Republicans want to inject large donations into the campaigns of candidates and politicians who oppose Donald Trump as they try to pry the party out of its grip amid an escalating GOP civil war.
Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney held a fund-raising call with about 50 Republican donors on Feb. 5 to discuss her 2022 reelection campaign after she joined House Democrats to vote to impeach Trump for instigating the Capitol riot.
Michael Epstein, a top Maryland GOP donor, said The Guardian that many donors to the call are expected to give the maximum amount of $ 5,800 to Cheney’s campaign to quash Trump’s attempt to oust her. “We want to show a really big cycle for her to scare the competition,” he said. “We want people who judge based on what is right.”
Trump’s staunch supporters and allies of Congress have vowed to retaliate against Congressional Republicans who supported Democratic attempts to impeach him a second time, as well as those who oppose his MAGA political movement. In a fiery statement attacking Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, Trump said, “I will support the main rivals who embrace Making America Great Again and our America First policies.”
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The GOP has turned into a civil war between the Trump wing and the establishment wing eager to end its influence on the party.
Despite his election loss to President Joe Biden, recent polls show that the ex-president has managed to hold on to his following. According to the latest USA Today / Suffolk poll, 46 percent of Trump voters say they would leave the GOP to join the former president’s new movement if he created one, leaving only 27 percent.
Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador to the Trump administration, plans to hold virtual fundraisers for her Pac, called Stand for America, in early March, as she considers a possible presidential run in 2024.
According to the Guardian, dozens of major Republican donors are interested in Haley because she harshly criticized the former president during his impeachment trial by the Senate. Haley’s Pac is also expected to support the campaign of Cheney and other Republicans who have publicly opposed Trump.
The number of donors trying to support anti-Trump campaigns shows the growing movement of Republicans desperate to hold on to the conservative base and fend off attacks from within by the MAGA crowd.
Trump has left the White House with virtually no public platform, but his hold on the Republican Party is still evident with allies like Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, as well as the latest batch of senatorial candidates, including Josh Mandel.
“I am all set to push and push the America First Trump agenda forward [Representative] Anthony Gonzalez! Mandel said after announcing his offer to replace Ohio Senator Rob Portman. In Washington I will smash the Uniparty – that clique of Democrats and Republicans who sound the same and stand for nothing “,
McConnell has acknowledged that he could be on a collision course with the ex-president on the way to regaining a majority in the Senate. “My goal, in every way, is to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win in November,” he told Politico last Saturday. Some of them could be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. All I care about is eligibility. ‘
Newsweek reached out to Trump representatives for comment.