A journalist who covered Republicans’ post-Watergate collapse firsthand warned the party is now in far worse shape, and he blamed one man.
Al Hunt, a veteran political journalist who co-hosts “Politics War Room” with Democratic strategist James Carville, said on Wednesday’s episode of the Politicon show that President Donald Trump has left the GOP in a deeper hole than the one Richard Nixon dug.
Hunt recalled covering the 1974 midterms as a young reporter, after Nixon was forced from office.
“Republicans lost 49 seats. They were despondent. It is worse today. Much worse, and it’s going to be harder to come back,” Hunt said.
He pointed to what he called “one critical difference” between the two eras.
“Jerry Ford had taken over as president back then. Today’s Republicans are saddled with Donald Trump,” Hunt said. “Trump was on the ballot last week in voters’ minds in that historic rejection. He’s a bitter loser. He’s confused.”
Hunt argued Trump has been lurching from one position to another since the election.
“Flailing one day accepting the election, the next day saying it was rigged,” he said. “One day saying open to immigration bill, the next day tapping Stephen Miller, the hatemongering bigot, as chief of staff.”
He added that Miller, a longtime Trump adviser, now sits “in the same chair occupied by the likes of Jim Baker and Leon Panetta,” the former White House chiefs of staff under Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
Hunt also predicted the president would struggle to clean house.
“He’d like to get rid of some of his bad cabinet members, but who’s he going to replace them with? What smart, self-respecting Republican would want to serve with Trump?” Hunt asked.
He said Republican politicians are stuck with Trump regardless, with none more trapped than Vice President JD Vance, who Hunt said “desperately wants to strike some distance from Trump” after what he called “a disgraceful campaign this fall.”
“Good luck, JD,” Hunt said. “Donald goes after anyone that doesn’t worship him.”
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