[As the Republican-majority Senate prepares to acquit Donald Trump without calling any witnesses in his impeachment trial, we thought it might be interesting to check out a few “before and after” quotes by leading Republicans.]
FORMER U.S. REP. PAUL RYAN, 2016:
“If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices.”
FLORIDA SEN. MARCO RUBIO, 2016:
“We’re on the verge of having someone take over the conservative movement who is a con artist.”
“I mean this is a guy that’s taken Trump airlines bankrupt. Trump vodka, nobody wanted it. Trump mortgage, was a disaster. Trump university was a fraud.”
“This boiling point that we have now reached has been fed largely by the fact that we have a frontrunner in my party who has fed into language that basically justifies physically assaulting people who disagree with you.”
“I believe Donald Trump as our nominee is going to shatter and fracture the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
“The most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”
“Has spent a career of sticking it to working people.”
RUBIO (when it was apparent Trump would be the nominee):
“I don’t see myself as the guy who’s going to spend the next six months taking shots at him.”
RUBIO (on how he planned to vote on impeachment):
“Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office… I will not vote to remove the President because doing so would inflict extraordinary and potentially irreparable damage to our already divided nation.”
FORMER N.J. GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, 2016:
“It’s not going to happen. It’s the wrong message to send, and it’s not going to be effective. Always beware of the candidate for public office who has the quick and easy answer to a complicated problem.”
“We do not need to endorse that type of activity, nor should we. You do not need to be banning Muslims from the country. That’s, in my view, that’s a ridiculous position and one that won’t even be productive.”
“Showtime is over. We are not electing an entertainer-in-chief. Showmanship is fun, but it is not the kind of leadership that will truly change America.”
CHRISTIE (when it was apparent Trump would be the nominee):
“There is no one who is better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than Donald Trump.”
S.C. SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, 2016:
“The more you know about Donald Trump, the less likely you are to vote for him. The more you know about his business enterprises, the less successful he looks. The more you know about his political giving, the less Republican he looks.”
“You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”
“He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn’t represent my party. He doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
“I just really believe that the Republican Party has been conned here, and this guy is not a reliable conservative Republican.”
GRAHAM, December 2019:
“I am not going to support witnesses being called for by the president. I am not going to support witnesses being called for by Senator Schumer.”
Mick Mulvaney, November 2016 (now Trump’s Chief of Staff):
“I think he’s a terrible human being.”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 2016 (Now Trump’s Secretary of Energy):
“He offers a barking carnival act that can be best described as Trumpism: a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued. Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded.”
Perry (when it was apparent Trump would be the nominee):
“He is not a perfect man. But what I do believe is that he loves this country and he will surround himself with capable, experienced people and he will listen to them.”
Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley (now Trump’s ambassador to the UN):
“During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.” [He is] “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 2016:
“Utterly amoral.”
“A narcissist at a level that I don’t think this country has ever seen.”
“A serial philanderer.”
“This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.”
Cruz (when it was apparent Trump would be the nominee):
“The voters in the primary seem to have made a choice. We’ll see what happens as the months go forward, I think we need to watch and see what the candidates say and do.”
Cruz, December 2019:
“The House Democrats’ impeachment trial has all been one-sided. The Senate will do better and the Senate will allow the president to present his defense.”
Louisiana Voice 