A former federal judge once praised by the right for his conservative legal views delivered a scathing rebuke to the Republican Party for its continued allegiance to Donald Trump.
J. Michael Luttig wrote in a New York Times editorial that the GOP’s “spineless support” helped the former president, despite his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol and his impeachment in the confidential documents scandal.
Indeed, since the January 6 riot in the Capitol, their flattering support has given Mr. Trump every reason to believe that he can use these and all other allegations not only to get the Republican nomination, but also to get into the White House in 2024 .” he wrote.
He called Trump’s arguments that he had the right to keep any documents he wanted “absurd” and accused the party of being willing to hand him the nomination again.
“Building the Republican campaign around the newly impeached front runner is a colossal political miscalculation that is as comedic as it is tragic for the country,” he wrote, adding that the campaign fundamentally violates the US Constitution.
“If the charges against Mr. Trump on the Espionage Act charges — not to mention his now almost certain indictment of conspiracy to prevent Congress from confirming Mr. Biden as President on Jan. 6 — don’t make it, the Republican Party shake it out of their dying political senses, then it’s beyond saving. It must not be saved either.”
He warned that Trump’s campaign was doomed to failure considering how many Americans would never vote for him “if there were no other perfectly legitimate reason than that he has corrupted America’s democracy and is now trying to destroy the rule of law in the country.” corrupt”.
Politico said that Luttig – who was appointed to the Bundesbank by President George HW Bush in 1991 – “acted behind the scenes at the forefront of the conservative legal world”.
He advised then Vice President Mike Pence Not giving in to Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election results — advice Pence ultimately heeded.