Never-Trumper Republicans Gloat, Cry Watergate Amid President’s Troubles

Establishment Never-Trumper politicians Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Arizona Sen. John McCain were quick to gloat as a rising swell of controversy hit the Trump White House.

“The only thing I can say is I think we’ve seen this movie before. I think it’s reaching the point where it’s of Watergate size and scale,” McCain told CBS’s Bob Schieffer during Tuesday night’s International Republican Institute Freedoms Dinner.

“I think it’s clear [McCain is] getting back at the president for things that the president said about him during the campaign.”

McCain’s comments quickly drew condemnation from a pair of legal and law enforcement experts.

It’s “unfortunate that some Republicans decide that they have to do this rather than just, you know, await information, be professional about everything that’s going on,” Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia under President Reagan, said Wednesday morning on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

“There’s nothing wrong with asking appropriate questions, but making those types of judgments, as Senator McCain just did, is totally unnecessary,” diGenova said. “I think it’s clear he’s getting back at the president for things that the president said about him during the campaign.”

Former Assistant FBI Director James Kallstrom went so far as to suggest McCain should resign.

“It’s just an outrage,” said Kallstrom in a separate interview Wednesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” “[McCain] should resign and let someone take that job that’s going to be part of the team that’s trying to protect the country.”

“Trump’s trying to do the right things for our country and for our citizens, for our middle class and for the working people of the country,” he added.

Ingraham said all McCain did was help Democrats grow the anti-Trump firestorm.

“He’s doing Chuck Schumer’s work for him,” Ingraham said, “You don’t need a DNC when you’ve got John McCain.”

Meanwhile Gov. Kasich, who was prone to bitter anti-Trump outbursts during the campaign, was even less subtle than McCain.

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During a CNN town hall with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday night, Kasich said he doesn’t “like people that say, ‘I told you so'” — before proceeding to effectively say “I told you so” to the audience.

“Bernie and I were supposed to talk about a bunch of issues that had only touched on national security, and we’ll probably do that somewhere down the road soon. But we find ourselves in a serious situation today,” Kasich said.

“I don’t like people that say, ‘I told you so.’ But you both know how much pressure, criticism and heat I took because I was the one Republican who would not endorse Donald Trump, would not go to the convention. Some people thought I did it was because I was angry or bitter. It had nothing to do with it,” Kasich insisted.

“The things that have swirled around this White House are the reasons that caused me not to move forward and support him both in the primary and going to that Republican convention,” said Kasich.

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Kasich’s and McCain’s comments stand in stark contrast even to some notable Never-Trumpers who are not Republican officeholders. NeverTrump writers such as David French and Erick Erickson, still very much firmly in the anti-Trump camp, avoided gloating, at least Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning.

Both suggested, on their Twitter feeds, caution and collection of all the facts.

Even Bill Kristol, one of the first and most robust Never-Trumpers — who would have plenty of reasons to revel in Trump’s troubles — showed a level of restraint.

“Task of anti-Trump Republicans isn’t to say I told you so, but chart path forward,” Kristol tweeted Tuesday night. Kasich and McCain would do well to heed his advice.