Patriotism and the Indictment
By Janet Singer, CGB Political Director
The headline news of the week is obviously the indictment and arraignment of the former MAGA President. Many reacted with glee and it’s hard not to feel a certain grim satisfaction that the con artist is finally being held accountable for his crimes. But I also felt a profound sadness for our country, that our democracy has come to this–deeply divided partisans cheering or jeering about this emperor without clothes. It is a sad day when a leader of our democracy is so corrupt as to need the justice system to arrest him.
In my role as Political Director of CGB, I am tasked with thinking about how this and future indictments might affect the horse race. It’s clear that even Republicans who hate the former President and know he has caused them to lose elections and purpose, will not cross him. Ron DeSantis vowed not to extradite him from Florida. Mike Pence parroted the MAGA Republican party-line that the indictment was an “outrage.” What’s also clear is that the MAGA base will get louder in their blind loyalty, which could unleash more division and violence, though the imprisonment of many January 6th participants seems to have quelled some of the appetite for violence. But while we may see the enthusiasm of the former President’s base grow, I don’t expect the base itself to grow. Trump’s ceiling is, I believe, enough to win the Republican nomination, even if he is convicted, but I don’t believe it is enough to win the election. The spectacle of Republican Presidential candidates recklessly pandering to the extremism of the MAGA base is giving us a big opportunity to go on offense, grow our coalition, and expand our vote. We need to take that opportunity.
Our country has come through terrible times before. I think of the Crimson Goes Blue community as a group of patriots who love our country while holding an awareness of its many flaws, who see our country as a place of promise which has yet to fully realize the ideals expressed in our founding documents. I know that many of us are motivated by the fear that our democracy will not survive, but I also know that we share a desire to fulfill our country’s promise, with democracy at its foundation. That is what keeps me, and I hope all of you, putting one foot in front of the other.
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