Medved: ‘Washington’s GOP is in trouble’ after Kent’s primary victory

While Joe Kent’s primary victory in Washington’s third district over six-term incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler was celebrated by many conservatives, Michael Medved, a New York Times Best Selling author and current host of The Michael Medved Show on KTTH, believes it only puts the Republican party in danger throughout the state.

“I think that most people of conscience will not be able to support Joe Kent, whether he’s the Republican nominee or not. And this is the basic point. These are primaries we’re talking about. The reason Jaime Beutler lost is not because she doesn’t have majority support in her district. It’s because Republicans were split here,” Medved said on the Gee and Ursula Show. “Democrats were united, there was only one Democratic candidate, who I believe has to be considered the front runner right now in that district.”

Kent, a Trump-endorsed candidate, has previously stated “establishment” Republicans are waging a “smear campaign” against him. More than $1 million has been donated by top GOP leaders to blitz the airwaves with attack ads and fill mailboxes with propaganda, according to Kent.

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“I find it intensely worrisome and very depressing that one of our two major parties has become a more like a cult of personality where basically everything is measured, and everything is evaluated based upon your loyalty to one man,” Medved said.

Kent has also been one of the biggest proponents of Trump’s claims that the 2020 election contained massive voter fraud that led to President Biden’s victory.

“He said that the majority of Americans question the results of the election. Biden won the election. He won the popular vote by 7 million,” Medved said. “It’s the biggest margin. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. He lost the popular vote in 2020, and the idea that the majority of Americans question the election, there’s no polling, there’s no data. There’s no hint that that is true.”

Medved was also disappointed in the results of Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s primary election, as he previously praised her work during the U.S. House Select Committee hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack. Cheney lost earlier this week to Trump-endorsed political newcomer, Attorney Harriet Hageman, who more than doubled Cheney’s votes.

“What’s fascinating about this is she actually has a more conservative record on a range of issues than Harriet Hageman, who beat her, which just goes to the point. When people love President Trump, it’s not because he’s conservative, it is because he’s Trump,” Michael Medved said on the Gee and Ursula Show.

Complicating Trump’s influence on the party is the outstanding question of his possible federal indictment: The former president had to face the FBI as they raided his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, to retrieve classified documents he kept after his term ended.

Medved stated he believes, more likely than not, Trump will be indicted.

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“He very clearly broke the law. The Presidential Records Act is not a joke. It’s a national security law. Republicans not only used to be pro cops, some Republicans like me still are, the party also used to be pro-national security. He’s being accused of violating the Espionage Act. And they just sent people to prison for 15 years who had handed some secrets to Brazil,” Medved said. “If Donald Trump is making secrets available to the whole world, or just holding on to them because he wants to sell them later as mementos or something like that, he’s got a whole lot of explaining to do.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.