Republicans In Congress Trying To ‘Not Get Noticed’ And ‘Survive’ Donald Trump Impeachment, Ex-GOP Rep Says
Several Republican House members, including California rep Devin Nunes and Ohio’s Jim Jordan, have raised their profiles as highly vocal defenders of Donald Trump in the impeachment inquiry against him. But “at least half” of the Republicans in Congress simply want to “stay the hell out of the media,” according to former GOP Florida rep David Jolly, in an interview this week with the site Vox.com.
Jolly, who lost a reelection bid after just one full term in 2016, left the Republican Party in 2018 and is now an Independent. He has since become one of Trump’s most outspoken critics among onetime Republicans in the media — joining the group of “Never Trump” Republicans and former Republicans whom Trump has labeled “human scum.”
Trump has described the “Never Trumpers” as being “on respirators” and condemned his critics among the Republicans and ex-GOPers as “worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats,” as quoted by USA Today.
But according to Jolly, there are many more anti-Trump Republicans actually now serving in Congress than Trump or members of the public imagine. They are simply too intimidated or otherwise reluctant to speak out.
“I’m just trying to keep my head down and not get noticed,” many such Republicans have told Jolly, the former Florida rep claimed to Vox.com.
Jolly went on to say that he was not certain why those Republicans choose to do nothing in public opposition to Trump. For some, saying nothing critical of Trump may “just work in their districts,” Jolly said.
But Jolly warned that the behavior of congressional Republicans is “tearing at the fabric of the Constitution.” He added that he blames the Republicans in Congress as much as he blames Trump himself for “undermining the institution of Congress.”
When Jolly was serving in Congress during 2015, in the early stages of the presidential campaign, he openly demanded that Trump drop out of the race, in a speech on the House floor.
“Everybody told me I was crazy and maybe they were right,” Jolly told Vox.com interviewer Sean Illing.
While Republicans in Congress to whom Jolly says he has spoken choose to simply keep a low profile and “survive,” others have not been shy about supporting Trump’s views. In 2018, in the middle of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s alleged Russia ties, eight congressional Republicans traveled to Moscow. On July 4 — America’s Independence Day — they met with top Russian government officials and parliamentarians.
In fact, less than two weeks ago, Jolly publicly accused Republicans in both the House and Senate of being “used by Russia because they are unwilling to look at the truth.”
