And they think he can do no wrong:
Senate Republicans see a special grand jury investigation into President Trump‘s business practices by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. as more evidence that Democrats want to keep Trump in the spotlight to drag them down in the midterm elections.
Republicans think the investigation will only further deepen partisan divisions over the former president and believe that even if he’s indicted, it won’t diminish him as a political force in 2022 and beyond.
GOP lawmakers say a lot depends on what Vance is able to prove in court if he brings a criminal case against Trump, his business associates or the Trump Organization itself.
But they say it’s too early to assess whether a criminal indictment against Trump — or even a conviction — will inflict any serious damage on Trump’s popularity among Republican-leaning white working-class voters who are the core of his base.
One Senate Republican who requested anonymity said Trump would have to be “in jail” to be neutralized as a political force.
“It’s one thing if someone’s in jail,” the source said, predicting that otherwise Trump will be able to paint any criminal investigations of his business practices as political retribution.
“This is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history,’” Trump declared after The Washington Post reported that the Manhattan DA had convened a grand jury that is expected to consider an indictment of Trump or his associates.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed a large majority of Republicans want Trump to run again for the White House in 2024.
Sixty-six percent of Republicans surveyed said they want Trump to launch a third presidential campaign, while 25 percent of Republicans say he shouldn’t run.
Polling also shows a majority of Republicans have embraced Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was tainted by widespread fraud, even though those claims were never substantiated in court and even influential Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) have characterized them as “conspiracy theories,” “lies” or “not substantiated.”
Other Republicans say they doubt Trump’s grip on the GOP base will be weakened by any criminal case that comes from New York, a solidly Democratic state.
“I’ve heard so much about what’s going to happen to Trump I just tune it all out,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “I don’t think anything coming out of New York is going to affect Trump very much.”
Graham said Democrats are going to try to keep relitigating Trump’s past actions right through the next election.
“We’ll try to make the election about their failed policies, they’ll I’m sure try to make it about President Trump,” he said.
“I think the 2022 election is going to be about the future, not the past. And I keep telling President Trump that,” he said.
Donald Trump is your past and your future, you dope. You can’t escape him or his problems and the Democrats have no choice but to run against him.
Republicans ran against Roosevelt, Johnson and Carter’s “failed policies” for decades after they were long gone. Trump is almost certainly running again and he’s going to be out there whining and moaning about the stolen election and inciting his cult followers to violence for the foreseeable future. Sorry, Lindsay. You can try to change the subject but your Dear Leader won’t let you. He knows what your voters want and they want that evil clown circus.