Republican rhetoric on Trump becomes even more cultish
Exactly eight years ago this week, as Sen. Bob Corker neared the end of his congressional career, the Tennessee Republican voiced his frustrations about the direction of his party, telling reporters that the GOP had become almost “cultish” toward Donald Trump.
The retiring senator added, “It’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president.”
Soon after, Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Fox News and took issue with Corker’s comment, but not in an unexpected way. Instead of rejecting the senator’s characterization, the president’s son said, “You know what, if it’s a cult, it’s because they like what my father is doing.”
In other words, if the Republican Party was starting to resemble a cult, perhaps that deserved to be seen as a good thing.
This came to mind eight years later watching Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas offering his latest Trump praise.
“Donald Trump is the best thing to happen in this country in a hundred years,” the retiring congressman said. “He was born a very special baby. I bet you the doctors said, ‘I can tell this is a very special baby.’”
As ridiculous as the rhetoric was, it was hardly out of character. As HuffPost noted, this is the same Nehls who said in 2024, “If Donald Trump says, ‘Jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads. That’s it.” Earlier this year, Nehls also wore a necktie with Trump’s face all over it to the State of the Union, then asked the president to sign it.
More recently, Nehls said, “I believe that Donald Trump is better than sliced bread. I think he’s almost the second coming, in my humble opinion.”
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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