Political pundit George Conway said Wednesday night that the Republican Party is “addicted to lies” under former President Trump.
Conway, a prominent GOP critic of the former president, responded to recent remarks on CNN from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about how Trump “respects” the peaceful transfer of power.
Conway agreed with an “addiction metaphor” conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg made earlier during the Wednesday evening CNN appearance.
Goldberg’s addiction metaphor, Conway said, “is really apt even to this because the Republican Party has become addicted to lies under Trump, and this is just an example,” Conway told CNN’s Laura Coates about Johnson’s remarks.
“In light of that, it’s just impossible to say that Donald Trump — with any honesty — to say that Donald Trump supports the Constitution. It’s impossible to say that, and Speaker Johnson manages to do that. And he does that because the Republicans just lie casually now and that’s just become a way of life for the Republican Party,” he added.
Goldberg said the Trump campaign’s fundraising tactics were “the logic of an addict,” referring to an email from the former president’s team with the subject line, “Haul out the Guillotine!“
“It’s the logic of an addict. And they’re feeding an addiction,” Goldberg said, “And they’re feeding an addiction — which is, eventually, you get used to the dosage, you have to up the dose.”
“The outrage machine that Trump raises money off of and uses as an ATM constantly needs the rhetoric to go to 11, 11.1, 11 — just keep going higher because otherwise people become inured to it,” he added.
Conway’s remarks come as Trump is set to visit the Capitol on Thursday to meet with congressional Republicans about their potential governing agenda for 2025. This will mark his first visit to the Capitol since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, where hundreds of rioters stormed the building in protest of the 2020 election results and President Biden’s win.
Johnson was asked Wednesday whether Trump would respect the peaceful transfer of power.
“Of course, he respects that, and we all do, and we’ve all talked about it at nauseam,” he responded.
“We’re excited to welcome to President Trump back. He’ll be meeting with the Senate Republicans of course, after he has a breakfast with us. And there’s high anticipation here and great excitement,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to Trump’s campaign and Johnson’s office for comment.