Local Republican Party chairman quits in protest over Trump-Putin summit
Chris Gagin said he’s leaving his post as a ‘matter of conscience’ and out of a ‘sense of duty.’
Trump’s humiliating and shameful behavior at Monday’s summit with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin drew widespread condemnation, including from some of Trump’s closest allies.
Even officials from within Trump’s own White House couldn’t defend his inexplicable decision to attack America while he stood next to the man who ordered an attack on America.
Most of the blowback has come in the form of tough rhetoric and stinging verbal rebukes, but at least one Republican had more than words to offer in response to Trump’s capitulation to Putin.
Chris Gagin, chairman of the Belmont County Republican Party in Ohio, said Monday night that he can no longer continue to serve in his position “as a matter of conscience” and announced that he would be resigning out of a “sense of duty.”
Gagin isn’t leaving the Republican party entirely, but said in a tweet that he resigned as Belmont County GOP chairman “following [Monday’s] press conference with Pres. Putin” because he could no longer fulfill his duty.
According to Ohio news site Cleveland.com, Belmont County only recently came under the control of Republicans, thanks in large part to Trump’s victory in the area.
If Gagin is a sign of things to come, 2018 could be the start of a swing back to the left — and ironically, the same person who helped bring Republicans into control in the Ohio county could be responsible for taking them out.
Clearly, Gagin isn’t the only Republican who was shocked and disgusted by Trump’s decision to publicly side with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community, and to blame the poor state of U.S.-Russia relations on America rather than Russia’s attack on American elections.
Sen. John McCain had some of the harshest words for Trump, slamming him for being “not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin,” and calling his behavior at the summit “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
Other Republicans expressed their disagreement with Trump, but none said they would take action beyond words.
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