PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) – Donald Trump has lost his social media megaphone, government power and the unequivocal support of his party’s elected leaders. But a week after leaving the White House in disgrace, a large-scale Republican defection that would eventually expel him from the party seems unlikely.
Many Republicans refuse to publicly defend Trump’s role in unleashing the deadly insurrection on U.S. Capitol Hill. But as the Senate prepares for an impeachment trial for inciting Trump to the riot, few seem willing to hold the former president accountable.
After House Republicans who supported his impeachment found themselves facing an intense reaction – and Trump’s lieutenants signaled that the same fate would find others who joined them – Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly Tuesday for an attempt to reject his second impeachment trial. Only five Republican senators rejected the trial’s challenge.
Trump’s sentencing was considered a real possibility a few days ago, after lawmakers whose lives were threatened by the crowd weighed the appropriate consequences – and his party’s future. But the Senate vote on Tuesday is a sign that while Trump may be scorned in Washington after the riots, a large number of Republicans fear to upset their supporters, who remain the majority of the party’s voters.
“Political winds within the Republican Party have blown in the opposite direction,” said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Trump’s ally. “Republicans decided that even if someone believes they made mistakes after the November election and on January 6, the policies defended by Trump and the victories he won from the judges for the regulatory turnaround for tax cuts were too big to allow let the party abandon him on the battlefield. “
The vote came after Trump, who moved last week to his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, began to return to politics between golf games. He took an initial step in the Arkansas governor race by endorsing former White House adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders and supporting Kelli Ward, an ally who won re-election as president of the Arizona Republican Party after his endorsement.
At the same time, the Trump team gave the allies an informal blessing to campaign against the 10 House Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment.
After Congressman Peter Meijer supported the impeachment, Republican Tom Norton announced a primary challenge. Norton appeared on the podcast of Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime consultant, in an attempt to increase contributions to the campaign.
On Thursday, another loyal to Trump, Rep. Matt Gaetz, plans to travel to Wyoming to condemn state Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican Party leader who said after the Capitol riot that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of Washington.” the United States from his office and his oath to the Constitution. ”
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. – a loyal Trump-based star – encouraged Gaetz on social media and embraced calls for Cheney’s removal from the House leadership.
Trump remains furious with Republican governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, who refused to support Trump’s false accusations that the Georgia elections were fraudulent. Kemp is running for re-election in 2022, and Trump suggested that former deputy Doug Collins run against him.
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s decision not to seek re-election in 2022 opens the door for Representative Jim Jordan, one of Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters, to seek the seat. Several other Republicans, some far less favorable to the former president, are also considering running.
Trump’s continued involvement in national politics shortly after his departure marks a dramatic break with previous presidents, who normally came out of the spotlight, at least temporarily. Former President Barack Obama was seen as kitesurfing on vacation with billionaire Richard Branson shortly after he stepped down, and former President George W. Bush started painting.
Trump, who longs for the media spotlight, was never expected to hide from the public.
“We will be back somehow,” he told supporters at a farewell event before leaving for Florida. But exactly how this will happen is a work in progress.
Trump remains deeply popular with Republican voters and is sitting on a large pot of money – well over $ 50 million – that he could use to challenge the primaries against Republicans who supported his impeachment or refused to support his failed efforts To challenge election results using false allegations of mass electoral fraud in states like Georgia.
“POTUS told me after the election that he is going to get very involved,” said Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union. “I think he will be engaged. He will continue to communicate. He will continue to express his opinions. I, for one, think this is great and encouraged him to do that. “
Aides say he also intends to dedicate himself to winning the House and Senate back to Republicans in 2022. But for now, they say they are looking to the trial.
“We are preparing for an impeachment trial – that is really the focus,” said Trump adviser Jason Miller.
Trump’s advisers have also spent the past few days trying to assure Republicans that he is not planning to launch a third party – an idea he suggested – and instead will focus on using his influence in the Republican Party.
Senator Kevin Cramer, RN.D., said he received a call from Brian Jack, the former White House political director, on Saturday to assure him that Trump had no plans to defect.
“The main reason for the call was to make sure that I knew from him that he was not starting a third party and that I could be useful in eliminating any rumors that he was starting a third party. And that his political activism or any role he would play in the future would be with the Republican Party, not as a third party, ”said Cramer.
The calls were first reported by the Politico.
But the stakes remain high for Trump, whose legacy is a fierce point of contention in a Republican Party that is struggling with its identity after losing the White House and the two chambers of Congress. Just three weeks after a pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol, Trump’s political position among Republican leaders in Washington remains low.
“I don’t know if he incited him, but he was part of the problem, put it that way,” said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, a strong supporter of Trump, when asked about the Capitol siege and the related impeachment trial.
Tuberville did not say whether he would personally defend Trump at the trial, but downplayed the prospect of negative consequences for Republican senators who voted to condemn him.
“I don’t think there will be any repercussions,” said Tuberville. “People are going to vote how they feel anyway.”
Trump maintains a strong base of support within the National Republican Committee and at the leadership of the state party, but even there, Republican officials have dared to speak out against him in recent days in a way they have not done before.
In Arizona, Ward, who had Trump’s support, was narrowly re-elected over the weekend, even as the party voted to censor a handful of Trump’s Republican critics, including former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the widow of the Senator John McCain.
At the same time, Trump’s potential impeachment has sparked a bitter dispute within the RNC.
In a private email exchange obtained by the Associated Press, Illinois RNC member Demetra DeMonte of Illinois proposed a resolution calling on all Republican senators to oppose what she called an “unconstitutional impeachment trial, motivated by a Democratic majority. radical and irresponsible “.
Bill Palatucci, a member of the New Jersey Republican committee, responded with a slap.
“His act of insurrection was an attack on our own democracy and deserves an impeachment,” wrote Palatucci.
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People reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick of Washington contributed to this report.