NEW YORK (AP) – The Republican Party is facing a decisive moment.
The nearly 167-year-old party is divided over the typical everyday certification of President Joe Biden’s election college election. The process, which will take place on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, is opening a rift between those who want to respect democratic norms and those who remain locked in with President Donald Trump in the hope of avoiding his anger and inheriting his supporters.
The final result is not to be doubted: the results will eventually be certified for Biden, who will be sworn in as the country’s 46th president two weeks later. But what comes next for the Republican Party is anything but clear.
It’s a party engulfed in a civil war, a rift caused by degrees of loyalty to Trump. At stake: whether the party will maintain its allegiance to Trump even after leaving office and the GOP set its sights on regaining the White House in 2024.
“This is the moment for Republicans to choose between deciding to free themselves from this manic attitude that Trump had on them or to seal themselves in the grave he built for them,” said Michael Steele, former chief of the Republican Party, said. ‘The first shot from the 2024 cannon is fired. And will they turn the cannon on themselves or move forward without the shackles of Trumpism around their ankles? ‘
The party’s factions have emerged in strong relief over the past few days. More than 100 members of the House of Representatives, long held in Trump’s tenure, said they would object to Biden’s victory on Wednesday.
And now more than a dozen senators have done the same and defied the explicit wishes of Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, two hopeful presidents of 2024, are at the forefront of the movement, and would like to seek favor with a president who remains very popular within his own party.
But more than a dozen Senate Republicans pushed back. Although almost all of them refuse to praise the president, they make it clear that they do not want to go along with his efforts to reverse the election and stay in power.
“As I read the Constitution, there are no constitutionally viable means for Congress to prevent an election in which the states have certified their elections,” Sen said. Tim Scott of South Carolina, another possible presidential candidate, said in a statement.
Trump’s hold on his adopted party was almost absolute during his tenure. He defied the GOP Orthodoxy, crushed the norms of the presidency, and publicly attacked Republicans who dared to cross him.
But with few outlaws, his party remained behind, despite his accusation and fraudulent management of the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed more than 350,000 Americans. Now a series of Republicans are going along with his unfounded conviction that the election was hampered, and even some of those elected in November are claiming that the vote was fraudulent.
There was no widespread fraud in the election, which was confirmed by a series of election officials across the country, as well as Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr.
Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, the key battlefield states crucial to Biden’s victory, stood for the integrity of the election in their states. Almost all of the legal challenges faced by Trump and his allies have been rejected by judges, including two rejected by the Supreme Court, where three judges nominated by Trump preside.
Yet there are clear paths in the IDP, as the certification of Congress appears to be a turning point.
While loyalists, including Cruz and Hawley, side with Trump, rejecting more moderate Republicans like Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mitt Romney of Utah attempting to oppose certification. And conservatives like Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas remain full of support for the president, but say they will not defy the Constitution.
According to Republicans, the fracture fears it could damage the party’s chances in the upcoming election.
‘It’s healthy if a party disagrees on what we think is best for our voters or how to win an election. But we are part of two camps that have nothing to do with policy, ”said Mike DuHaime, senior adviser to former New Jersey president Chris Christie’s presidential campaign in 2016. ‘The two camps are divided as to whether we serve the whims of one person. This is the Trump Affection Party. ”
The unusual challenge of the presidential election, on a scale not seen since the aftermath of the civil war, clouded the opening of the new Congress and consumed its first days.
Vice President Mike Pence will be closely watched as he presides over the session. Despite serving the president loyally, he was under increasing pressure from Trump and others to change the outcome. But Pence has a ceremonial role that does not give him the power to influence the outcome.
With increasing desperation, Trump declared during a campaign in Georgia on Monday that he would “fight like hell” to hold the presidency and he called on Republican lawmakers to stop his election loss. But he also dropped a warning.
Trump has promised that in 2022 he will support the primary challenges for the Republican governor and secretary of state. Both refused to support his efforts to reverse the election results in Georgia. He also recently promised to support an attempt to oust Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who refused to object to the Electoral College, and told their assistants that he might target others who targeted him. Wednesday will defy.
Few Republicans expect Trump to quietly return to private life after leaving the White House. The president has again held talks on the candidates in 2024 and even if he acts against a campaign, he has indicated that he wants to play a monarchy in the coming years and form the GOP policy.
If he does, the Republican Party can continue to shape itself in his image.
“I believe he will have as many parties about the party as he wants,” said Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist who advised Cruz’s 2016 campaign. “He still has the heart and support of his base. If he wants to continue to be a player for himself or those who carry his message, he will definitely be powerful and the party will have to respond. ‘
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