Republicans Stand Up To Trump
A Very Special and Very Dangerous Act of Bravery
They aren’t Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who immolated himself to protest the war in Vietnam, nor do they measure up to the valor of the unknown protester who faced-off the tanks of the People’s Liberation Army in Tiananmen Square in China on June 5, 1989. And certainly they can’t be compared with Herbert von Bose, a vocal, conservative opponent of the Nazi regime, who, for his position, was ordered murdered by Adolf Hitler as part of the “Night of the Long Knives” to eliminate a group that opposed the Nazis, in the summer of 1934.
But a small group of Republican members of Congress has taken a step that would seem banal in other times but perversely, quite heroic in the days of trump. The group, the Republican Accountability Project, formerly Republican Voters Against Trump, formed in May 2020 to oppose trump’s candidacy and has now turned to defend the integrity of American elections, to support Republican lawmakers who reject the “Big Lie” claims by trump and his supporters that he lost the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud and to publicize those Republican officials who refuse to hold trump accountable for inciting the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020.
In the House, 64 Republicans voted not to object to counting the electoral votes, and 10 voted to impeach trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol. In the Senate, five voted not to dismiss the impeachment trial, and seven Republicans voted to convict. They are all paying the price for speaking to truth.
“In addition to death threats and harassment, these courageous legislators are facing well-funded primary challengers from the Trump wing of the Republican Party. The Republican Accountability Project will be the counterbalancing force,” said a statement. “We will support these defenders of democracy against primary challenges from the right. We need more leaders like them in Washington, not fewer.”
Last month, the Republican Accountability Project unveiled a new ad targeting five members of Congress for spreading misinformation and minimizing the the Jan. 6 attacks. The five GOP lawmakers include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin.
Imagine in another place and time, in a galaxy far, far away, when officials, of course, immediately rose up with one voice to oppose anyone who attacked our government. Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Republicans who do not stand up to trump’s dictatorial ways would be well advised to heed the warnings of Martin Niemölle, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany who was an outspoken foe of Hitler and paid with imprisonment in concentration camps for the last seven years of World War II. Niemöller famously warned the German people who had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution and murder of millions of people. Niemöller is best remembered for the quotation:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Republicans who are complicit with trump should beware that they will be targeted if they fail to toe the trumpian line. Nobody is immune from his vitriole and demand for retribution. So far, membership is rather light as members of the Republican Accountability Project have seen what awaits those who oppose trump, whether in or out of office.
The Republican Accountability Project includes 10 House Republicans who voted in 2020 to impeach trump because he incited the Jan. 6 insurrection. The group grossly miscalculated the strength of trump and it is the 10 House Republicans who have been painted as pariahs for daring to vote to impeach. Remember that the insurrection was barely over when 139 House members and eight senators voted to overturn the 2020 election in trump’s favor.
The Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach, were vocal in their opposition to trump and did not parrot trump’s lies about voter fraud, and includes Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Adam Kinzinger of Illlinois, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Fred Upton of Michigan, John Katko of New York, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Tom Rice of South Carolina and David Valadao of California.
Gonzalez and Kinzinger are not running for reelection amid death threats and hostility from Republican colleagues who support trump. Cheney was stripped of her House Republican leadership and is largely considered persona non grata by the majority of Republicans in Congress.
Beutler, Meijer and Upton are facing trump backed primary challengers and Katko, Newhouse, Rice and Valadao have been silent if not disappeared altogether from the political landscape.
Make no mistake, a trump endorsement is the gold standard for Republicans. Ballotpedia tracked 305 endorsements by trump for various federal, state and local races while he was president and 92 after he left office, for a total of 397 endorsements. In the 2020 Senate elections, 23 trump candidates won. Of the 149 House candidates Trump endorsed, 116 won general elections. Seven of the 10 state executive candidates Trump endorsed won their general elections.
Trump has endorsed a Army Special Forces veteran, Joe Kent, to challenge Beutler, who had dared to recount a phone call she overheard on the day of the Jan. 6 riot in which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pleaded with the president to call off the rioters. Trump declined. In the primary race between Meijer and John Gibbs, trump is behind Gibbs who previously tweeted that he John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman, took part in a satanic ritual.
At least 163 Republicans who agree that trump won the 2020 election are running for statewide positions, including 69 candidates for governor in 30 states, 55 candidates for the U.S. Senate, 13 candidates for state attorney general and 18 candidates for secretary of state. At least five candidates for the House of Representatives were at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots.
Republicans who won’t cozy up to trump will likely not see much in the way of campaign funding raised by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is backing candidates who go along with the”Big Lie” and agree that the 2020 election was rigged.
The Republican Accountability Project included a subset, Republicans for Voting Rights, which rejects the various GOP efforts to limit voter participation. The Republican group produced a $10 million advertising campaign in 2020, focused on 100 testimonials by Republicans, conservatives, moderates, right-leaning independent voters, and former trump voters explaining why they would not vote for trump in 2020.
The project also has rated “Republican Defenders of Democracy,” including Sen. Richard Burr, Sen. Bill Cassidy, Rep. Liz Cheney, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, Rep. John Katko, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Rep. Peter Meijer, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Dan Newhouse, Rep. Tom Rice, Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Ben Sasse, Sen. Pat Toomey, Rep. Fred Upton and Rep. David G. Valadao.
The accountability project also has ranked the bottom of the barrel among Republicans to be Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Louie Gohmert, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sen. Josh Hawley, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, former Rep. Devin Nunes, and Rep. Elise Stefanik.