The conviction of former President Donald Trump on manufactured charges in a Stalinist show trial this week marks a crossroads for the Republican Party. From now on, the civil war inside the GOP will be between those who understand they must do to Democrats what Democrats have done to Trump, and those who think they can trundle along with business as usual.
And make no mistake, that divide in the Republican Party is very real — and now, very obvious. In the wake of Trump’s conviction Thursday, for example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was submissively silent for most of the day.
Not that his conspicuous silence was a surprise. Recall that a year ago McConnell was likewise silent for hours after Trump was indicted in the classified documents probe, as was minority Whip John Thune. Eventually, McConnell issued the weakest possible statement late on Thursday, as did Thune, who belatedly called the Manhattan trial “politically motivated” and bemoaned the “partisan nature of this prosecution.”
Other Republicans were not silent but should have been. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whose last notable action before leaving office was to veto a bill that would have protected children from transgender genital mutilation, issued a craven statement that seemed to accept the legitimacy of the trial and conviction: “It is not easy to see a former President and the presumptive GOP nominee convicted of felony crimes; but the jury verdict should be respected. An appeal is in order but let’s not diminish the significance of this verdict.”
Hutchinson wasn’t alone in
