Can state GOP pivot after Trump indictment?
As news of the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump began to wash over Connecticut on Thursday, I thought I began to detect a little shift in the political landscape here.
It was easy, of course, for Connecticut Democrats to bat one out of the park.
Statements poured easily out of the Democrats: No one is above the law. Justice will be served. The issue will move on now to a jury of his peers.
Surely the Trump indictment put a lot of their constituents in a good mood. Independents in Connecticut, Democrats know, are also tired of Trump, and they are fine with a trusted American justice system moving forward with prosecution on all the fronts being investigated.
Connecticut Republicans, though, wary of the Trump base, were cautious, some noticeably silent.
A few, like the dean of eastern Connecticut Republicans, former U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons of Stonington, were angry and Trumpian and peddling attacks on our criminal justice system.
“The indictment of former President Trump on trumped up charges is bogus,” Simmons told The Day on Thursday before the indictment was unsealed and anyone even knew what the charges actually are.
State Republican Chairman Ben Proto in an interview Thursday with Hearst papers initially showed some restraint, noting the indictment was still sealed.
But then he got Trumpian, saying the political system was being weaponized and prosecutors are persecuting the former president.
That attack on American’s justice system is not a good look in blue Connecticut right now, especially as we ponder the possibility of more ominous charges against the former president.
But in the same news story, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora showed some restraint and political discipline, saying he would wait for the prosecution to unfold.
Lo and behold it was state Sen. Heather Somers, with so many Trumpers in her sprawling district, who had the most cautious reaction I’ve heard from Connecticut Republicans.
“We must have faith and perseverance to allow our system of justice to find the truth,” Somers said in a statement. “The United States of America has the best justice system in the world. No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a fair and impartial trial.”
Maybe it’s because she has political ambitions well beyond her district, but Somers seems to be in the midst of a pretty obvious pivot from Trump.
Somers appears to be finding the way of leading her party in Connecticut out of the woods, leaving behind those who would attack our country and its institutions on behalf of an indicted egomaniac.
It would seem to be a prudent course in the world of moderate Connecticut politics as lots more Trump legal turmoil looms on the horizon.
This is the opinion of David Collins.