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Appearing on ABC’s The View on Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) discussed the future of former President Donald Trump, claiming that he remains a “threat to the American public” and is likely to “destroy the Republican Party” due to “his authoritarianism and his determination to remain a cult leader.”
After noting the former president’s recent attacks on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as well as his threats “to support primary challenges to non-MAGA conservatives,” The View co-host Meghan McCain asked Rep. Raskin about previous statements of his that had seemingly downplayed any future political role for Donald Trump.
.@RepRaskin to @TheView: “[Trump] remains a very clear and viable threat to the American republic, and obviously to the Republican party. He is likely to destroy the Republican party because of his authoritarianism and his determination to remain a cult leader.” pic.twitter.com/OiABDubMQd
— The View (@TheView) February 22, 2021
“You’ve said that [Trump] is in the past and we need to deal with the future,” McCain said. “I disagree. I think he wields a lot of power and influence and I don’t believe that by ignoring him we can just make him go away.”
“Do you still believe Trumpian politics won’t play a role in the future?” she asked. “And what do you think about the reports and Axios talking about President Trump saying that he’s going to be the 2024 nominee coming up in his speech at CPAC?”
That report from earlier today claimed that Trump plans to “send the message” that he is Republicans’ presumptive 2024 nominee, holding a “vise grip on the party’s base.”
In reply, Raskin sought to clarify his statements, beginning with his belief that Trump will “try to maintain that kind of authoritarian relationship” with Republican Party members.
He then sought to highlight the dangers Trump presents.
“I think that we need to confront his criminality, his corruption and his dangerousness every single day,” he said. “As long as he’s still out there he remains a clear and present danger to the American people.”
“If he were ever to get back in, he would try to stay forever,” he added.
Raskin also claimed that Trump “spent four years in office cozying up to every dictator and despot on earth from Putin in Russia to Orban and Hungary to Duterte in the Philippines, Al-sisi and Egypt.”
He then proposed that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former White House senior advisor, will seek funding for a future run from these same dictators and despots. Raskin said:
[T]hey’re going to be sending Jared Kushner out there on a globe-trotting tour of every kleptocracy and autocracy on earth in order to collect the money that they feel they deserve from having worked with all of these regimes and that money will be used to try to get Donald Trump to return to the White House.
Reiterating the “threat” that Trump still poses, Raskin said that the former president is harmful to the American people as well as the Republican Party.
“I think he remains a very clear and viable threat to the American Republic and obviously to the Republican Party,” he said.
“He is likely to destroy the Republican Party because of his authoritarianism and his determination to remain a cult leader.”
Last week, Trump put out a statement attacking McConnell and stated his intention of backing future Republican candidates in line with his “America First” agenda in primary races.
“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” the statement reads.
“He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”
The statement concluded by emphasizing the importance of this time for the country and of the need to bar “third rate ‘leaders’” from dictating the future.
On Saturday, Breitbart News reported that Trump will soon begin screening 2022 midterm candidates eager to forward “America First” policies while ensuring every open Republican seat has a MAGA-approved contender vying for it.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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