Vulnerable Republicans remain silent on Trump's condemnation

Vulnerable House Republicans are treading carefully around former President Trump’s explosive conviction, showing some wariness about wading into the thorny debate over hush money, a porn star and integrity of a once-valuable criminal justice system that Trump vilified.

As GOP leaders and a long list of rank-and-file Republicans — including a number of front-line figures — rushed to defend Trump following the guilty verdict on all counts at his secret trial in New York, more than half of the 17th House Republicans representing districts won by President Biden in 2020 have so far remained silent.

That reluctance has highlighted the tricky political landscape facing moderate Republicans in purple districts throughout the Trump era: as the former president electrified the GOP’s conservative base, and even expanded the party’s tent party, it also energized liberals, alienated independents and brought in some centrist voters from the GOP. flee the party completely.

It’s a dynamic that has led many swing district Republicans to keep a cautious distance from Trump, a volatile figure known for demanding loyalty within the party and retaliating when he doesn’t get it. And that distance was even more pronounced during Trump’s secret trial, as a long list of front-line Republicans declined to comment immediately after Trump’s conviction on all 34 counts related to falsifying financial records to hide an alleged affair with a porno. star – a scandal that could have diminished his chances of being elected to the White House in 2016.

“Everyone has to do what they think is wise,” Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) – who represents a district won by Biden by 6 percentage points in 2020 – told The Hill in an interview, recognizing the difficulty vulnerable Republicans like him face.

“I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer,” he added. “Everyone must proceed in their own way and make their own judgment.”

The list of front-line Republicans who have yet to weigh in includes a number of California lawmakers, including Reps. Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel, David Valadao, John Duarte and Young Kim, as well as Reps. Tom Kean Jr. .(NJ), Brian. Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and David Schweikert (Ariz.).

But even those who have commented on the controversial conviction do so cautiously, a nod to the tightrope they must walk as Trump’s grip on the Republican Party tightens, while their districts tilt blue.

Shortly after the verdict was read, Bacon wrote on the social platform very rarely charged,” and charged Manhattan District Attorney Alvin. Bragg (D) for making the prosecution of Trump part of his campaign platform.

However, he said he had “confidence in our legal system, which includes the appeals process.”

The Nebraska Republican told The Hill that he decided to issue a statement after receiving several inquiries about his reaction — “I’ve had about 10 reporters ask me” — but noted that he criticized the manner in which the matter had been handled and did not support the conduct of the former president. , while emphasizing that he will “respect” the final decision once the appeal process is completed.

“I’m not defending the president’s behavior at all,” Bacon said. “But it seems selective and it’s done by a very partisan guy. But I think ultimately, as the appeal process continues, I will respect it.

Another vulnerable Republican, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.), also issued a statement that responded to the verdict without mentioning it. Instead, she sought to shift the focus to other, unrelated issues.

“It is disappointing that the national narrative continues to overshadow the kitchen table issues that Oregon families face every day,” she told KTVL News 10. “They are grappling with price high, worry about violent crime and drug use, and want a secure border and common-sense immigration policies Making a splash in the presidential race doesn’t change the fact that Oregonians. want to free themselves from the failed policies of extremists.”

The political perils facing any Republican opposing the former president have been made clear since the verdict, as the small handful of Republican Party figures who accepted the jury’s conclusion have come under intense attack within the party. , where there is little room to challenge a former president who has denounced the justice system as “rigged.”

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R), currently running for Senate in the Old Line State, for example, encouraged individuals to “respect the verdict and the legal process” regardless of the outcome, a few minutes before the guilty charges were read.

“At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders, regardless of party, must not add fuel to the fire with even more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law,” he added.

This sentiment was quickly dismissed by Trump advisor Chris LaCivita, who wrote on X: “You just finished your campaign. »

College Republicans received the same treatment. The group’s national committee wrote on be respected,” which Trump loyalists denounced.

“Opinions are like assholes…everyone has one,” LaCivita responded on X.

“I’m sorry, but this is a horrible bad take,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) posted. “The verdict must be condemned as a stain on our nation and our justice system. This was the result of a rigged and corrupt process.

On the other hand, Democrats hope to exploit these internal tensions. On Thursday, the campaign arm of House Democrats released an email accusing vulnerable Republican Party lawmakers who supported Trump’s candidacy of supporting a “now convicted felon.”

“House Republicans only care about kneeling to Trump, even if that means defending a convicted felon,” reads the message from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

To be sure, most Republicans—leaders, base, and even some vulnerable leaders—went around Trump after his conviction, dismissing the verdict as liberal militarization of the justice system that will only help Trump return to power. the White House in November.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the outcome a “travesty of justice” and is demanding that Bragg, who prosecuted the case, testify next month before the select subcommittee on the armament of the federal government. Government.

“The Manhattan kangaroo court shows what happens when our justice system is exploited by partisan prosecutors before a biased judge with an unfair process designed to keep President Trump off the campaign trail and avoid drawing attention to “President Biden’s Failed Radical Policies,” Jordan wrote on X.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took that defense a step further, urging the Supreme Court to “step in” and overturn the jury’s verdict.

“I think they’re going to get things straightened out, but it’s going to take a while,” Johnson said Friday morning on “Fox & Friends.”

Some front-line Republicans have also joined the fray. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), whose district voted for Biden by more than 14 percentage points in 2020, said Bragg and “his left-wing allies have completed their shameful witch hunt against the president Trump by obtaining a conviction through trial.” a partisan New York court to try to help Joe Biden’s failed campaign”; and Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), who hails from a plus-4.6 Biden district, said the verdict was “a perversion of our justice system.”

Bacon, for his part, dismissed those sentiments, a reminder of the fine line vulnerable Republicans find themselves walking, and the simmering tensions within the GOP conference — and the party as a whole — over Trump.

“I’m not into excess. When I read this morning all the criticisms that were like kangaroo courts and a third world justice system, I don’t like that,” Bacon said. “We live in the greatest country in the world and I don’t want to tear the fabric of this country.”

“So I think it’s important to say that I’m going to respect the process. So I expect a call to be made and I don’t know what the final answer is going to be but I’m going to respect the final answer.

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