GOP has a terrible candidate

Politico’s Playbook reported Thursday that Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson privately discussed ways the House can sabotage special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing prosecutions of Trump, including attempting to defund his office. That grabbed all the attention, but let’s not overlook another key factoid buried in the report: A senior Republican offered a striking dissent from the idea of defunding Smith—in a way that will leave a mark.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea unless you can show that [the prosecutors] acted in bad faith or fraud or something like that,” Representative Mike Simpson, a senior appropriator, told Playbook, speaking about the defund-Smith push. He denounced the idea as “stupid,” adding of prosecutors: “They’re just doing their job—even though I disagree with what they did.”

[...]

Democrats recognize the importance of this moment. “Mike Simpson just destroyed MAGA-world’s argument that Trump’s prosecution on federal charges is fraudulent or in bad faith,” Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland emailed me. “Like the New York prosecution, it is a bona fide and good-faith criminal prosecution, and the attempt to defund it, like the effort to delegitimize it, is fundamentally stupid.”

“Other Republicans should follow Simpson and stop demonizing the justice system and the rule of law,” Raskin continued.

  WaPo

But they won't.

And not only did Trump and Johnson discuss ways to dismantle Smith's cases, but Trump asked Johnson to find a way to overturn his jury verdict in the recent Manhattan fraud trial.

Trump is demanding that Republicans show absolute allegiance to him over the rule of law, and urging them to do everything in their power to place him above it.GOP leaders are whipping votes for a measure to allow presidents to move charges against them from state to federal courts, and Johnson is conferring with other top Republicans about ways to defund Smith’s office.

What’s telling is that vulnerable House Republicans are balking—privately.

But they'll go along anyway. They have no courage and no integrity.

Republicans are feigning swagger about the politics of the convictions favoring them. But this is likely just spin that they themselves don’t even believe. In fact, Trump’s big visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday, where he reportedly attacked the Justice Department as “dirty bastards,” shows that he is trying to prevail on Republicans to act as if the politics of his criminality favor them, to cow Republicans who might be tempted to defect.

And are they comparing Trump's "triumphant" return to Capitol Hill to Jesus' "triumphant" entry into Jerusalem?  (MAGA seem to relish comparing Trump to Jesus.)  One big difference is that Jesus rode in on an ass, while Trump is an ass.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.