‘Trump fever needs to be broken,’ says rare Republican willing to take on former president

WASHINGTON — Former Illinois House leader Jim Durkin is one of the few top Republicans willing to say it’s time for the party to move on from Donald Trump.

“The Trump fever needs to be broken,” Durkin said when we talked Tuesday, the day after Trump’s latest criminal indictment — his fourth in the past few months — was filed by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis.

Trump is accused, with 18 others — including two from the Chicago area — of trying to overthrow Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory in Georgia. The state indictment tracks in many ways the narrower federal charges that special counsel Jack Smith filed in Washington.

Durkin isn’t sure of how to cure Trump fever.

It has infected the diehard loyalists who make up his base. Indictments don’t matter. Other Republicans debunking Trump’s fraudulent claims he won the 2020 election don’t matter. Criminal charges don’t matter.

But a start — maybe some baby steps — could take place next week.

That’s when many of the 2024 GOP presidential primary contenders face off at the first Republican debate, scheduled for Aug. 23 at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. It’s hosted by Fox News Channel, with anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum to co-moderate. Trump is not expected to show.

I asked Durkin what he wanted to hear from the GOP candidates who do.

“I want to see more people stand up to Donald Trump on that stage,” he said.

According to every poll, Trump has a substantial lead over his rivals in the 2024 GOP presidential primary pack. Trump can win the GOP nomination, but each indictment makes it more unlikely he can expand his base enough to win the general election in the most contested states.

“As we start moving into this next cycle,” Durkin said, Trump “is going to be a further drag on this party unless Republicans throughout this country cut him loose and break the fever that he has over the Republican Party. We’ve got to break this Trump fever.”

Republicans need to “think hard” about the implications of Trump being the 2024 nominee. “If Republicans are going to stand by him, they need to realize that there is absolutely no pathway for him to be re-elected,” Durkin said.

So far — except for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas — the rest of the field is not using the obvious political ammunition they have to aim at the frontrunner. They are holding back because they want the support of Trump’s base in case Trump implodes.

Trump faces four indictments — three federal plus the Georgia case — and has been impeached twice. Trump brags that the indictments strengthen, not weaken, him.

That is among his base, who dominate the GOP primaries, including in Illinois.

But to win the swing states in the November general election, Trump needs more than his base vote. For Republicans to win statewide races in Illinois and swing district seats for state House and Congress in the Chicago area, the reality is that far-right candidates don’t win.

Durkin, from Western Springs, did not seek another term in 2022. He left with the Democrats holding a vise-like grip on Springfield, with super-majorities in the state House and Senate.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times (file)

The Trump wing of the Illinois GOP is now the dominant force. The silence of national and Illinois GOP leaders speaks volumes.

Last month, I reported on the call from Illinois National Committeeman Richard Porter to move on from Trump. State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris — the deputy Republican leader in the state Senate — like Porter, backs GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor. Ron Gidwitz was the Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to Belgium and the acting envoy to the European Union. In 2016, Gidwitz was the Illinois finance chair for the Trump Victory fund. He’s supporting Christie.

Durkin, cut from the mold of late-Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020 given his remarks disparaging McCain, a Navy officer who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He wrote in another name.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was in Chicago for a fundraiser a few weeks ago, then stopped by Durkin’s office at his law firm for a chat.

Pence “is a very decent, honest man. I don’t agree with him on a lot of things, but he stood up for our democracy,” said Durkin, who is “keeping my options open” as to who he will support.

Durkin. Gidwitz. Rezin. Porter. That’s four. But as long as the highest-profile local and national Republicans remain silent, the Trump fever epidemic rages on.