It’s amazing that a narcissistic trust fund baby reality-TV actor could be the focus of such major political and societal upheaval as we’ve seen in this country in the past four years, but the fact is, it’s not about him. It’s never been about Donald Trump. He is merely the figurehead for the underbelly of a major political party that has been in the steady decline of moral rot for over forty years. All that Trump did was articulate all the unspoken awfulness which is the foundation of so much of the GOP. And that is precisely why most Republican senators do not want to repudiate him, even though they have one last chance to do the right thing. They’re not going to, because they’re terrified of their constituents and because on a deeper level, they agree with his racist, pro-gun, pro-wealthy, anti-women totalitarian dogma. Trump and the GOP have a symbiotic relationship. He translates the unspoken and indeed the unspeakable, to the masses and they go out and vote Republican.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that a number of prominent officials in former Republican administrations are now conducting talks about forming a third anti-Trump party. Reuters:
More than 120 of them held a Zoom call last Friday to discuss the breakaway group, which would run on a platform of “principled conservatism,” including adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law – ideas those involved say have been trashed by Trump.
The plan would be to run candidates in some races but also to endorse center-right candidates in others, be they Republicans, independents or Democrats, the people say.
Evan McMullin, who was chief policy director for the House Republican Conference and ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election, told Reuters that he co-hosted the Zoom call with former officials concerned about Trump’s grip on Republicans and the nativist turn the party has taken.
Three other people confirmed to Reuters the call and the discussions for a potential splinter party, but asked not to be identified.
Among the call participants were John Mitnick, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security under Trump; former Republican congressman Charlie Dent; Elizabeth Neumann, deputy chief of staff in the Homeland Security Department under Trump; and Miles Taylor, another former Trump homeland security official.
The second impeachment trial is also not so much about the fate of Trump as it is a fight for the soul of the Republican party. The evidence against Trump is overwhelming, yet with the rare exception so far of Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican senators are tuning it out. They’ve already made up their minds. They’re not jurors, they’re accomplices. And look at the ease with which they have abandoned their oaths to the constitution in favor of their loyalty to the cult of Trump.
It is encouraging that some Republicans haven’t completely abandoned the principles of conservatism for authoritarianism and are discussing the formation of a new party. It gives one hope for democracy. Republican v. Democrat wasn’t such a bad bargain — not like Democrat v. Fascist Batshit Conspiracy Theory, which where we are now.
Dems should reject endorsements from these guys. Make them stand on their own.
I disagree. It’s extraordinarily difficult to break an entrenched 2-party system, so it needs all the breaks it can get. It’s in Dems’ overall interest to encourage it’s creation, as it will disproportionately split the Republican support. You need to bite the bullet of being in liaison with (/accepting complements from) a (moderate, comparatively) conservative former Republican, who may be only paying lip-service to helping the poor, etc., in some areas, for the greater good of the Democratic Party nationally. And hence for the Left generally. And for the even higher good, of helping keep democracy, responsible(-ish!) governance, and truth themselves safe.
Mark Twain put it better than I ever could in terms of my attitude: “No, I did not attend the funeral but I wrote a lovely note saying I approved of it.” They don’t need our help or approval to make this work.
The Dems *don’t need endorsements* from them. You’re missing that these guys aren’t friends of the Democratic Party.
The GOP is no longer. The party of Lincoln is now the party of Qanon. Thankfully some ex-Repubs jumped the ship. Maybe now they will support eliminating the Electoral College as they form their new party.
Don’t hold your breath on the EC being done away with. That one’s still got a ways to go.
Studies have shown that in nearly every possible scenario, the Electoral College favors the Republicans. Depending on the particular scenario, the advantage ranges from 5% to as high as 67%. Much of the advantage stems from the curious fact that the Electoral College tacitly counts acres rather than voters. Voters act as sort of a proxy for acres. That is why Republicans are so impressed with the sea of red on electoral maps. The new party will hope to draw its membership from GOP escapees who still live on red acreage, and will therefore want to transfer the Electoral College advantage to the new party.
Knew this was coming. They can get some big money guys in as the bankroll and do some smart recruiting, they absolutely can take the GQP’s place.
Don’t bank on it ?. An entrenched 2-party system is nearly impossible to permanently disrupt, when you have an electoral system which seems designed to severely squeeze out third parties.
Britain too has such a system, even though it works differently. In the 80’s there was a breakaway group from the right-hand side of the Labour Party (the SDP – Social Democratic Party) when the former had a relatively left-wing leader. It seemed to come close to busting the 2-party straitjacket, but eventually fell back. More recently, when Labour had an even more left-wing leader, *and* the Conservative Party was split on the issue of Brexit, and there was constant speculation about one or other of them splitting, a group on the moderate end of Labour, teamed up with a determinedly anti-Brexit group of Conservatives, which again got lots of media attention, but quickly fizzled out, killing off those politicians’ careers.
… but those cases, as the US case you discussed, are where the new party is politically *between* the existing two.
Attempts to create the new one as *less* moderate than the one it breaks away from, have a slightly better record of success. So the Nigel Farage-led parties (UKIP, then Brexit Party) made much more of an impact, in terms of electoral support, than the putative centre parties. And indeed this is how the Labour Party gradually replaced the previous big-2 party of the (relatively) Left, around a century ago. But it is still very unlikely even then.
So the lesson here, is that the better chance of a serious GOP split would be, for better or worse, caused by a Patriot Party in the spirit of Trump, perhaps even if it wasn’t with his active participation.
With respect, all that verbiage ignores how America’s two party system has never had the exact same two parties in it. Federalists and Democratic Republicans, National Republicans and Democrats, Whigs and Democrats, Republicans and Democrats…always in flux. And that’s before you get into disruptive third parties like the Know-Nothings, Bull Moose and even the Dixiecrats and how Democratic and Republican parties became two different parties with the same labels in the 1960s and 1970s.
Big money is the ONLY thing that has been propping up the GQP. It’s already going away and minus a purge of the Trump cult, it’s going to stay away. Lincoln Project will make sure of that. Even then, the Republican brand name is as good as ruined for a generation minimum. So starting over from scratch makes more sense.
I hope this actually happens. That would, hopefully, draw away a large number of the conservatives who understand the importance of democracy and the rule of law and weaken the current GQP, thus making Democratic gains in the mid-term more likely. Any suggestions for the name of this new party?
I suggest it follows from the precedent set by the Lincoln Project, so: Lincoln Party.
An absolutely EXCELLENT little piece Ursula!! You have said so much with so few words. Bravo for this little yet precise masterpiece of journalism. Your first paragraph made me see things I hadn’t even considered before. Thank you !
This is another case of “follow the money.’ The so-called center-right Republicans know that corporations don’t want to be associated with Trump’s GOP, and they sure as heck don’t want campaign cash going to DEMOCRATS! Ergo, “Let’s form a respectable conservative party!” that wealthy donors can love.
As I’ve noted before, these “principled” conservative Republicans had a chance to “do the right thing” (ironic use of a Spike Lee movie title when discussing the GOP) a full decade ago by repudiating the upstart Tea Party “revolution” within the GOP.
The GOP leadership blinked and let the crazies into the house (and House–as well as Senate) and things only went downhill from there.
If the GOP leadership back then had told the Teabaggers to go eff themselves (or, in a more diplomatic tone, go ahead and form your own party) and accepted the possibility of losing a few House and Senate seats for a couple of cycles, Trump wouldn’t have been able to get a foothold in 2015, much less dominate the GOP primary in 2016. And we ALL saw how ineffective the “Never-Trumper” movement went in 2016.
Just call themselves The Conservative Party. That’s what Repugnicans used to be: proudly reactionary, fervent in their embrace of big business, small government & something they called “fiscal responsibility”, ie minimal taxes resulting in weak social programs. “Conservative” has a respectable sound, far removed from such lowlife labels as QAnon and Proud Boys. It’s a nice solid brand to dangle in front of business leaders looking to avoid being tarnished by association with Trump.
I love it when folks come together and share ideas.
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Go fuck yourself and your hot links, troll. You’re banned.