miller, “in present-day Republican politics, that anonymous ‘what’s the downside for humoring him’ moron actually won the day. And not just that day, but today. Because despite how brutally and blatantly their strategy in managing Trump’s psychopathy failed, Senior Republican Officials (SROs) are still employing it.”
“You see, back in November 2020, at least the SROs thought that there was an expiration date on their cowardice. They figured that, come January 20, 2021, Trump would be gone and they would no longer have to humor him. Today the strategy has been modified only in the removal of an expected end date,” he wrote before noting a comment made by a former Republican lawmaker in Mark Leibovich’s new book, “Thank You for Your Servitude.”
As Leibovitch wrote, “A former Republican congressman told me recently that the party’s only real plan for dealing with Trump in 2024 involved a darkly divine intervention. ‘We’re just waiting for him to die,’ he said.”
To which Miller added, “Instead they will soldier on. Playing the same big game of pretend with our democracy in the balance. After all, the downside for humoring him for just a little more time is likely to be felt by other people. And the upside of humoring? That accrues directly to the Republicans who want power,” before darkly predicting, “But don’t worry. Eventually they’ll be able to tell the truth. Probably. As long as he’s the one who croaks first.”
You can read more here.