Republican leaders are struggling to unify a deeply divided Republican Party, fearing that failure to do so quickly will unleash an intra-party battle that could sabotage their chances of recapturing the House, the Senate and the presidency in the years to come.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthyImpeaching a former officer rests on an unstable precedent Lou Dobbs beats ‘petty’ Republicans criticizing Trump Marjorie Taylor Greene hails Trump call amid growing reaction MORE (R-Calif.) He asked members of his conference to stop attacking each other after the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol and former President Trump
Donald TrumpKelli Ward rejects Arizona Republican Party race audit request Gun sales boom amid pandemic uncertainty, Biden’s vote for gun reform Top Trump impeachment lawyer, Bowers leaves team: reports MOREimpeachment of. He met Trump in Florida on Thursday as part of an effort to ease tensions within the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, the President of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel
Ronna Romney McDanielLou Dobbs beats “petty” Republicans by criticizing Trump. The GOP president asked Trump not to form a third party on the last day in office: The Hill’s Morning Report – Dems question trial; January becomes the deadliest month of the pandemic MORE it also calls for an end to the feud, warning that emerging struggles for ideological and political purity may undermine the party’s chances of regaining its majority in the House and Senate in 2022.
“If we are fighting each other every day and attacking each other and brandishing party purism, we are not going to do what we need to win back the Chamber and retake the Senate, and that is my priority,” McDaniel, who was elected for a third term as chief official of the Republican Party earlier this month, he told the Associated Press in an interview.
The split within the Republican Party, which has spent the past four years almost uniquely focused on Trump and his re-election, became apparent earlier this month after a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol while members of Congress gathered to certify the election victory of President Biden.
This episode sparked a debate among many Republicans about the future of the Republican Party and whether it should look beyond Trump and his kind of conservative populism, which has guided the party since 2016.
But the base of Trump’s ultra-legal supporters remains a critical force in Republican politics. Many of the activists who have entered the political scene in recent years now have immense influence over the party and seek to punish or purge the Republicans they see as upsetting the former president.
In states like Massachusetts and Arizona, members of the Republican Party sought to formally rebuke key Republican figures for criticizing Trump or acting in a way that did not align with the former president’s wishes. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey
Doug DuceySunday shows the preview: New variants of COVID-19 spread in the USA; Redditors shake Wall Street with shares of Gamestop South Carolina Republican Party votes to censor Rep. Rice over impeachment vote Lawmakers seek governors to control COVID-19 powers MORE (R), for example, was censored by the state GOP for implementing emergency restrictions in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the representative Liz Cheney
Elizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneySouth Carolina GOP votes to censor Rep. Rice on impeachment vote The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented by Facebook – Experts react to J&J vaccine data Where’s Barry Goldwater’s Republican Party when we need it? MORE (Wyo.), The Republican House Speaker and one of 10 Republican Party members who voted for Trump’s impeachment, is facing requests for her party to remove her leadership post.
Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Adam Kinzinger
Adam Daniel KinzingerSunday shows a preview: New variants of COVID-19 spread across the USA; Redditors shake Wall Street with Gamestop shares The Memo: Center-right Republicans fear the party will go to disaster GOP is compounding Marjorie Taylor Greene’s problem MORE (R-Ill.), He acknowledged this week that his vote for the impeachment of the former president could be “terminal” for his political career, suggesting that he may face a primary challenge next year.
“I will tell anyone who thinks my vote was in favor of politics, they don’t know me,” said Kinzinger in an episode of the “The Ax Files” podcast. “And I would say that now they don’t know about politics because, you know, you have to go through the primaries.”
The censors, primary threats and allegations of treachery to Trump have shaken party and operative leaders who fear that feuds could undermine their chances of regaining power in the House and Senate next year.
“The party is basically the security squad. So now we are starting each race a little behind because of the divisive rhetoric, the purge, the free attacks on party members, ”said a Republican Party agent. “So, yes, it’s pretty clear that we need to get this under control.”
The current strategy, said the operative, is to avoid escalating tensions with Trump and his supporters, avoiding further isolating those who hope to leave the Trump years.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellLou Dobbs beats “petty” Republicans criticizing Trump Biden reignites immigration fight in Congress Louise Linton plays a sexually obsessed and murderous hedge fund manager in her debut as a writer and director MORE (R-Ky.), Who publicly blamed Trump last week for causing the Capitol riot, joined the vast majority of Senate Republicans on Tuesday in the vote to end the House’s impeachment case against the former president .
Meanwhile, McCarthy’s meeting with Trump on Thursday can be seen as an attempt to return to the former president’s good graces after some difficult weeks. Given the influence of Trump’s voter base on Republican politics, failing to do so could be detrimental to the political prospects of House Republicans.
A statement released after the meeting in Florida by the Trump leadership political action committee on Thursday said the former president agreed to help McCarthy win back the majority of the House in 2022.
Republicans need only a handful of chairs to regain their majority in the lower house.
Regaining the Senate, however, may be more difficult for the Republican Party. Democrats currently hold only the narrowest of majorities in the upper house, but face a more friendly map in the next midterm elections. Republicans, on the other hand, must defend 20 seats, including several in competitive states.
Leading the Republican Party’s efforts to win back the upper house is Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), who became the new chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) earlier this month.
Scott was among Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate and one of the few senators who opposed this month to certify the Pennsylvania Electoral College vote after the January 6 riot. This vote left some Republicans uneasy about their role in the NRSC, given the promises of several major donors to suspend contributions for those who voted against the approval of the election results.
But despite his support for the former president, he signaled last week that he would support acting senators over candidates for Trump’s favorite primaries, saying he planned to focus his efforts on defeating Democrats rather than intra-party battles.
“Part of what I’m trying to do is get everyone to focus, you know, on the difference between Republicans and Democrats,” said Scott. “I think it will be clear with a lot of Biden’s stuff.”
In his interview with the AP this week, McDaniel also said that the national Republican Party would remain neutral in the 2024 presidential primaries, even if Trump decides to mount another White House candidacy, offering a hint of how the party might try to appease faction competition in the future. .
“The party has to be neutral. I’m not telling anyone to run or not to run in 2024, ”said McDaniel. “It will depend on the candidates going forward. What I really want to see [Trump] to do, however, is to help us win back majorities in 2022. ”
Appeasing those loyal to Trump and those who are willing to abandon the former president is a difficult task. But Republicans have also recognized that it will not be the first time that they will have to find that balance.
“There are always multiple factions and divisions in any party,” said Saul Anuzis, a Michigan-based Republican strategist and former Republican Party president. “We have factions based on electoral districts, party politics, personalities.”
“We have to work on coalition policy,” he added. “We have to try to join the party. We cannot set aside one or the other faction. “