How powerful is the “Trump Party”?
“There are actually three political parties in the United States now: the Democratic Party, the anti-democratic ‘Trump Party’ and the pro-democratic Republican Party.” Four years after U.S. President Trump took office, some conservative columnists made such a “sump summary”.
The voice of hoping that Republicans who are frustrated with the past four years to establish a “legitimate third party” has also emerged in American academia and public opinion, which was even higher after the impact on the U.S. Congress on the 6th.
If this is the case, it will undoubtedly be a great change in the political system and political ecology of the United States. This has a lot to do with President Trump, who is leaving the White House. Described as a complete political egoist, this group of members of the Republican Senate and the House of Representatives have been ruined.
They repeatedly played the role of “rebellion” for political self-interest, leading to the “rip-up” of the Republican Party.
They were criticized by Pulitzer Prize winner Friedman as “shameful Republican coup masterminds”. The Washington Post said that these Republicans knew who Trump was when they traded with him. Nowadays, some people feel abandoned and betrayed by Trump, and they deserve it.
This should happen to “this group of flatterers, flatterers and betraitors of American democracy”. As some of them begin to “cut off their seats” with Trump, the trend of Republicans in the next few years will also become a hot topic of discussion.
“Those shameful Republican coup planners”
“As an independent populist, Trump had hardly counted on the Republican establishment forces that opposed him when he was elected president in 2016.
Some American media analyzed that Trump’s desperate attempt to overthrow Biden’s victory is actually a “dramatic test” of Republican politicians’ loyalty to him. As a result, at least 13 Senate Republicans and more than 100 House Republicans will challenge the veto certification.
Friedman, an international affairs columnist of The New York Times, wrote on the 6th, slamming “those shameful Republican ‘coup masterminds'”.
He named Republican “rebellions” such as Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as villains, saying, “They want to lose their own, Republican and even the souls of the United States, and the right of the United States to conduct through free and fair elections.
The tradition of peaceful handover of power, in addition to wanting Trump to remain president, is also for one day to eventually succeed him.
According to the analysis of the U.S. media, Holly and Cruz, two Republican politicians who are eager to lead the “Trump army” at any time, have been trying to force other Republicans to make a statement against the election results.
It is obvious that core Trump followers, including Cruz, know that Trump’s actions are unwise, unconstitutional and will tear the Republican Party apart. But Cruz still does this because he believes that he is an opportunity to lead the Republican Party.
The Associated Press also analyzed that Republican Senators Holly and Cruz, both potential competitors in the 2024 presidential election, are now starting to compete for Trump’s ticket position. The Washington Post said on the 6th that Hawley believes that there is a kind of “Trump vote” in the United States, and “Trumpism” can continue to be passed on for his benefit.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who had said he would not oppose the election results, was criticized by the American media and some politicians as a “shameless villain”.
There is a lot of dissatisfaction with these ambitious “rebellions” within the Republican Party. Utah Republican Senator Romney, who lost to Obama in the 2012 presidential election, said: “This unusual refusal of voters may boost some people’s political ambitions, but it seriously threatens American democracy.” Sen.
Ben Saze, a Republican from Nebraska who is likely to run for the 2024 presidential election, said in a strong condemnation of Hawley: “Adults will not point a bullet-filled gun at the heart of the legitimate self-government, which will cause terrible cancer in American politics.”
Some American public opinion believe that some Republicans continued to support Trump and challenge the election results some time ago out of speculative psychology, wanting to borrow Trump to improve their position in the party, and some Republicans are motivated by the consideration of their constituency, that is, the majority of grassroots supporters of Trump in their own district, so it is necessary.
Make a gesture. The U.S. Capitol Hill analyzed that as Trump incited his basics and threatened to recruit primary challengers to compete with unfaithful members of Congress, many Republicans, especially those in the House of Representatives, felt that blatantly challenging the “lame duck” president, who still had great influence on the Republican Party, was tantamount to political suicide.
” We have no choice,” said a reluctant House Republican, citing pressure from Trump and conservative voters in his district. Trump also “fired warning shots” to Republican lawmakers who planned to abandon him, highlighting the risks faced by Republicans who want to keep their jobs.
According to Lu Xiang, an expert on American issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Republican “rebellions” in Friedman’s mouths such as Cruz and Holly have done in the past few years with selfish intentions, such as plans to participate in the 2024 election.
Lu Xiang told the Global Times that they want this challenge to the election results to continue to affect the next political cycle, that is, some Americans think that “the last Republican Party lost the election not because of the Republican incompetence, but because the Democrats were playing tricks”.
“Resent this hellish journey”
After the riots in the U.S. Congress, the attitude of many Republican lawmakers and political allies who had previously firmly supported Trump’s “election fraud theory” have changed.
Senator Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said on the 6th that he no longer supported Trump’s claimed election fraud and admitted for the first time the established fact that Biden won the election to become the new president. Graham is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and claims to be Trump’s golf friend.
But now, he is resentful of “taking a hellish journey with Trump”. In addition to Graham, Republicans who officially announced no longer opposed the Electoral College vote. Republicans who supported Biden’s victory include Senator Daynes of Montana, Oklahoma Representative Lankford, Senator Roy Fleur of Georgia, etc. Roy Fleurer said: “I can’t do it ‘unconscionable’.
Now we need the whole Congress to unite and vote to confirm the election results. As Americans, we must stand together. “We must defend our constitution and the rule of law,” Danes and Lankford said in a joint statement.
On social media, Trump supporters have also condemned the violent activities of Trump, such as Cruz, Rubio and Holly, “close allies of Trump”.
Florida’s Palm Beach Post previously reported that two senators, Rubio and Scott, were not in a hurry to express their support for challenging the Electoral College’s vote because far-right organizations have come to their old homes in Florida to protest.
“Rubio and Scott know that while Trump won Florida in 2020, continuing to support the president’s efforts to overturn legitimate elections could alienate independents, conservative Democrats and some Republicans,” University of South Florida professor Susan McManus analyzed.
Trump’s team is now taking more formal measures, such as tracking public statements from opponents of the Republican Party and considering replacing them with more pro-Trump figures, according to POLITICA.
Trump’s advisers are turning their attention to Republicans who loudly oppose Trump’s challenge to the confirmation of election results, “there is a long list of targets for revenge”.
Trump’s cash-rich “PAC” may be deployed in the next two years to get rid of current Republican officials that Trump doesn’t like. Trump has the largest social media influence and the largest political funding in the country, and in 2022 he will be unflinching to use this to elect pro-Trump Republicans, even if it means stepping into the midterm elections, a senior adviser said.
Lu Xiang told the Global Times that the Republican Party is now in a very divided state, roughly divided into moderates and extremists. The extremists are divided into two parts, one is the tea party and the other is the so-called evangelical.
The Republican Party does have the need and possibility of restructuring in the future, but it is difficult to see what the outcome of the party’s reorganization will take at that time. The 2022 midterm elections may be a sign.
Fukuyama, a well-known American scholar, also mentioned in an interview with the French newspaper Figaro late last year that it seems that the Democratic Party is now united against Trump, but when Biden comes to power, the rift within the Democratic Party will also widen. Within the Republican Party, Fukuyama predicts that one Republican who advocates Reagan’s free trade theory will continue to exist.
He regretted that the U.S. electoral mechanism only encouraged bipartisan oligarchy, and believed that the “centrist” would actually have a large number of supporters. Republicans want to follow a more inclusive route, but Trump chose a more extreme approach, “Trump’s departure may make a difference”.
“The United States now has actually three political parties”
“For Trump, the Republican Party is a rental car. He drove it for a ride and was ready to drive back, but the seat was stuffed with garbage, the seat cover was stained, the fuel tank was empty, and there was a crack in the windshield.” The Washington Post described Republicans losing their presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate after one term of Trump’s administration.
Jennifer Rubin, a conservative columnist in the United States, wrote recently that there are actually three political parties in the United States: the Democratic Party, the anti-democratic “Trump Party” and the pro-democratic Republican Party.
The anti-democratic “Trump Party” includes several challengers for future status in his party – Texas Senator Cruz, Arkansas Senator Cotton, Missouri Senator Holly, and Florida Senator Rubio.
These Republicans seem to ignore the coup that happened before their eyes and refuse to recognize President-elect Biden as a legitimate and reasonable winner. Instead, they support boring lawsuits aimed at overthrowing the results of democratic elections through silence or affirmation. And the pro-democracy Republicans are Republicans whose ideology is not the same but they all believe in democracy and the rule of law. They quickly admit that “Biden is the legitimate winner”. Rubin believes that the United States may function normally again only if the anti-democratic “Trump Party” is marginalized.
The website of the New York University Brennan Center also recently said that after a frustrating moment in the history of modern American politics, there are two main choices for sincere Republican conservatives and “Republicans who will never support Trump”.
They can stand higher to oppose Trump and try to force those anti-democratic, anti-science and conspiracy theorists in the Republican Party, who have been trying to overthrow the results of a free and fair election.
Or they could hand over the remaining legacy of the Republican Party to paranoids, ignorants, and malicious people, and build a legitimate third party themselves to provide another viable option for sincere Republicans in the 2022 and future elections.
Friedman has the same idea. He believes that in order to restore the health of the United States, it is imperative that decent Republicans, both from both political and business, should break away from this principled “Trump Party” and create a principled Conservative Party.
Even if only a small number of principled center-right members break with it, the Senate, which maintains a close position at present, will have a huge impact. They can be a key faction involved in deciding which and which Biden legislation won’t.
“I’m doing everything I can to keep Republicans in the Senate if Biden is elected president so we can maintain political balance. But there are indeed many Republicans who have acquiesced in Trump for too long, and I regret them.
I can only do it not keep silent, but I can guarantee that many silent Republicans can’t wait for the day when Trump disappears. It’s just that many people are intimidated by him, whether in the Senate or the House of Representatives.”
This is said by Bolt, Trump’s former national security affairs assistant, who said this in an interview with German newspaper Le Monde last August after “breaking up” with Trump, and revealed that many Republican giants are actually gradually leaving Trump.
However, Trump’s influence will continue. Lu Xiang believes that in the future political cycle in the United States, Trump can still trade with his supporters with Republicans.
For example, he can run again as an independent candidate, which will force some Republicans to continue to cooperate with him. He believes that the Republican Party tried to complete an intergenerational power transfer in 2016, hoping to introduce a younger generation such as Rubio and Cruz to become the representative of the Republican Party, but now it seems that the Republican Party’s intergenerational power transfer has completely failed.
As Trump’s “bundated congressman”, Cruz, who was also a post-70s congressman, also participated in the 2016 Republican primary. He was originally a promising person to take over, but some public opinion believes that his future is worrisome when he is tied to Trump. Whether these “rebellionists” or Republicans, it is worth paying attention to what will happen in the next two to four years.
