The Republican National Committee this week reaffirmed its loyalty to GOP mob boss and standard-bearer Donald Trump, who is now facing 71 criminal counts in two cases, one at the federal level and the other in Manhattan.
The RNC made its reverence to Trump clear after he was federally arraigned Tuesday for mishandling national security secrets. At least one Republican presidential candidate expressed concern about taking a pledge to support the party's nominee—who could conceivably be a convict by next summer.
“I’m not going to vote for him if he’s a convicted felon,” former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Politico. “I’m not going to vote for him if he’s convicted of espionage, and I’m not going to vote for him if he’s (convicted of) other serious crimes. And I’m not going to support him.”
The RNC has made pledging one's loyalty to the GOP nominee a criteria for participating in the first Republican presidential debate on Aug. 23.
“They need to put a little rationality to what is said in that oath," Hutchinson remarked.
But when his campaign aides raised concerns about pledging support to a man who is accused of committing the worst national security breach in modern times, the RNC basically told them to take a hike.
“Candidates who are complaining about this to the press should seriously reconsider their priorities and whether they should even be running,” RNC senior adviser Richard Walters told Politico. He added that candidates are simply being asked to "respect the decision of Republican primary voters."
Unfortunately for Hutchinson, Republican primary voters appear to be practically giddy about nominating a twice-impeached, criminally indicted coup plotter.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that just 38% of likely Republican primary voters view Trump possessing classified documents after leaving office as a national security risk. Naturally, 80% of the rest of the country does think it's a risk, including 91% of Democrats and 69% of independents.
The results of an NPR/PBS/Marist survey released Friday also demonstrate a growing electoral divide between Republican voters and independents where Trump is concerned.
Half of independents now believe Trump broke the law, up 9 points since March; Republicans are headed in the opposite direction, with 50% saying Trump did nothing wrong, a 5-point increase since March.
A 58% majority of independents now believe Trump should drop out of the presidential race, while 83% of Republicans think he should stay in.
In other words, Republican primary voters are almost hermetically sealed from the rest of the country. Whatever that might mean for the Republican primary, it's electorally fraught for Republicans in the general election.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
