As we await the release of the Mueller report, an open question is whether evidence of serious presidential misconduct (even if it doesn’t, as Attorney General Barr’s “summary of principal findings” has asserted, rise to the level of any indictable offense) — will have any major impact on Donald Trump’s so-far impressive Republican support in fighting what he calls a “witch hunt.” The obvious precedent for believing that such a finding would erode his position even among Republicans is what happened to Richard M. Nixon in August of 1974, when the so-called “smoking gun” tapes were released (by order of the U.S. Supreme Court) showing him and his staff very clearly talking about suppressing any Watergate probe, well before the 1972 presidential election. …
Yes, there could be some leakage of Republican support, or more likely louder squawking from the handful of Republicans who have resisted surrendering to the president’s blandishments and threats. But there are five reasons a broader Republican backlash like the one that helped push Nixon out of office won’t happen, even if it turns out Mueller’s report suggests obstruction of justice may have occurred after all (a possibility raised by Mueller’s conclusion that the evidence neither proved criminal obstruction beyond a reasonable doubt, nor exonerated Trump). CONT.
Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine