GOP's 'spiral of criminal authoritarianism' gives America no choice but to prosecute Trump: analysis

The Republican Party is crying foul at the dozens of criminal charges being lobbed at former President Donald Trump -- and New York Magazine columnist Jonathan Chait argues this reaction shows exactly why Trump's prosecution as necessary.

In his latest piece, Chait examines what he refers to on his Twitter account as the GOP's "spiral of criminal authoritarianism" that has made prosecuting Trump the only option to hold him accountable for his efforts to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

As proof of this, Chait argued that the normal political channels for Trump had already failed -- thanks entirely to Senate Republicans' refusal to convict Trump in his second impeachment and then bar him from running for office again.

Chait also believes that the party base's treatment of Vice President Mike Pence, who correctly asserted that he had no constitutional authority to throw out certified election results, makes the case for not simply leaving Trump's fate up to the will of voters.

READ MORE: Trump is about to find out the DC circuit court has 'zero tolerance for games': prosecutor

"Pence’s hero’s journey has come to a rather noire ending," writes Chait. "His popularity among Republicans, which hovered around 90 percent before January 6, 2021, crashed immediately and has not recovered. While he is formally running for president, he is polling in the low single-digits and is the most hated candidate in the GOP field by a wide margin."

In effect, argues Chait, the Republican Party base has rewarded Trump for his alleged crimes while punishing Pence for adhering to the law.

Read the whole column here.