Unlike some of Donald Trump’s now-estranged former allies who are warning that the former president can and will make good on his promises to deploy the military to go after his political opponents — such ex-Defense Secretary Mark Esper — some elected Republicans are struggling to respond to the whole “enemy from within” thing.
That’s in part because the remarks are unhinged and dangerous, and in part because they mischaracterize the military’s purpose, putting Republicans in a position where they really should break with Trump — but that too is sacrilegious for these officeholders. It is uncomfortable territory. Many of those who were put in harm’s way on Jan. 6 by Trump’s stoking of the insurrection still would not condemn the former president for the violence in its aftermath.
While typically a mouthpiece for his fellow Florida Man in Congress, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) found himself walking a wobbly line this week as he attempted to disagree with Trump publicly, while also keeping the appearance of undying fealty intact.
“Obviously, we don’t want to have the United States military — we’re not going to have that be deployed in the United States. That’s been long-standing law in our country since the founding of the Republic,” Donalds told CNN earlier this week just after conceding that it “could be appropriate” to enlist the National Guard for Trump’s election denying whims.
Trump ally and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin tried a different approach when he was pressed on the issue: flat out lying.
When questioned by CNN’s Jake Tapper about the “enemy from within” remarks, Youngkin argued Trump was talking about something other than what we all know he was talking about.
“What I want to just make very clear is that it’s my belief that what former President Trump is talking about are the people that are coming over the border, that in fact are committing crimes, that are bringing drugs, that are trafficking humans, and that are turning every state into a border state,” he said.
After that, Tapper read him back Trump’s words, pointing out that Trump characterized a Democratic member of Congress as among the “radical left lunatics” that for him were the enemy.
“I do think that you are misinterpreting and misrepresenting his thoughts. I do believe, again, it’s all around the fact that we have had an unprecedented number of illegal immigrants come over the border in an unconstrained, unrestrained fashion,” Youngkin doubled down.
“That is what I believe the president is referring to,” he continued. “I don’t think that he’s referring to elected people in America.”
No one has been more creative than Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), however, in twisting Trump’s words into something coherent — a masterclass in bothsiderism. When asked about the recent remarks by CNN on Wednesday, Mullin acknowledged that Trump should not use the Justice Department to go after his political opponents, ignoring the fact that Trump suggested using the military for such causes. He then what-abouted his way into claiming that Democrats are the ones weaponizing the Justice Department, actually.
“I’m not saying we should do a tit for tat at all, that’s not what should happen. But we do need to look at who’s trying to destroy our American system. Who’s trying to destroy the democracy that we have and taking a very, very hard look at it,” Mullin said.
“We’re too good of a country to do that,” he said of using the federal government to go after political opponents. “At the same time, we can’t be weaponizing our U.S. government against individuals, and we know that the left has done that. We’ve seen what they’ve done to President Trump. We’ve seen what they did after Jan. 6.”
Makes you think!
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Makes me think we need to look at investigating some of these people for sedition
May a hot, flat irony fall from the sky-- squarely on Markwayne’s dense head.
Ok, I remember when Republicans said Roe was settled law. Look where that went.
I am sure many feel uncomfortable about Trump’s BS desire to use the military against citizens, and I am pretty sure most of them would willingly, many of them enthusiastically, fall in line behind it.
Simply put, it gets them power, the #1 thing most Republican politicians seek by going into politics.
The MAGA crowd would fall in behind it because they would put on their red ball caps and be sure it wouldn’t be them but just those people getting arrested or just shot. The leapards aren’t going to eat their faces.
The more opportunistic GOP types are falling all over themselves to convince us that we don’t see what is out there in plain sight. It’s a bit like living with an alcoholic family.
The particularly craven thing about these folks is that, unlike the more deluded members of the “base”, they know full well what Trump is doing, and why he is doing it.
As usual, the GOP these days, outside of the few with patriotism and a conscience, is all about power and money, and nothing else.