When far right Colorado Congressman Ken Buck announced his retirement last Wednesday, Trump gloated. Policy doesn’t matter to Trump when someone tries holding onto a shred of integrity the way Buck did. Buck, who isn’t leaving the GOP is certainly not going to support Trump. “Too many Republican leaders are lying to America,” said Buck, “claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing January 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system. These insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans’ confidence in the rule of law.” Trump couldn’t have been happier to see him go:
“Super RINO,” can only be used to describe Buck if it the Republican Party is Donald Trump, which… let’s face it, it actually is.
Ironically, Buck testified on Trump’s behalf in the Colorado lawsuit seeking to keep him off the state’s GOP primary ballot next year. The 6 citizens who brought the case, say that the 14th amendment prevents Trump from holding office because he was part of the January 6th insurrection against the U.S. government, citing Congress’ January 6th committee’s report. Buck, a former prosecutor, testified that the committee was “stacked against Trump and was seeking political gain, not the truth. He says the committee didn't cross examine witnesses, challenge evidence, or subpoena documents that didn't support Trump's culpability, or that might exonerate him. ‘And it is important to have the, I believe, the full picture in the situation like the Jan. 6 investigation,’ he said.”
It’s worth mentioning the courts keep throwing Trump allies into prison for their participation in the insurrection and Trump coup attempt. One of the latest was Federico Klein, a Trump political appointee at the State Department who was part of the MAGA mob that stormed the Capitol; he stood out because he assaulted law enforcement officers. He was convicted of 8 felonies and was sentenced, by a Trump-appointed Republican judge, Thomas McFadden, to nearly 6 years in prison.
Ryan Reilly wrote that “McFadden said that Klein's conduct was ‘shocking and egregious,’ and suggested his sentence would have been higher had Klein not already been on home detention for two years. Klein, McFadden said, was ‘intent on breaking into the building,’ and said he was ‘astonished’ by Klein's behavior on Jan. 6. ‘This is a government of laws, not of men,’ McFadden said, adding that Klein seemed determined to reverse that maxim. McFadden said he'd seen no evidence that Klein felt remorse.”
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