Rep. Tom Rice
Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) says he “would consider supporting former President Trump again if Trump apologies for the Jan 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol,” The Hill reported on Sunday, June 5, 2022 (see story here).
Would you let a thug out of prison if he apologized for his crimes? Even if he didn’t promise to go straight? But this is a riskless promise, because Trump will never apologize for anything.
Rice (photo, left; bio here) initially questioned the 2020 election, but later voted to impeach Trump for the Capitol riot, and approve the House investigation of that event, for which he was censured by the South Carolina Republican Party.
He’s running for re-election, and Trump has endorsed his primary opponent in retaliation for those votes. It sure looks like he’s trying to make amends with the Trump voters in his district. That’s not exactly a profile in courage.
Trump is lawless, his supporters are a mob, and Republicans have got to stop pandering to them if they are ever to be a reputable political party that decent people can vote for again.
Related story: Ex-Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) says he can’t be a Republican anymore; see that story here.