WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump is escalating a political war within his own party that could undermine the Republican drive to fight President Joe Biden’s agenda and ultimately return the party to power.
The day after blaming Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, as a “severe, taciturn and serious political hack”, Trump repeated his baseless claim on Wednesday that he was the rightful winner of the November election in a series of interviews with conservative vehicles after almost a month of self-imposed silence.
Trump continued to attack McConnell, accusing the Republican Party leader in the Senate of not defending Republicans after McConnell attacked Trump for inciting the US Capitol rebellion on January 6, despite voting to absolve the former president in his second impeachment trial.
“Republicans are soft. They only get it right on their own, like Mitch, ”Trump complained on Newsmax. “If they spent the same time attacking (Democratic Senate leader Chuck) Schumer and (President Joe) Biden, Republicans would be much better off, I can tell you that.”
Republican officials on several battlefields led by Biden, including Georgia and Arizona, said the vote was fair. Trump’s legal claims surrounding the vote were rejected by judges from across the political spectrum, including many nominated by the former president. McConnell himself described Trump’s containment as an “unbalanced falsehood”.
Leading Republican Party strategists described the explosive feud between the former Republican president and the Senate’s most powerful Republican as, at best, a distraction and, at worst, a direct threat to the party’s path to majorities in the House and in the Senate in next year’s polls.
“I don’t think he cares about winning,” said Steven Law, a McConnell ally who leads the most powerful Republican-aligned super PAC in Washington, on Trump. “He just wants it to be about himself.”
Law noted that Trump lost several states where Republicans face mandatory Senate elections in next year’s quest to break control of Democrats in Congress, including Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans are also competing in Nevada and New Hampshire, where Trump was defeated, and in North Carolina, where Trump barely won.
If Trump tries to become “the center of attention,” Law said, “it could cost Republican seats in the general election.”
These internal struggles are not entirely uncommon after a political party loses the White House, but in this case, rival factions are willing to attack each other publicly. And there was widespread consensus on Wednesday that the ugly intra-party confrontation would likely extend into Congressional primaries next year.
The stakes may be higher this time, however, as key players – Trump among them – have openly threatened the prospect of creating a new political party, which would jeopardize the very existence of the Republican Party.
About 120 anti-Trump Republicans, including current and former rulers, secretly met earlier this month to contemplate the future of the Republican Party. A plurality, or 40%, supported the idea of creating a new party, according to an internal survey provided by one of the meeting’s organizers, former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin.
“There is a lot of energy out there for something new,” said McMullin, while encouraging Trump to continue his threats to create a Patriot Party. “Frankly, I would welcome him to a new party and take his most loyal supporters with him. I think it would be a wonderful thing for the party and for the country. “
Trump’s plans for the future are still coming to fruition in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He was banned from Facebook and Twitter for inciting violence, but on Wednesday he broke the month-long silence by giving his first interviews since leaving the White House following the death of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.
At Newsmax, Trump said his team was still exploring their options to return to social media and “negotiate with multiple people”, while still maintaining the option to build their own platform on the table.
“We are seeing a lot of different things, but I really wanted to be a little quiet,” said Trump, avoiding repeated questions about whether he plans to run again in 2024.
“It’s too early to say,” he said, while acknowledging that he missed being president.
Still, Trump said he had no trouble communicating when he wanted to, making statements – and made it clear this week that he will not retire silently.
The former president launched a series of personal insults at McConnell in an inflamed written statement on Tuesday. Traditional Republicans were perhaps more concerned with their threat to support primary opponents against Republican candidates who do not fully embrace their “Make America Great Again” philosophy.
Some feared that Trump might encourage Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., To run for the Senate, although there was no evidence of that. Fears date back to the Republican Party’s struggle a decade ago, when a handful of baggageed Tea Party candidates emerged from their Senate primaries and prevented the Republican Party from retaking the majority.
In Indiana, Richard Mourdock defeated Senator Richard Lugar with six terms in the 2012 primaries, but he imploded after a debate in which he said the pregnancy resulting from rape “is something God intended”. In Missouri, Republican candidate Todd Akin lost after insisting on a local talk show that women’s bodies have ways to prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape”.
And in Delaware, tea party favorite Christine O’Donnell defeated a former Republican congressman before losing to a landslide in the 2010 general election after reports of personal financial difficulties, questionable use of campaign funds and allegations of that she had “been involved in witchcraft”.
Now that Trump has reinvigorated a similar populist movement, Republicans need to recruit candidates who can navigate the pro-Trump primaries and maintain the appeal across the state, without alienating mind-set donors. Not an easy task.
The Senate Republican campaign arm, led by Florida Sen. Rick Scott, will not be involved in open primaries. But McConnell’s advisers have not ruled out the possibility – even if it attracts Trump’s ire.
“You cannot let insanity go unchecked, or it will eat you alive,” said Josh Holmes, a leading McConnell political advisor.
“He just wants to win,” he said of McConnell. “If he has to act as a heat shield, so be it.”
Meanwhile, Trump broke his month-long media blackout on Wednesday by calling Fox News, Newsmax and OANN and repeating what Democrats labeled his “big lie”: his insistence that he won the 2020 election, even though he lost to Biden by millions of votes.
Dozens of judges, local electoral officials and even his own government said there was no evidence of mass electoral fraud, but that did not stop Trump from saying there was, even after the riot in the Capitol building that left five dead.
“Well, Rush thought we won. And me too, by the way. I think we won substantially, ”Trump told Fox.
He did not call McConnell by name, but he recognized critics from his own party: “We do not have the same support at certain levels in the republican system.”
Meanwhile, Law sought to minimize Trump’s control over the Republican Party. He noted that Trump’s approval rating among Republican voters, close to 80%, is similar to that of former President George W. Bush after the Iraq War and the 2007 financial crisis.
The focus on the next election cannot be Trump, he said.
“We will do everything we can to focus on Joe Biden and the Pelosi-Schumer Congress. We can win with that, “Law said.” The challenge is whether there is a way for Trump to find a way to become the focus next fall. “
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People reported from New York.