As Trump prepared to appear Thursday on federal charges that he orchestrated an unprecedented effort to overturn the 2020 election victory of incumbent President Joe Biden, the Republican frontrunner for the White House is not facing such grim warnings or recriminations from his party mates.
It is a thunderous silence that draws attention.
And meanwhile, the former president opens a wide lead over the other Republican presidential hopefuls. Those who stood up to Trump have disappeared. Instead, the party he leads has basically given up criticizing his actions, countering his impulses, or placing limits on his growing power.
Authoritarian academics warn that it is a classic example of a democracy in decline.
In indicting Trump, the Justice Department offered new details about the extent to which the former president resorted to an elaborate plan to reverse Biden’s victory, culminating in the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill, an insider attack unparalleled in the United States history.
Most members of Congress experienced firsthand what happened on January 6. Some barricaded the House doors, others fled to safety as thousands of Trump supporters laid siege.
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy called it his “saddest day” in Congress at the time, saying Trump bore “responsibility” for what happened.
After the 45-page indictment was released Tuesday night, McCarthy, now Speaker of the House, had a different reaction. He called it “the Justice Department’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the front-runner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.”
The change among the Republican congressmen was rapid for some, unequivocal for others and now, that Trump tries to return to the White House, practically complete.
Republicans who once challenged Trump, such as former Rep. Liz Cheney, have been ousted by voters or forced into early retirement. Those who remain, like Senator Mitt Romney, are often harassed and criticized by Trump in humiliating public statements.
Few remain of the 10 Republican representatives who voted to impeach Trump for the insurrection on Capitol Hill, as well as the handful of senators who voted to condemn him.
Instead, congressional Republicans are focused on investigating Biden and his son, Hunter, over the family’s finances. Also in removing resources from the Department of Justice and reviewing the account of what happened on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to clean Trump’s record.
A top Trump ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is also close to McCarthy, said she would work to defund the office of special investigator Jack Smith during fall budget negotiations. She also wants to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Source: VOA
