A Growing Number of Republicans Hold Trump responsible for inciting the deadly riots in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. The collisions occurred hours after they occurred blamed Trump for some losses in Georgia that will leave the Senate in democratic control.
In interviews, more than half a dozen Republicans who support or have worked for Trump have said the president is unlikely to reappear, though he can tease them. If Trump changes his mind again and chooses to run, some have said they will urge him not to do so, while others hope he will be talked out of it.
“I don’t think anything is going to happen,” a Trump friend said. “He will not be in 2024. He’s not going to run. He’s going to scratch around and say he’s going to run. … He will tease. I do not think he will ever say ‘I will not run’. He just will not run. ‘
With less than two weeks left in his term, the Democrats are calling for Trump’s resignation, government officials insist on criminal charges, allies drop their support, and assistants and even cabinet officials leave him. His crusade to overthrow his clear election loss plunged the Republican Party – already divided during the Trump presidency – into a civil war.
“The Republican Party is now more divided than it was two months ago, and that’s not how it’s supposed to work,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant, who worked for two presidential candidates. “If we want to do something, we must now be more united when we are ready to serve as opposition.”
These new fractures began when Trump started railing about tough elections last spring as he anticipated the election defeat and planned a strategy to hang on to power. He spend weeks after his loss due to fraud with little evidence, pressure on state leaders to stop the election, threaten the Republicans who disobey him, and criticize his ever-loyal vice president Mike Pence.
“The four years of significant policy performance, be it the economy, Judges, the Supreme Court, it’s all erased by six weeks of extraordinary undisciplined misconduct that culminated in a day of shame at the American Capitol,” he said . a national Republican strategist who elected the president.
Whit Ayres, a long-running Republican poller, on Wednesday described Congress’ certification of the election results as the “opening round of the Republican Party’s battle for the soul.”
There has been talk before of Trump’s behavior causing a GOP civil war. But it has never come at a time when the political stature of the president is so damaged. The party’s base may still be with him. But his ability to reach them – and thus intimidate others – took a serious hit on Friday when the major social media platforms suspended his account indefinitely or kicked him out completely.
Some Republicans – including those who defended Trump for four chaotic years through controversy after controversy – thought with almost certainty that Trump would be their standard-bearer after leaving office, although he never had much loyalty to the GOP. Not anymore.
“He’s not the leader of any Republican Party I recognize,” said Scott Jennings, who worked for President George W. Bush and is close to the Trump White House.
A former Trump aide said the president now “needs to be ousted from the Republican Party and excommunicated.”
Still, more than 100 Republicans from the House and a dozen Republicans from the Senate signed that they objected to the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. They do not blame him for what happened at the Capitol. Neither do some stalwarts.
“All the people who despise Donald Trump and do not like them have sought all possible reasons to smear him,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an ally of Trump, said the media was partly to blame. for the ‘outpouring of frustration and anger’. by the rioters. “Biden will be the de facto president. But for 45 percent of the country, he will never be an acceptable president. It will always be believed that it was a corrupt and dishonest election.”
Even those who turned on Trump know that he is still popular among his conservative base, of which he has brought many into the party. Trump received nearly 75 million votes in the November election, the second highest number ever after Biden’s 81 million.
“The problem for the GOP is that every Republican on Capitol Hill needs the support of these protesters – and people like them – to survive,” a senior Trump adviser said. “Unless and until the party can find a message that is more popular among the white working class than Donald Trump, there is no bright future for the Republicans.”
Setting up a second act would be difficult for Trump, even if he was not surrounded by controversy and suspended from his social media accounts. Most recent former presidents have shied away from the spotlight after leaving office, in part to allow their successor to rule.
Several presidents have tried to secure a second non-consecutive term, but Grover Cleveland is the only one to succeed and made a return from 1892 after being removed from office in 1888.
Trump allies say the president has not decided what he will do after leaving the White House. But he told them he wanted to hold a rally and campaign against Republican candidates who did not support his bid to block the election, including Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia.
However, presidential historians say Trump may find himself disappearing politically after leaving office, as former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush did.
And Trump’s thirst for the political spotlight can also fade – even if his desire for attention is not. The president’s allies say he has cooled down to formally announce his 2024 candidacy because he would again be eligible to disclose financial information, according to two Republicans close to Trump. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top assistant, and Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager in 2020, advised him to take time.
The Trump Organization is suppose to have lost millions of dollars during the outbreak of the coronavirus just before Trump had to repay $ 421 million in loans he guaranteed, much of it to foreign creditors, according to a New York Times exam of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Meanwhile, investigators in New York are investigating whether Trump inflated assets improperly, evaded taxes and paid off women who alleged cases in violation of campaign finance laws.
With such legal drama waiting for him, Trump is expected to tease a presidential election – without submitting the paperwork or setting up a campaign – to get the attention he seeks.
“He finally can’t pull the trigger,” said a former Trump assistant who lives near the White House.
If Trump makes declaratory statements about management, procures campaign ads, or spends more than $ 5,000 on an actual campaign, he will have to register as a candidate for office. But if he’s just investigating a potential candidate, he does not have to do so, as long as he spends less than the legal maximum on things like voting, traveling, and calling potential supporters, According to the Federal Electoral Commission and election attorneys.
“He’s going to keep it out there long enough to be a player,” said a former administration official, “and then try to be a power broker.”
Gabby Orr contributed.