- More than 120 Republicans discussed forming a third party during a Zoom call, Reuters reported.
- The anti-Trump group said the party would focus on “principled conservatism”.
- The group includes former elected officials and people who worked for Trump and other Republican presidents.
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More than 120 Republicans met during Zoom last week to discuss the possibility of forming a third center-right party, Reuters reported.
The party would focus on “principled conservatism” and other ideals that the group believes have been rejected by former President Donald Trump.
“Much of the Republican Party is radicalizing and threatening American democracy,” Evan McMullin, the former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference, told Reuters. McMullin, who also ran for president as an independent in 2016, said he co-hosted the conference call.
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“The party must either commit itself again to the truth, the reason and the founding ideals or clearly there must be something new,” said McMullin.
Callers included former elected officials and people who served in presidential administrations, including under Trump, George W. Bush, George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan, sources told Reuters.
The news comes as the Republican Party weighs in with a growing internal divide between Trump loyalists and traditional Republicans.
Reports say Trump also considered starting a third party, with a possible name being the Patriot Party, as a rebuke to Republican lawmakers that he feels were not sufficiently loyal to him.
Tensions rose in the wake of the January 6 uprising, when Trump urged his supporters to march to the United States Capitol while Congress was certifying the election results for President-elect Joe Biden.
In total, 147 Republicans opposed the certification of the results, some did so after Congress met again after the attack.
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Trump is facing his second impeachment trial because of his role in inciting the crowd. Ten Republican members of the House voted in favor of impeachment, making it the most bipartisan in history, although the vast majority of Republicans voted against it.
The people on the call told Reuters they were upset that so many Republicans in Congress voted against certifying election results, even after the crowd attacked the building.
Reuters reported that Trump spokesman Jason Miller, when asked about the possible anti-Trump party, said: “These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden.”
Some possible names for the new party are the Integrity Party and the Center-Right Party, according to Reuters.