Judge threatens Trump with jail. How is he the GOP’s guy?
On the 12th day of Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial, a judge gave to Trump: a threat of jail time for repeatedly violating a gag order. It has a nice ring to it, right? If only Trump’s behavior were as inconsequential as a nostalgic Christmas tune.
Unfortunately for Trump, Judge Juan Merchan is taking things seriously. Voters should, too.
Monday’s trial day opened with Merchan’s stern message to Trump, who has been fined nearly $10,000 for gag order violations. The judge held Trump in contempt of court and warned he would consider jail time for the de facto Republican presidential nominee if he didn’t respect the gag order.
Conservatives dismiss the threat as political, a bluff or a sign of judicial bias. Even if any of those things are true, Trump is still sabotaging himself and the Republican Party with his lawlessness and authoritarian attitude. His behavior continues to raise this question: Is this really your guy, GOP?
Republicans don’t care about his behavior
Merchan’s warning doesn’t seem to have fazed Republicans. In fact, it’s angering them and encouraging a sense of unity and strength. On X, Sen. J.D. Vance, ROhio, posted that Judge Merchan is motivated by political bias: “A former political consultant to the (Democratic National Committee), a Soros funded prosecutor, and a judge who is a literal donor to the Biden campaign are conspiring to destroy Donald Trump. They’re threatening him with jail time for speaking about their corrupt prosecution.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, also posted his outrage and claimed this trial will not keep Trump from winning back the presidency. “UNREAL!! Biden donor/Judge just DOUBLED DOWN on this PHONY WITCH HUNT – threatening Trump with jail time. President Trump will have the last laugh. MAGA LANDSLIDE IN 2024!”
It is a common refrain among Republicans now to claim that it’s impossible Trump is ever wrong. He’s just the recipient of a judge who is acting as a showman or a corrupt system that’s now engaging in election interference to keep him from office because Democrats don’t want to lose power, according to Trump apologists.
Why do we defend Trump?
As a conservative who thinks President Joe Biden is a senile, incompetent joke of a leader, I do think Democrats don’t want to lose power. I’d even concede it’s possible that there are biased judges in this country, and that maybe Merchan is one of those. Maybe not.
But none of that erases Trump’s behavior that led him to this point, including possibly paying a porn star hush money, refusing to accept the election results leading to Jan. 6, 2021, and continuing to believe he is above the law in every state. Not one court has found that the election results were rigged: Is every court in America biased? Hardly.
Jackson and Vance are far from the only vocal Trump supporters. According to a recent CNN poll, three-quarters of voters backing Trump will stand by him if he is convicted.
It’s as if the entire Republican Party, through osmosis, looked around and decided: Out of millions of Republicans in the United States, we should rally around a person on trial and accused of paying hush money payments to a porn star and support a guy who is violating his gag order so frequently that a judge has to threaten jail time. Even better, we are choosing him to represent our party and supporting him as he runs for president.
Surely, there will be no issues with elevating a famously immature, crooked, deceitful, phony person to the White House. What could go wrong? If he wins, he’ll do great! If he loses, he’ll contest these election results like he did the previous ones, and the entire country will relive the past few years. Awesome, right?
The narrative that all the cards are stacked against Trump seems thin. But even if, in the worst-case scenario, it were true, Trump is still Trump: unscrupulous, arrogant, lawless and indecent. He’s a poor choice for the GOP and one who continues to tarnish what it means to be a conservative.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids.