Why the heck did some Texas Republicans back Trump without even reading the indictments? | Opinion
Texas politicians get a lot done sometimes — and sometimes, they do something that is infuriating.
A bevy of Republicans in Congress defended former President Donald Trump upon hearing the news of his indictment, at least a couple before the details were even released. While Trump initially announced Thursday that the charges were coming, the 37-count indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents and covering it up was unsealed Friday.
From Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo to Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Irving and even Rep. Chip Roy of Austin (who has already endorsed Trump rival Ron DeSantis for president), many Texas politicians chalked the indictments up to partisanship, a witch hunt, or a “vendetta.”
“Today is a very sad day in American history,” Cruz said Friday on his podcast. “We have never in over two centuries of our nation’s history had a new president who launched the entire Department of Justice, the entire machinery of justice on a vendetta to persecute, to attack, to investigate, to indict, to try to throw in jail the former president who, it should be noted, is also currently the leading contender on the Republican side to run against the current president.”
It’s not clear whether any of these politicians had even read the charges. Some of them made their opinion known before indictments were even unsealed. They need to open their eyes to the evidence. At the very worst, Trump has handled classified documents poorly, perhaps stolen them. At best, Trump is a victim of a targeted campaign to weaken Joe Biden’s strongest opponent — and he handled classified documents poorly.
Even though Hillary Clinton and a number of politicians before her made similar mistakes with documents and weren’t indicted, the issue of government entities holding different standards for different political parties is not mutually exclusive from the idea that Trump did something wrong. Both can be true — and both need to be dealt with.
But all of this is separate from the fact that clearly Trump no longer has the kind of record or reputation the GOP should support — especially for GOP presidential contender in 2024. The GOP can do better. The nation needs better. The people deserve better. There are no compelling reasons anymore to support Trump, there’s only multiple reasons not to.
Republican politicians have seen both the fandom and the fury that exists within the MAGA fanbase. It ushered Trump to victory in 2016 and then in 2020, a handful of them attempted a very poor coup or a riot, depending on your perspective. Fear of Trump voters coupled with the belief that the MAGA base cares more about the double standard (or the institutional failure of organizations like the FBI) seems to cause some Republicans to continue to pay homage to a leader who no longer deserves fealty.
One of the best ways to weaken Trump’s ongoing popularity among the MAGA fanbase would be for other bona fide GOP leaders to criticize him rightfully, without fanfare or a hint of a smear, but solely on the facts. Not everything is a witch hunt or a partisan attack. Some of these allegations hold water. Do you really think everyone conspired against Trump? Please.
Surely by now Texas politicians realize they aren’t beholden to Trump, or at least, that they don’t need to be. What’s lost if they demonstrate doubt or disappointment in Trump? What’s lost if they shift their support to any number of the other, qualified GOP front runners? Wasting even so much as a tweet’s worth of political capital on Trump makes no sense now, particularly as Trump is in no position to hand out favors or destroy careers. When he was in office, it made sense for some to toe the party line, but now?
Texas does boast a significant portion of MAGA voters, but the fastest way to a different future is to forget about that toxic person that is holding a better kind of conservatism back.
Trump is no longer good for this country, and the MAGA fanbase in Texas needs to let him go. Texas politicians who are still carrying water for him need to reexamine the allegations against him and their own reasons behind their ongoing support.
This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 5:04 AM.
