Ostracized GOP Rep. warns party that Democrats have 'a tangible advantage'

03 January 2023

GOP Congressman Peter Meijer insists Trump 'erased' and 'destroyed' his legacy with the Capitol riots

In a mid-December interview with Politico, Michigan GOP Rep. Peter Meijer discussed losing support from his party, and warned, as he exits office, that Republicans are giving Democrats "a tangible advantage."

The 34-year-old Army veteran was in office for a mere three days prior to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the following week, he became one of ten Republicans to vote to impeach former president Donald Trump.

During the interview, Politico reporter Adam Wren and Meijer spoke about whether he’d back Trump for political office again, the future of the Republican Party and whether he himself would run for office again.

AlterNet previously reported that Meijer was aware if he voted to impeach the former president, it could be “career suicide before my career ever began.”

Wren asked the former congressman if he’d “support Donald Trump if he were the nominee in 2024 after voting to impeach him last year?"

“I have no idea how I would do that,” Meijer responded. Wren repeated his words back to him. “No idea?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Meijer confirmed. “I want someone to demonstrate a track record of being able to win.”

Meijer said that he hasn’t seen any improvements in Trump’s influence on the party. And he also expressed his frustration with the GOP’s lack of focus on really serious, severe issues like “competing with China,” which he believes gives the Democrats the upper hand.

“We saw that electorally, when [Democrats] can at least pretend to be speaking to issues and not seem crazy, even if they are unwilling to change their policy outcomes that are not making those issues better,” he told Wren. “At least rhetorically, they seem to be coming from a more reality-grounded place."

Referring back to his thoughts around another Trump presidency, Meijer said, “If [Trump] was outlining a positive agenda and speaking of the things that were started and hoping to be completed, if his message was about pointing the country in a better direction, it would be very different than what we have right now, which is just like the pettiest of petty grievances.”

He continued, “I think he had a very negative impact on both candidate selection in terms of endorsements, but also just the amount of quality candidates in competitive seats. I think there’s a constructive role that he could be playing, and I have yet to see him make an effort, so to hell with it.”

When Wren asked “to hell with what?”, Meijer replied, “With the idea of running at this moment [against other Trumpist candidates]. What is required from a purity test standpoint — folks know they need his endorsement, and then what they end up doing to get that endorsement ends up being disqualifying.”

Regarding whether he’d attempt to return to Congress in the future, Meijer declined to disclose any possibility.

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