Former GOP Congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia, who turned in his Republican Party membership for Independent status after Donald Trump‘s presidency ended with an attack on the Capitol in 2021, was asked whether more former Trump loyalists needed to come out and support Joe Biden and say the quiet part out loud about the former President.
Riggleman, a 15-year Air Force veteran who worked as a military intelligence officer, was unequivocal in his answer. “Absolutely,” Riggleman replied.
“You see Scaramucci, you see Adam Kinzinger,” Riggleman said, “you see all these individuals saying, you know, if it’s Trump-Biden, I’m voting for Joe Biden.”
Riggleman said it was “really not much of a choice,” assessing Trump as “a person you don’t want anywhere near the Oval Office again.”
Fmr. GOP Rep. Riggleman: Trump identifies as a dictator and talks about retribution. He is a person that you don’t want anywhere near the Oval Office again. He is out of touch with reality and tries to make the base violent. There’s no one else you should vote for but Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/LaHNz2DF0l
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) February 5, 2024
Notably, Riggleman revealed another aspect of the so-called quiet part by highlighting a distinction between what Trump is and what he pretends to be.
Riggleman characterized Trump as “out of touch with reality — or he pretends to be out of touch with reality — to actually ignite the base, or to try to make the base violent or to do things outside of what normal behavior would be.”
If the base doesn’t appreciate or acknowledge certain realities, Riggleman implies, Trump must appeal to the base by exhibiting a similar blindness — even if that blindness is feigned.
Riggleman also denigrated the “quality of people” around the former President, saying they “might be as high as a slug crawling on the ground” — concluding that in this situation, and despite Riggleman’s verified Republican bona fides, Biden is the only reasonable choice.
[NOTE: After his time in Congress Riggleman was selected by Democrat Bennie Thompson as technical adviser for the January 6 Committee. Promotional copy for Riggleman’s book, The Breach, identifies Riggleman as “the first member of Congress to sound the alarm about QAnon” and says he “provides readers with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the January 6th select committee’s investigation.”]