For the first time in more than a decade, Republicans are waking up to a Washington where Democrats control the White House and Congress, adapting to an era of diminished power, deep uncertainty and internal strife.
The shift to minority status is always difficult, leading to debates over who is to blame for the last election. But the process is particularly intense because Republicans face in-depth questions about what the party stands for without Donald Trump in power.
For the past four years, the values of the IDP have been inextricably linked to the whims of a president who frequently undermines democratic institutions and swapped the party’s longstanding commitment to fiscal discipline, strong foreign policy and the rule of law for a brutal one. and inconsistent populism. The party is now facing a decision on whether to keep moving in that direction, as many of Trump’s most loyal supporters are demanding, or to chart a new course.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, one of the few Republican elected officials who regularly condemns Trumpism, provoked President Ronald Reagan by calling this moment “a time of choice.”
“We have to decide whether we will go further in the direction of Donald Trump or whether we will return to our roots,” Hogan, a potential White House rival in 2024, said in an interview.
“The party would be much better off if they purified themselves of Donald Trump,” he added. “But I do not think there is any hope that he will disappear completely.”
Whether the party moves on could amount to what Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas are doing next.
Cruz spent weeks spying on Trump’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, which fueled the deadly riot at the US Capitol. Republican election officials in several warring states declared that President Joe Biden was wearing, saying the election was fair. Trump’s claims have been rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump.
Cruz acknowledged Biden’s victory on Wednesday, but he refused to describe it as legal if he was pressured.
“He won the election. He is the president. I just came from his inauguration, “Cruz said in an interview with Biden.
Looking ahead, Cruz said Trump would remain an important part of the political conversation, but that the Republican Party should break away from divisive ‘language and tone and rhetoric’ in the recent election that alienated suburban voters, especially women.
‘President Trump will certainly continue to make his views known, and that will have a real impact, but I think the country wants forward policies that work, and I think as a party we need to work better to win hearts and thoughts, ”said Cruz, who is also looking at a White House career.
In the aftermath of the Capitol riot, a small but conspicuous faction of sincere Republicans takes a stronger stance against Trump or distances themselves from him.
Senate Leading Republican Mitch McConnell said on the eve of the inauguration that the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had been “provoked by the president.” Even Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president and long regarded as his assigned cheerleader, skipped Trump’s departure ceremony to attend Biden’s inauguration.
Trump on Wednesday withdrew to his South Florida estate, where he kept a small group of former White House assistants who would work from a two-story guesthouse on the Mar-a-Lago site. In addition to advisers in Washington, Trump will have access to a well-funded political action committee, the Save America PAC, which is likely to donate tens of millions of dollars to donations that flooded his campaign coffers after his election loss.
Those close to Trump believe he will lie low in the immediate future as he focuses on his upcoming indictment due to the incitement of the riot. After that, he is expected to re-emerge, likely to allow media interviews and find a new home on social media after losing his powerful Twitter bullhorn.
While his plans are only taking shape, Trump is expected to remain politically active, including seeking revenge by supporting the primary challenges facing Republicans, which he believed in his last days. He is keeping the door open for another presidential election in 2024. Some friends believe he will even be able to flirt as a third-party candidate, which will shatter an already broken GOP badly.
Trump made an ominous vow when he left the White House for the last time as president: “We will return in some form.”
Many of the GOP’s hardliners still promote conspiracy theories, embrace white nationalism and, above all, respect Trump’s voice as a gospel.
Trump loyalists in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wyoming have expressed outrage and disappointment over the ten Republicans who voted with Democrats last week to accuse Trump. One of them, Michigan Representative Pete Meijer, said he bought armor to protect himself from a spate of threats from Trump supporters.
In Montana, GOP State President Frank Eathorne this week raised the possibility of secession and criticized Rep. Liz Cheney, another Republican who supported Trump’s accusation, and pledged continued loyalty to Trump.
“The Republican National Committee considers President Trump to be our party leader in the future … The (state party) agrees,” Eathorne said, noting that Trump “represents the timeless principles” that the state and the national IDP stand for.
According to Gallup – the lowest of his presidencies – Trump left office with an approval rating of 34%, but the vast majority of Republicans, 82%, approved of his job. Although some are trying to move on, Trump’s continued popularity among the GOP base ensures that he will remain a political force.
Despite the many challenges of the IDP, it is within reach to re-elect one or both of the Congress chambers in next year’s midterm elections. The White House party has lost an average of 37 seats since mid-2006. Currently, Democrats have a majority of ten seats in the House and they are affiliated with Republicans in the Senate.
Hogan, the governor of Maryland, said the GOP could be at one of its lowest points ever, but noted that Reagan reclaimed the White House for Republicans just six years after President Richard Nixon was forced to resign in honor.
“It’s clear that (Trump) still has a lock on a pretty good portion of the Republican base, but there are an awful lot of people who were afraid to speak for four years – unlike me – who are starting to speak now. Said Hogan.
Yet there are many hurdles ahead. Primary challenges could leave the party next year with congressional candidates even further to the right, potentially hampering the GOP’s grip on races they would otherwise win.
More immediately, Senate Republicans, including McConnell, are grappling with the question of whether Trump should be convicted of high crimes and transgressions, as set out in last week’s House indictment. The Senate may finally vote to ban Trump from ever holding office again.
“I hope the Republicans will not take part in this small, vengeful, final attack on President Trump,” Cruz said. “We just have to move on.”
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Associated Press authors Jill Colvin in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Meade Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.