The choice of extreme election denier Kristina Karamo as Michigan’s GOP chair this past weekend has given a clear message, the New Republic reports. Donald Trump is still very much in charge of the Republican party.
The fact that the former president endorsed a different candidate in the 10-person field doesn’t matter, writer Michael Tomasky said. Because all 10 candidates were Trump fans.
In a state where Democrats are in control, holding both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship, Republicans have reacted by moving even further towards the extreme, Tomasky said.
And he suggested that was evidence that Trump still rules the grassroots roost, despite the many investigations ongoing against him.
“With each passing week, the sense grows that sooner or later, some arm of the law or another is likely to catch up with him; that he may finally have tempted fate one time too many, and that even the protective carapace of the presidency can’t shield him. In fact, that it is precisely because he became president that the system finally is rising up to hold him to some kind of account (we hope),” Tomasky wrote.
“And yet, none of it matters. Cable news spends hours wondering about this, but it’s pretty obvious why. Trump has energized a neo-fascist, white ethnonationalist segment of the population that will stay with him through virtually anything because he has identified and given voice to their resentments.”
And Tomasky said only three things could change that.
- The leaders of the religious right come out against Trump.
- The opposing candidates stop their individual scrapping and unite behind one anti-Trump presidential hopeful.
- An indictment comes down that polls show would really hurt him in a general election, and the Trump-backing networks such as Fox accept the writing on the wall.
“None of these three scenarios is impossible,” Tomasky says. “But none is very likely, because these people aren’t leaders, they’re followers. They’re afraid of Trump’s voters, and they’re afraid of Trump himself — of the chaos he could create either with a third-party candidacy or just by attacking the GOP nominee and the whole nominating process as corrupt.
“As long as Trump is leading in the primary polls by double digits, the Falwells won’t come out against him. Party chair and longtime MAGA sycophant Ronna McDaniel won’t bust heads to force unity behind an anti-Trump. And Rupert Murdoch won’t take a stand, either.
“As we learned last week in that Dominion Voting Systems filing, the Foxers are terrified they’ll lose audience share to Newsmax, so they’ll handle Trump delicately.”
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