'All Trump has to do is turn' on them: Charlie Sykes rips GOP for 'running to the sound of the sleaze'

15 May 2024

During Donald Trump's hush money/falsified business records trial in Lower Manhattan, many Republican allies of the former president have been showing up at the courthouse to voice their support for the former president — including Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

Some of them spoke to reporters outside the courthouse. Others were in the courtroom itself.

During a Wednesday morning, May 15 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes found Johnson's presence especially disconcerting.

"I see politicians running toward the sound of the sleaze because that is what their master is demanding of them," Sykes told hosts Joe Scarborough (a fellow Never Trumper and former GOP congressman) and Mika Brezinski. "I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, but it's still shocking. It's still amazing that you have these politicians embracing Donald Trump in the middle of a hush money trial. He could walk out of that courtroom as a convicted felon."

The conservative journalist and former Bulwark columnist continued, "Look, it's one thing for Republicans to say, 'We like Donald Trump because of his policies on taxes or on the border or on education.' But what's happening now is that it's become the new litmus test: You have to embrace it all. You have to embrace the election denial, the lies. You have to embrace the insurrection; you have to embrace the hush money to a porn star, the multiple affairs. You have to embrace the obstruction of justice. You have to make yourself part of the obstruction of justice."

Sykes warned that it's "not remotely normal" when the House speaker shows up at a former president's "felony trial" to support him "not in spite of his character, but embracing all of it."

Speaker Johnson, according to Sykes, was "using his position" to "violate the gag order" that Justice Juan Merchan has imposed on Trump during the trial.

"Now, whether this is going to have effect on the jury, we don't know," Sykes argued. "Whether it is going to intimidate the jury, whether it is going to impress the jury. But again, we are seeing a scene in American politics that we have never seen before and which was unimaginable until the last two days. And by the way, as you guys have pointed out, so much for the party of morality and so much for the party of law and order."

Brzezinski noted that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) has been vehemently critical of Johnson's visit to the Lower Manhattan courthouse during the trial, which Scarborough described as a "very sad spectacle."

On X, formerly Twitter, the arch-conservative Cheney posted, "Have to admit I’m surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the 'I cheated on my wife with a porn star' club. I guess he's not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all."

Sykes commented, "The reality is that Mike Johnson's speakership hangs by a thread, that he depends upon the favor of Mar-a-Lago — that all Donald Trump has to do is turn on him, and he's out. So, here you have Mike Johnson that survived that vacate-the-speaker vote with Democratic support, basically showing where the real power in the Republican Party is."

Watch the full video below or at this link.

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