Imagine an alternate universe where Donald Trump was held accountable for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, and banned from politics forever. Now compare that to reality, where he's the likely 2024 GOP nominee while continuing to inch ahead of President Joe Biden in poll after poll.
That's the challenge columnist S.V. Date set as he pointed out that not only is Trump the frontrunner who's gaining in the polls, his grip over the Republican Party is as strong as ever.
And he added that Trump truly clenched the nomination on the day that then-House minority leader Kevin McCarthy traveled to Mar-a-Lago just weeks after Jan 6., signaling to the GOP that the former president was still its leader.
"Thirty-eight months later, in an absurdist turnabout, Trump has turned Jan. 6 from a day of shame and disgrace to one of patriotism and defiance — at least within the bubble of the Republican primaries," Date wrote. "Trump now opens his rallies by honoring members of the mob who stand accused — and in some cases have been convicted — of assaulting police officers defending the Capitol."
Also read: Lawyer says Fani Willis met with Kamala Harris months before she indicted Trump
According to Date, the first time Republicans had a chance to hold Trump accountable came during the first Republican debate last August, when the eight candidates on stage were asked if they would support him as the nominee even if he's convicted of a felony. Six of the eight on stage, including Nikki Haley, signaled that they would.
"If Haley and the other five had intended to ever use Trump’s criminal prosecutions against him in the race, that possibility effectively evaporated with the raising of their hands," wrote Date.
He added, "Republican leaders and party influencers had a brief window to define Donald Trump and his actions following Jan. 6, but they failed to act."
A second opportunity, Date wrote, came when the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago resort to look for classified documents he had refused to turn over under a subpoena — an event that Trump immediately described as a move by a "weaponized" Department of Justice.
"Rather than stating that search warrants are serious documents signed by a judge after a finding of probable cause that evidence of a crime exists, Trump’s rivals mostly became a supportive chorus repeating his baseless claims," Date wrote.
Read the full op-ed over at HuffPost.