Don’t hold your breath for Republicans who are mad at former President Trump
Donald Trump Biden on Trump Acquittal: ‘Substance of Indictment Is Not in dispute’ North Carolina GOP Convicts Burr for Impeaching Trump Toomey on Trump Vote: ‘His Treason of the Constitution’ Required Conviction MORE break away to form a new party.
Interviews with more than half a dozen Republican strategists, agents and former officials held ahead of this weekend’s impeachment vote show that even among Trump’s most ardent critics, there is a deep reluctance to formally break with the GOP .
Republicans were badly divided on Saturday’s vote, with seven GOP senators ultimately voting to condemn Trump. Then, Senate Minorities Leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnell Trump sentencing vote reveals GOP divisions Pelosi rules out censorship after Trump acquittal Raskin defends no deal with witnesses: ‘I made the call’ MORE (R-Ky.) Discharged at the former president, saying Trump was morally responsible for instigating the uprising in the Capitol on January 6, explaining that he voted for acquittal because Trump is no longer in office.
McConnell’s comments have been the clearest signal to date that he wants to send the party away from Trump, even as other Republicans say the former president should remain the leading voice in the party.
The divisions within the GOP have been visible for years. But Republicans speaking with The Hill showed their skepticism that they would lead to the formation of a third party, even after a meeting last week between dozens of high-profile conservatives who raised the possibility.
A number of these sources said a third party would be little more than a spectacle and threaten conservatives’ hopes of retaking the House, Senate and White House in the coming years. And even those open to the idea recognize the challenges.
“I’ll be the first to say that our electoral system is stacked against third parties,” said Miles Taylor, former Trump Department of Homeland Security chief of staff, who was among those who attended the rally. “If that’s the route we decide to go, we’re very clear that there is a third-party graveyard.”
At last week’s meeting, a group of over 120 Republican former officials, agents and activists gathered at Zoom to discuss the possibility of organizing a center-right party – or at least a new faction within the GOP – to to compete with what they see as an increasingly extreme Republican Party.
More than 40 percent of those in attendance supported the idea of an escape party, organizers said. A slightly higher number were in favor of a faction within the GOP, similar to the Tea Party movement that emerged in the party more than a decade ago.
The discussions are ongoing, several people said on the call, and they plan to have more meetings in the coming weeks and months. Taylor, who anonymously wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times and later wrote a book criticizing Trump and his administration, did not rule out the idea of starting a third party and described last week’s meeting as a ‘temperature discussion’ among its participants.
“Even if a lot of people in the Republican Party still support Donald Trump, it’s clear the brand has had a huge repeat hit,” Taylor said. “We feel there is certainly an opportunity here to recapture people who felt dissatisfied with the way 2020 went.”
For now, the idea of a third-party movement has not gotten a grip on a broad swath of the Republican Party. Adam Kinzinger
Adam Daniel Kinzinger Kinzinger Calls On People With Information About Trump To Come Forward NRCC Funding Chairman: Republicans Who Voted Trump’s Impeachment Won’t Be Punished Gaetz Hits Back at Kinzinger PAC Focusing on ‘Trumpism’ MORE (R-Ill.), Who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month, told Reuters this week that he would not support such an effort.
Another Republican who faced impeachment, Rep. Liz Cheney
Elizabeth (Liz) Lynn Cheney Trump condemnation vote exposes GOP divisions The Memo: GOP senators stand for decisive vote for Trump NRCC funding chair: Republicans who voted for Trump impeachment will not be punished MORE (Wyo.), Also opposes “any attempt to split the party,” its spokesman said in a statement.
A former GOP official expressed support for a breakaway party “in theory” but acknowledged that this is unlikely to happen, saying there are too many systemic hurdles for such an effort to be feasible.
“When it’s said and done, a two-party system is just what the history of this country is,” said the official. “We like a system where parties have a wider tent. That’s not to say we can’t hope the Republican Party will make some changes in the next two, four, six years. “
Chuck Clay, a former Georgia state senator and GOP chairman, said creating a new party would only hurt conservatives by breaking the electorate base.
“Really, the choices are, okay, am I going to let the Democrats win?” he said. “Oh, spare me. That’s not going to happen. Or are we going to find a way to replace the Democrats in two or four years?”
“People have very legitimate concerns,” he added. “I just hope they don’t turn that into resentment and bitterness and blame their home team.”
The rumble of a third-party movement doesn’t just come from that in the center-right wing of the GOP.
Trump reportedly raised the idea of forming a new “Patriot Party” last month as he prepared to leave the White House. But the GOP leaders have largely written off the idea, and Trump’s campaign has taken steps to distance itself from a newly established “Patriot Party PAC.”
Still, talk of a third-party move underscores the divisions in the GOP that have worsened in the weeks since Jan. 6, when a gang of supporters of the former president stormed the Capitol in an attempt to secure congressional certification. President Biden
Joe BidenBiden on Trump’s Acquittal: ‘The Content of the Accusation Is Not in dispute’The Electoral College Victory.
Trump’s role in instigating the riots was at the center of the Senate impeachment process that ended Saturday.
House impeachment executives rested their case Thursday after making an emotional plea to senators to condemn Trump for inciting violence against members of Congress.
Ultimately, the Senate handed Trump his second impeachment acquittal on Saturday. But the seven Republicans who joined their Democratic colleagues to find him guilty made it the most twofold charge in US history. And McConnell, in his blistering post-trial comments, suggested that Trump could be prosecuted for his role in the uprising.
The outcome of the trial suggests that divisions will continue to stir the party as it looks ahead to 2022 and beyond.
Evan McMullin, an independent Republican who co-hosted last week’s Zoom call, said in comments to The Hill ahead of the vote that some GOP senators’ reluctance to hold Trump to account is “ just the latest clue. is that the Republican Party is rotten to the bone. “
McMullin, who made an independent bid for the White House in 2016, dismissed concerns that a center-right uprising in the GOP could hurt conservatives’ goals to retake power in Washington. He said the Republican Party’s current direction leaves traditional conservatives and centrist voters no different.
“There’s just no choice,” said McMullin. “People will say if you do this, you will divide the Republican Party and the Republican Party will suffer politically. But the Republican Party doesn’t represent us now. “
Even with his acquittal, the Capitol riots likely took a political toll on Trump.
Some Republican senators believe that the impeachment trial effectively thwarted the former president’s chance of a political comeback in the 2024 presidential match.
At the same time, some of those who once worked for Trump have tried to distance themselves from him.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Trump’s lawyers open verbal arguments, hoping for a reset Nikki Haley breaks with Trump: “We shouldn’t have followed him” The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by TikTok – Dems Leave Their Case; judgment on Trump this weekend MORE, who is seen as a future presidential candidate for 2024, issued an extraordinary rebuke to Trump in an interview with Politico published Friday, saying the former president had misled Republicans and that it had been a mistake to follow him.
“We have to admit that he abandoned us,” Haley said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have followed, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can never let that happen again. “
Still, there is little reason to believe that the former president and his kind of ultra-conservative populism will soon disappear.
Trump took a victory lap after his acquittal, saying his political movement has “ just begun. ”
“In the coming months I have a lot to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he said in a statement Saturday.
Meanwhile, a CBS / YouGov poll released this week found that 73 percent of GOP voters believe it is at least “somewhat important” to remain loyal to Trump. In addition, about a third of Republicans said they would join a new political party if Trump formed one. Another 37 percent said they might join.
Trump allies dismissed the possibility of a new center-right movement that would form, either separate from the GOP or within the party itself, arguing that such an effort is out of touch with the conservative grassroots.
“It’s more than a dumb fantasy,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist and staunch supporter of Trump. “If the goal is to reclaim the party and the base, destroying the base and giving power to the Democrats won’t make them friends.”
“The grassroots influence the party and the grassroots love Trump.”