'A small cowardly person': GOP strategists slam Trump and explain how DeSantis could benefit from the Jan. 6 investigation
As the Houst Select Committee continues its investigation into the insurrection on the U.S Capitol, more incriminating details are revealing what really transpired behind the scenes on Jan. 6; revelations that are reflecting negatively on former President Donald Trump.
According to HuffPost, the Jan. 6 panel has managed to use Republican officials to build its case against the former president and subsequently, other Republicans within the party could gain from Trump's downfall.
In a matter of 20 hours over the last several weeks, the House Select Committee has offered a full assessment of "how the former president, having lost his reelection, ultimately tried to use violence and the threat of violence to remain in power ― the very definition of a coup d’etat, or, more technically, a self-coup."
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The investigation reached another pivotal point on Thursday, July 21 when one of Trump's former White House officials explained how he "refused to tell the armed mob tha the had unleashed on the U.S. Capitol to stop their attack and to go home until after police had turned the tide and had begun retaking control of the building."
Now, a number of Republican strategists are explaining how the investigation could prove to be beneficial for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
“Jan. 6 corresponds in every way to the definition and unfolding of a coup,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and authoritarianism expert who also emphasized how imperative it is to have the support of the party's leadership.
“You need buy-in from those elites so that your illegitimate government will be accepted as legitimate once the coup has happened,” she also said.
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Rick Tyler, a Republican consultant who assisted with Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) 2016 presidential run, also had a critical assessment of the revelations that were divulged during the most recent hearing. He went on to scrutinize Trump for his actions.
“For the people who cared to watch, there was a lot of damning information. Viewers were able to clearly understand that Trump was not the commander in chief sworn to protect the government but instead was the commander in chief of the insurrectionists,” said Tyler. “He disgraced himself, dishonored the men and women in law enforcement, showed a disregard for human life and himself as a small, cowardly person."
The latest assessment follows a poll that suggests DeSantis has a substantial chance of beating Trump and clinching the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination.
Another Republican strategist explains why that could actually happen.
“Everyone other than the gnarliest of the MAGA nuts realizes or at least senses that Trump is poison at the polls for a majority of Americans. People eligible to vote will return from Swiss chalets, ashrams in India and Amazon villages just to vote again him regardless of who the Democrat nominee is,” said Mac Stipanovich, a Florida-baded Republican who was a previous advisor for Jeb Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign. “The juice is not worth the squeeze, particularly with DeSantis, who is Trump without all of the boogers, waiting stage right to make his entrance.”
Tyler also added, "The Republican Party now has to make a choice of a party with Trump or a party without him. Given his record of losing the House, Senate and White House all within two years, that should not be a hard decision."
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