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I don't believe I’ve seen a more merciless and brute demonstration of petty power than Donald Trump’s mafia-style, political knifing of GOP Rep. Tom Emmer on Tuesday.
Emmer secured the speaker nomination in the GOP's closed-door caucus vote early in the day, but by the afternoon he had dropped out amid far-right pushback.
And thus, another political soul sacrificed to the MAGA altar. Another lackey discarded by the MAGA mob.
Trump fueled the backlash by denouncing Emmer as a "RINO" (Republican in name only). But Emmer somehow didn't seem to see the hit coming, despite the clues.
On Monday, when NBC News' Dasha Burns asked Trump about Emmer's opposition to him in the past (the Minnesota Republican voted to certify the 2020 election results and criticized some of Trump's post-election behavior), Trump mocked Emmer.
"Well, I think he's my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday and told me I'm your biggest fan," the former president said. The ensuing laughter from those around him was revealing. We've got this sucker Emmer right where we want him, the chuckles seemed to say.
Emmer didn't appear to see it that way, given he shared the video online with a "thank you" message to Trump.
"If my colleagues elect me Speaker of the House, I look forward to continuing our strong working relationship," he said.
Bless his heart.
Hours later, he was announcing his plan to drop out of the race, making him a cautionary tale of what happens when right-wingers defy the deluded MAGA family.
Emmer may have tried to affirm his usefulness as a loyal stooge, but Trump — the self-styled MAGA mob boss — decided to make an example for all the world and, importantly, for all those in the Republican Party to see.
Emmer may have thought he was set to become a made man — but the right had other plans for him. He’s like Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas,” who at one point thinks he's headed to a party to celebrate his promotion in the mob only to learn — too late — he'd been set up for assassination.
The Republican Party has fallen in line with Trump and his demand for a more decidedly far-right speaker nominee than Emmer. NBC News’ Sahil Kapur had it right when he referred to Trump’s denunciation of Emmer as a “permission slip” for other Republicans to oppose his nomination, too.
The Emmer sacrifice paved the way for the House GOP's fourth-speaker designate. Louisiana's Rep. Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist and fervent 2020 election denier, became the fourth House Republican late Tuesday to win the nomination in weeks. Soon after, Trump gave his nod of approval. We'll see how long Johnson can stay in the former president's good graces.
Because we’ve already seen Trump publicly crusade against other vaunted figures in the Republican Party — people like Mitt Romney, and John McCain, and Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell, whom the former president has deemed insufficiently loyal to him.
But Tuesday just hit different, in my view. Seeing the four-time-indicted former president essentially send the Republican Party back to the drawing board to pick a speaker nominee more attuned to his chaotic lawlessness just speaks to the stranglehold Trump has over the conservative movement.
And seeing lawmakers give in to them only affirms my belief: They are his henchmen. He is their don.