I want to bring in David Frum, staff writer for th
Atlantic, who was a former speechwriter for former
president George W Bush. David. Thank you so much for
coming on morning rush this morning. This is obviously
unprecedented historic. We've heard those words over
and over again as someone who has been in this game so
many years and followed this Republican party and seen
it evolve over the years. When you think about this
moment, we're about to witness with former president
Donald Trump coming from midtown to lower Manhattan to
surrender to authorities on criminal charges. Give us
some perspective of the evoluti of the party and what
this moment means. Well, I I think it's, as you say, it
is imm precedented astonishing. It's upsetting. It
also profoundly unsurprising. D Trump has been in
legal trouble his whole life. He's been accused of all
kinds of frauds and, and in 2016 Republican primary
opponents like then Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz
and an opponent Wart predicted that if Donald Trump
became the Republican nominee, he would admire the
party in all of these legal and criminal troubles. So
no surprise there as shocking a it is. Um there is no
escape for Republicans from this, from this nightmare.
Um What we are seeing, the immediate political
has been that the Republican Party is rallying to trump
Um He has now leaped far ahead of party rivals or
potential party rivals in the, in the polls. He's got a
30 point lead over the next contender, Ron anti But
meanwhile, in the country where Republicans are a
minority, the great American majority is now more
opposed to Donald Trump than ever. And the great
majority of Americans support this indictment think
trump is guilty and want him not to run again. Yeah,
but not Republicans. Republican still believe this is
a witch hunt or it's politically motivated. Tho
Capitol Hill seem to be standing by the former
president even though we don't even know what the
charges are yet. We'll know that later this afternoon.
What do you make of their response so far Well, the key
fact to keep in mind that all of these, this is the
fundamental fact everyone needs keep this in mind is
that the country is intensely polarized over
Donald Trump but it is not evenly polarized over
Donald Trump that at any given moment there is a
substantial majority of the country that is against him
and an intense minority of the country that is for him.
And so that minority has forced many Republicans who
don't like him and wish he were gone. Most of the
leadership of the Republican party wishes he were gone.
But they have to pretend to like him because that's
where their rank and file are. But what they also know
is they are on a slow boat to doom in November of 24
because in the public as a whole, the entire voting
electorate. Donald Trump is was, is and remains deeply
unpopular. Let's talk about that. November 2024. This
presidential race, this trial that will happen after
trump surrenders and is formally charged this could
stretch and is expected to stretch well into the
presidential race. It will be the big issue defining
this election cycle. How do you navigate that as an
opponent of former president, trump whether you're a
Mike Pence or Ron desantis, what would be your strategy
Um So there there may be other indictments. This is n
the end of the story may not be the middle of the story.
There are maybe 12 potentially other indictments c
by November of 2024. There may be trials, there may be
convictions if Donald Trump is convicted of a felony,
he loses his voting rights in Florida. So you could
have a nominee for president who is legally forbid
to vote for himself. His Republican party rivals are
basically letting trump punch, punch them in the face
and hoping that his arm gets sore from punching in the
face. I mean that if you want to beat Trump as a
Republican at some point, you have to contest him. But
what it looks like is going to happen is he's going to
walk into the Republican nominee nomination,
uncontested. Nobody raising even the faintest objection
to him and then he's going to face Joe Biden who will
run against him as an indicted or maybe even possibly
convicted criminal. So fascinat to watch this all
unfold. David from staff writer for the Atlantic. We
really appreciate you coming on and sharing your
perspective, sir. Thank you very much. Bye bye.