House Republican throws Donald Trump under the bus in whistleblower scandal

| 8:15 pm EDT October 2, 2019
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

It’s embarrassing, disappointing, and frankly un-American that so few Republicans in the House and Senate have called out Donald Trump for having tried to criminally conspire with foreign leaders to rig the 2020 election. But when you look past the cold reality that the Republican Party simply sucks, you do see a small but significant trend emerging within the GOP which spells bad news for Donald Trump.

House Republican Fred Upton just came out in support of the inquiry that House Democrats are running into Donald Trump’s whistleblower scandal, stating that there are “legitimate questions” about Trump’s actions that must be investigated. This doesn’t mean that Upton supports Trump’s impeachment now (he doesn’t), or that he’ll vote to impeach him when the time comes. But it does mean that at a time when Trump desperately needs House Republicans to come out swinging in his favor, or at least stay quiet, Upton is making a point of doing the opposite.

Upton is in a solid Republican district, but he almost got caught up in the Blue Wave in 2018, when he won reelection by less than five points. He surely sees a scenario in which Trump’s scandals get so ugly, Trump ends up getting ousted for it, and Republicans running in 2020 will then be hounded about what they did or didn’t do to help take Trump down.

This comes after Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger called Donald Trump “repugnant” over the weekend for calling for a Civil War. In addition, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley came out in defense of the whistleblower yesterday. These Republicans are poking tiny, self-serving holes in Donald Trump at a time when they should be finishing him off. But it’s notable that they’re poking holes in him at all. They’ll selfishly oust him in a heartbeat if and when they conclude it’s what’s best for them.