Republican Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel, who the Star-Tribune describes as a political outsider trial attorney who emerged from relative obscurity since his December 1st launch to polling among the top three in a crowded primary field, announced the end of his bid on Monday, saying he can no longer support the Trump regime’s crackdown that has “expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats” when “United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong.”
Just to illustrate how big of a 180 this is: Madel has been providing pro-bono legal counsel to ICE agent Jonathan Ross after he murdered Renee Good less than three weeks ago. “I do this because I believe the Constitutional right to counsel is sacrosanct,” Madel said in his announcement.
“National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota,” Madel continued in his towel-throwing-in video. You can go back and forth all day about his moral sincerity or the actual political impact of his surrender, but a less fraught question is whether anything like this has ever happened before – a Republican so clearly saying “Enough of this shit. I’m out” while unambiguously blaming the Trump Regime for inflicting suffering on them.