Arizona House Speaker doubles back, says he'll 'never' vote for Trump again | The Hill
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by Julia Mueller - 07/31/22 3:09 PM ET
Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) on Sunday said he'll never vote for former President Trump again, a reversal of earlier claims that he'd back Trump in a match-up against President Biden.
"I'll never vote for him, but I won't have to. Because I think America's tired and there's some absolutely forceful, qualified, morally defensible and upright people, and that's what I want. That's what I want in my party and that's what I want to see," Bowers told moderator Jonathan Karl during an interview on ABC's "This Week."
The Arizona lawmaker called Trump a "demagogue" who maintains hold on his base through "thuggery and intimidation."
"I have thought, at times, someone born how he was, raised how he was — he has no idea what a hard life is. And what people have to go through in real — in the real world. He has no idea what courage is," Bowers said.
Bowers's comments were a reversal of his remarks in June, when he said he'd support the former president in a rematch of the 2020 election.
"If he is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I'd vote for him again. Simply because what he did the first time, before COVID, was so good for the county. In my view it was," Bowers told The Associated Press before testifying in June to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Testifying before the House panel, Bowers rejected the former president's claims that the two men had discussed a rigged 2020 presidential election in Arizona.
Bowers said members of his party called him a "traitor" after his appearance before the committee. Trump lambasted the lawmaker as a "coward."
Bowers on Sunday said he hoped Trump would never return to a position of power.
"I would certainly hope not. I certainly don't trust that authority that he would exercise."
Bowers is running for Arizona's state Senate in this year's midterms, and Trump has endorsed his challenger.
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Came to his senses, he did...
Came to his senses? That could be debated. He'd stated support for the Trump even after personal insults, death threats to his family and himself. Personally, that takes a special quality in a person to do that. And the quality could also be debated.
it's loyalty to a person and/or party before anything to some of those relics.
So Bowers has had enough of the Trump, but is comfortable with the trajectory of the current GOP?
Slowly the gop turns. Step by step. Inch by inch...
... backwards.
A valid point. The gop is going bassackwards!
Rusty is a perfect example of what is going on with the more honest Republicans. He came forward driven by his respect for truth while risking his political career. The GoP in AZ turned on him and starting campaigning against him. He waffled and said that he would vote for Trump if the nominee even though that just makes no sense given his testimony.
It is possible that he finally decided: "fuck it, I am all in" and went with his convictions regardless of his political career.
However, there is an alternate scenario. The political winds may be changing in AZ and Trump might be seen as going out of favor. That would then enable Bowers to jump in front of that wave and regain his political strength while simultaneously being on the side of truth.
Hard to say, this is a politician after all.
Yeah, his first statements saying he would vote for him sounded like what everyone else was saying. Now he is saying something else.
So I think he has said talking points before so it is hard to tell if he is sincere or just following winds he may hear/heard.
Millions of we (R) agree with Bowers, but the left stays fixated on Trump.. Why?
Because people continue to support and defend him. And maybe because Trump engaged in the most egregious violation of oath of office of any PotUS in our history.
And it is not just 'the left'. Criticism of Trump does not come exclusively from 'the left'.