The GOP 'never would have come to this' if they had dumped Trump: columnist

In her column for the Washington Post, political commentator Jennifer Rubin lectured Republicans that they only have themselves to blame for having to address Donald Trump's call to "terminate" the Constitution because he failed to win re-election in 2020.

On Saturday, the former president took to his Truth Social account to rant, once again, about his election loss, and then wrote, "So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution."

That, in turn, put Republicans who appeared on the Sunday cable shows under the gun to defend the former president and justify their continuing support for his third presidential run.

As Rubin put it, GOP lawmakers should have seen something like this coming dating back to Trump's first presidential run.

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"In a healthy democracy with two sane, stable and pro-democratic parties, it never would have come to this. In such a world, Republicans never would have nominated and elected in 2016 an openly racist character who fanned birtherism; Republicans never would have renominated him and never would have acquitted him twice in impeachment hearings. Republicans in our parallel universe would have disowned him after Jan. 6, 2021, repudiated him when he issued antisemitic insults and continued to lie about 2020. They would have disowned him when he renounced fidelity to the Constitution," she lectured before writing, "It would hardly come as a surprise that a parade of spineless Republicans appearing on the Sunday shows refused to declare him unfit to be president."

Writing, "Republicans lack the spine, decency and loyalty to the Constitution to denounce Trump by name and declare him unfit to seek the presidency," she continued, "Republicans continue to cower in fear of the radicalized base (which they helped rile up by standing by the 'big lie' that the 2020 race was stolen). They fret that Trump might run as an independent or instruct his base to stay home if they turn on him. (Spoiler: He’ll do that anyway unless they hand him the nomination.)"

According to the columnist, Republicans should now be put on the spot by the press whether the topic of Trump comes up or not.

Writing that, "It should not be too much to ask that serious media outlets label the GOP accurately as a threat to constitutional government and to democracy," she added, "No member of the media should allow Republican candidates, officeholders or operatives to escape an interview without declaring whether they would support for president a self-described opponent of the Constitution."

"Neither the press nor the American people can afford to ignore a MAGA GOP that embraces a racist, an antisemite and an enemy of democracy. Trump’s rants are more than just 'talk'; they’re an invitation to repeat the horrors of Jan. 6," she concluded.

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