The Republicans planned a Retreat to Tout Policy. Donald Trump sucks oxygen again

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SpeakerKevin McCarthy and his House leadership lieutenants took a temporary stage in a courtyard at the Orlando, Florida Ritz-Carlton to open what was intended to be a conference of ideas; House Republicans came together in the Sunshine State to build the party’s agenda and tout Republican victories. McCarthy, who ditched his typical Capitol Hill uniform in favor of a more casual look more appropriate for a day on the links than Beltwayticed through many conservative talking points. We have somewhat fulfilled what we promised the American public, he said at a gathering of journalists.

We want to come out strong, bringing a good conservative agenda to the floor of the House that addresses the problems facing families across America, Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader, echoed. Notably absent from the group’s prepared statement was a mention of Donald Trump, who, now living a few hours south of Orlando at Mar-a-Lago, spent the weekend posting his way by the very real possibility that any day now he could become a criminal. charged. That is, the former president and current third-time presidential candidate has called on his followers to protest should he be arrested as a result of Manhattan DAAlvin Braggs investigation into his hush money payments to adult artist Storm Daniels. PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY! Trump wrote on Truth Social, in a post that immediately upended the House Republican leadership’s planned agenda for the week.

I don’t think people should protest it, McCarthy said, responding to a question from reporters on Trump’s latest social media musings. There were easy parallels with Trump’s rhetoric before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, reporters reminded the House Republican leadership, which sought to downplay the former president’s language. Trump’s comments, McCarthy said, were misinterpreted. He does not speak in a harmful way No one should hurt each other. He added later, I think I’ve been very clear that I don’t believe there should be any violence.

It could have been 2017, or 2018, or really any year since Trump ascended to politics in 2016. It seems like every Republican policy negotiation in the intervening years has been interrupted by Trump’s latest tweet, or overshadowed by his impeachment and the the January 6 attack on the Capitol. This time Trump isn’t president, and he’s not on Twitter, he’s posted on Truth Social, yet he remains omnipresent in a party that has adopted his political style, and whose agenda is largely consumed by his political grievances ( see: RepresentativeJim Jordans committee on the weaponization of the federal government).

At events open to the press at the retreat, the topic of Trump’s possible impeachment was front and center; it trumped every other item on the agenda, from GOP talk about inflation, China, Joe Bidens policies, and the debt ceiling. The topic is so important that in the bilingual press conference, Mario Diaz-Balart said to repeat his opinion on this matter twice in English and Spanish. Here we have a DA who is used to taking felonies and turning them into misdemeanors. And then we have the non-crime that is raised. So yeah, it seems to be very, very political. All that is very suspicious, he said.

By Monday, Jordan sent a letter to Bragg condemning reports of the threatened indictment as an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority, based on a novel legal theory that has yet to be tested anywhere in the country. Jordan called on Bragg to hand over any documents related to the inquiry including Braggs testimony. The letter was encouraged by McCarthy.

What has changed? President Trump announced he was running for president and shazam, Jordan told reporters who caught up with him between legislative sessions, dismissing it all as a bookkeeping error from seven years ago.

If the Republicans did anything at this conference, it was mainly a consistent message in the hope of arresting Trump: This Manhattan DA announced, he is proud of reducing felonies to misdemeanors and not prosecuting And now spending “He’s doing his time for it and the statute of limitations has run out,” McCarthy said of Bragg, who is leading the investigation into the Trumps’ hush money payments to Daniels. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on. This is the kind of thing America hates that divides us.

I think everybody in this country, Republican, Democrat, and others, should be outraged that people would actually use our justice system against their political opponents, said Tom Emmer, the House Majority Whip.

Missing no opportunity in front of the cameras, RepresentativeMarjorie Taylor Greene rode into the tail end of the retreat-opening press conference the only non-leadership Republican to make an effort to defend Trump, and attacked Bragg. Of course, President Trump means peaceful protest. And if Americans want to protest, a corrupt,[George] Soros funds the Manhattan DA who ignores crime in his own district and spends all those tax dollars figuring out how to politically prosecute President Trump, and then they have the right to protest it. And I totally agree with them, he told a gaggle of reporters.

Arguably, the only subject that closely matches the interest of the accusation among journalists is Trumps fellow Florida Man, GovernorRon DeSantis. In a sit-down interview Monday night, reporter Jake ShermanaskedElise Stefanikakabout DeSantiss recent comments on Trumps reported pending indictment, the congressman who endorsed Trump was blunt, I think he will see the slippage at the polls. He’s seen a slide in recent weeks, and I think you’ll see President Trump continue to solidify his position for the Republican nomination.

Afterward, Trump took to Truth Social to applaud Stefaniks’ remarks.

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