Republicans are crazy to defend Donald Trump against federal charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to a new analysis.
The twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president has been charged with 37 counts by a federal grand jury, and GOP lawmakers have largely rallied around him. His GOP rivals for the presidential nomination have been muted in their criticism, wrote CNN analyst Ronald Brownstein.
"By refusing to confront Trump or his enraged defenders more directly, the Republicans who want the party to move beyond him in 2024 may be stitching their own straitjacket," Brownstein wrote. "The nearly indivisible GOP defense of Trump has once again created a situation in which a controversy that is weakening Trump with the broader electorate is strengthening his position inside the GOP coalition."
Their response offers a clear test of the anecdotal definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result -- but Trump's critics have been unable to shake GOP support for the celebrity businessman since he first entered politics eight years ago, despite a growing list of scandals and legal trouble, Brownstein said.
“I think there’s a schizophrenia that exists in this,” said GOP activist Dave Wilson. “You have people who say that no government should be used to weaponize against any one of us, much less a [former] president. At the same they are beleaguered about the same headlines again and again and again about indictments.”