Republicans' purported respect for law enforcement and the legal system is thrown completely aside when any Republican of note is charged with breaking the law, complained MSNBC anchor Joy Reid on Monday.
She pointed to a recent comment by Trump's spokesperson Liz Harrington speaking to One America News, saying, "They need to defund the special counsel ... all we're going to get are sternly worded tweets. I'm sorry, that's not good enough and President Trump has called the Republicans out. The time for words is over, and President Trump has been very clear if they do not act, he will join any primary challenger, America First, that enters into the ring against these Republicans, and they will win."
"How many days before Kevin McCarthy promises to do that?" laughed Reid, turning to former Republican operative Tim Miller. "He's going to do it. He's going to try to do this, right?"
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"Defund the police, the federal police, I guess, is the MAGA phrase now," agreed Miller. "This whole thing — we're in the upside-down. This is so crazy. The Republicans are claiming the [Joe] Biden administration is politically targeting opponents. Even though they're not. And meanwhile, they're vowing, if they get back in there, they're going to target political opponents. You know, and the whole thing is completely nonsense. It's bad faith all the way down."
"It is bizarre," said Reid, turning to NYU Law professor Melissa Murray. "And it is sort of a statement of their lack of faith in the legal system. Because if Donald Trump — Donald Trump wants to be the rule of law, what is he, the rule of law guy? They want to be the party of the rule of law. What they're saying is it's the rule of law until it's us. Then you need to defund the police, fire all the prosecutors and Trump needs to pardon himself. That's their argument."
"That's always been the case, though, Joy," said Murray. "None of these principles have actually been principles. These have always been outcome-determinative. That's why they can be inconsistent. You can't say defund the police — when individuals are heading out to protest George Floyd, saying defund the police is a step toward anarchy. But now that the president is in the crosshairs, you can now turn around and say defund the federal police."
She closed by explaining that the end goal is "propping up Donald Trump, making sure he's not just the candidate but he's successful."
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