A new MAGA loyalty test has emerged
By Lucy Ritzmann
There is a social dance afoot these days that would be right at home in a CW high school drama. Actually, the kiss-assery, the attempts to climb, and the lack of nuance are so blatant that any teenager, fictional or otherwise, might be too embarrassed to take part in it.
The people who are participating in this dance, however, are definitely not teenagers. Since the criminal election interference trial of Donald J. Trump began – where he stands accused of falsifying business records in order to hide that he was sleeping with an adult film actress right after his wife gave birth – MAGA Republicans have been leaping at the chance to show fealty to the Don.
All of a sudden, the New York City courtroom where the trial is being held has become a high school cafeteria: who’s there – and where they’re sitting – is very important. Prominent Republicans, like Speaker Mike Johnson and Rudy Giuliani, are chomping at the bit to claim that coveted first row behind Trump and to publicly demonstrate how much they support him (in this scandal where he definitely cheated on his wife and allegedly broke the law to cover it up).
This has also become a key location in the Trump veepstakes. Trump has less than two months to decide who will appear on the ticket with him. And thanks to this courtroom drama, we have a clear idea of who is really gunning for it to be them.
In terms of the VP contenders who have made the trip to lower Manhattan to stare at the back of Trump’s head while he snoozes, there are three very obvious choices.
The first is North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Bugrum was once Trump’s primary competitor who claimed to be more of a moderate, and he has become somewhat of a dark horse who is pulling ahead in the veepstakes. Burgum turned up at the NYC courthouse last week and called the trial “election interference.”
Another former GOP presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, also sat in on the trial this month and then made a 47-minute podcast episode attacking key witness Michael Cohen and the proceedings. I don’t think anyone, including Trump, believes Ramaswamy is vice-presidential material, but that hasn’t stopped him from playing this game.
However, the undisputed Regina George of the Trump trial social theatrics – and a definite potential VP – is Senator JD Vance (R-OH). Vance, once a never-Trumper, was the first of the prominent VP contenders to pull this stunt and go to the Trump trial earlier this month, and he has been loudly denouncing Cohen, the proceedings, and the cleanliness of the courtroom itself. Vance notably called the trial “psychological torture” but failed to further clarify why sitting in a chair in a room for a few hours every day qualified as such.
This VP crowd will likely grow as the trial enters its final stretch, with another VP frontrunner, Sen. Tim Scott (D-SC), allegedly considering a visit. But they are not the only right-wing Republicans that have shown up to support their embattled nominee.
Given how in vogue this has become, thanks to Vance, several other MAGAites have shown up. Notably, Speaker Johnson canceled a speech that the president of Kenya was planning to give to Congress so that Johnson could be in New York for the trial. A meeting of the House Oversight Committee was also postponed so that conservative members could waddle like baby ducks over to the NYC courthouse, a move that prompted anger from their Democratic counterparts who are attempting to actually govern.
Other notable visitors include Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) the Tea Party darling who is currently up against Debbie Mucarsel–Powell this year; Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who made waves and pissed off both sides of the aisle by blocking senior military promotions last year; Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) of Beetlejuice infamy; and Jeanine Pirro, the prominent Fox News host who apparently isn’t even playing at journalistic integrity anymore.
The visitor who has garnered some of the most attention in recent days, however, is Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz posted a photo last week in which he is standing behind Trump in the courtroom and captioned it “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President.” This is a reference to the alleged signal that Donald Trump gave the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist terrorist group, back in 2020. The fact that Gaetz is echoing this again in the courtroom… is really, really not good to say the least.
The Trump trial will likely come to an end next week. Until then, I would recommend keeping a close eye on who shows up in the audience for two reasons: the first is that it offers significant clues as to who is on Trump’s VP shortlist. The second is that it gives us all a roster of the extremist (and more than a little crazy, if we’re honest) Republican leaders who seem prepared to stand by Trump this year no matter what.
