Aug.03

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

How the Other Candidates Responded to the Indictment

All the other Republican candidates have a lot riding on what happens to Donald Trump. In fact, his future is by far the most important factor in their campaigns. They live or die by him. No doubt all of them are hoping he will be locked up as fast as possible, but do they dare say that? Here is a quick rundown of the reactions of those candidates who had something to say about the indictment:

• Chris Christie: The former governor gave a thundering denunciation of Trump. He said: "The events around the White House from election night forward are a stain on our country's history and a disgrace to the people who participated. This disgrace falls the most on Donald Trump."
  
  
• Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL): DeSantis said he would pardon Trump if he becomes president and added that a trial in D.C. is inherently unfair because it is a swamp and having to defend yourself in front of swamp jurors is unfair. Note that he didn't say anything about whether he thinks Trump is guilty. We're surprised he didn't say Trump's only problem is that he is woke.
  
  
• Nikki Haley: She took a while to say anything, but finally said: "The rest of this primary election is going to be in reference to Trump—it's going to be about lawsuits, it's going to be about legal fees, it's going to be about judges, and it's just going to continue to be a further and further distraction. We can't keep dealing with this drama." Again, no comment about Trump's crimes. It's just: "Vote for me because I am not a drama queen."
  
  
• Will Hurd: He is the purest #NeverTrump candidate. His denunciation rivals Christie's: "Let me be crystal clear: Trump's presidential bid is driven by an attempt to stay out of prison and scam his supporters into footing his legal bills. Furthermore, his denial of the 2020 election results and actions on Jan. 6 show he's unfit for office."
  
  
• Asa Hutchinson: Here the response was a mixed bag. Hutchinson said: "I have always said that Donald Trump is morally responsible for the attack on our democracy. Now, with today's indictment, our system of Justice will determine whether he is criminally responsible." Then Hutchinson included a link to his fundraising webpage and implored supporters to donate so he makes the stage at the first debate. Christie, Hurd, and Hutchinson will split the #NeverTrump vote. If two of them would kindly drop out and support the third one, he might have a small chance.
  
  
• Sen Tim Scott (R-SC): This is pathetic. Scott said: "What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president." Talk about whataboutism. Maybe almost destroying democracy is a different level of crime than buying a gun when you weren't allowed to or paying your taxes late?
  
  
• Vivek Ramaswamy: Another brave soul here. Ramaswamy said: "Donald Trump isn't the cause of what happened on Jan 6. The real cause was systematic and pervasive censorship of citizens in the year leading up to it." What censorship does he mean? Does he mean that Twitter's decision to ban Trump justifies armed citizens storming Congress and trying to hang the vice president? Would that not logically require those armed citizens to storm Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco and try to hang the CEO? Logic is clearly not Ramaswamy's strong point.

So we have three candidates who are clearly running against Trump (which is two too many) and the rest are hiding under the table, scared to death of him. Good to know that. (V)