August 30, 2023 10:41 AM UTC

Ken Buck May Actually Be Getting Worried

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• by: Colorado Pols

As former President Donald Trump and his 18 alleged co-conspirators in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia turned themselves in for booking last week at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, Colorado’s arch-conservative Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ken Buck appeared Thursday on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell to…it’s not a misprint, Buck implored Trump to intercede with his supporters to avoid violence and let the judicial system work. Fox News:

“I think he absolutely needs to tell all Americans to stand down and allow the judicial system to take its course,” [Pols emphasis] Buck said in an interview on MSNBC. “We trust judges, we trust juries, we trust appellate courts. This isn’t over until it’s over.”

The lawmaker’s warning against violence comes after Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday in Fulton County, Georgia. He was booked in Fulton County Jail on felony charges brought by District Attorney Fani Willis related to his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The former president – the first to be indicted in U.S. history – also faces criminal charges in New York and federal charges in Washington, D.C., and the Southern District of Florida…

“I think that setting a very clear message and also having surrogates send a very clear message that violence will not be tolerated is appropriate,” Buck said.

Buck’s latest talking point that he “trusts” judges and juries is a major reversal from Buck’s ill-advised bashing of the grand jury process earlier this year in response to Trump’s indictment in New York over “hush money” payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Buck’s newfound concern over Trump supporters engaging in violence instead of trusting the judicial system is not an act of principle so much as a slow-dawning recognition that Trump could actually incite additional violence in response to his criminal prosecution, a well-founded concern after Trump incited the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

However one feels about the prosecutions underway against Trump, it shouldn’t be a big lift to expressly disavow violence and call for the judicial system to do its work. Buck doesn’t address what might come after a guilty verdict, only that the judicial system should be trusted to provide a just result. But with Buck’s Freedom Caucus colleagues ramping up the bellicose rhetoric instead of calling for faith in the system, not to mention the impotent cowardice of Trump’s primary opponents, Buck’s bare minimum of statesmanship still manages to stand out.

The next test will come when it’s clear that Trump doesn’t listen to Ken Buck. Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” not to “stand down.” After January 6th, these orders can never be conflated again.