Anti-Trump Republicans Reportedly Mulling Plans To Put Up A New Third Party
Critics of former President Donald Trump within the Republican Party are reportedly mulling the possibility of putting up a third party as the former chief executive remains popular among conservatives and wants him to remain a major political figure in the party.
A veteran GOP strategist told Fox News that at least 120 anti-Trumpers in the party held a ‘major call’ last week aimed at discussing efforts to form a break-away party from the GOP.
This group includes critics of the former president who are his former officials and personalities who served under the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. GOP strategists, and Republican-appointed ambassadors also took part in the meeting.
“This is just the beginning of the conversation. The purpose is to discuss and explore all of the options, all of the possibilities of how to advance a principled, effective, center-right movement,” the anonymous Fox News source reportedly said, adding that ‘multiple ideas’ were floated including the option to ‘run candidates in some races but endorse center-right candidates in other contests.’
“Different people have different perspectives if such a movement can grow up effectively within the Republican Party again or if it’s something that has to happen outside the party,” the source added. “I think that this time we are in a position of having the conversation and trying to figure out what are the next steps, to put together a plan to move forward.”
Internal conflict within the GOP was exacerbated by the January 6 chaos on Capitol Hill where some Republican lawmakers sided with Democrats in calling out former President Trump for allegedly ‘masterminding’ the insurrection. This led to the impeachment of Trump in the second attempt of the Democrat-controlled House to oust the former president — who already stepped down from office that time.
Meanwhile, most Republicans in the Senate maintain support for the former president with most of them voting to declare the impeachment trial of Trump as ‘unconstitutional.’
Amid warnings that forming a third party could only weaken conservatives, the Fox News source privy to the plans of anti-Trump Republicans said the point is to ‘win the argument first.’
“Some people are concerned about that and some people see it as the only path forward. It can’t be about winning elections first. It has to be about winning the argument first. It’s about developing a movement that’s rooted in principle, the belief that when you do that, people will come to it.”
Former President Trump maintained that he plans to play an influential role within the GOP — including supporting Republicans in 2022 in bid to retake the House from Democrats. Trump has also floated the idea of running in 2024 and vowing to be back in the political field in ‘some form.’
Majority of Republicans earlier said they want the former president to continue to be a major political figure in the party even after his term ends.
A separate survey also found 64% of GOP voters saying they will leave the Republican Party to join a third political party if former President Trump pushes through with the idea after earlier flirting with the idea of putting up his own political party — to be called ‘Patriot’s Party.’
Dritan Nesho, CEO and chief pollster at HarrisX, said at that time that “if Trump were to split from the GOP and create his own party, polling suggests he might well create the second largest political party in the country, knocking the GOP down to third place.”
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, however, has called for party unity amidst these breakaway talks.
“I have a firm belief that as a party, we have to unite,” McDaniel said earlier.
“If we continue to attack each other and focus on attacking fellow Republicans, if we have disagreements within our party, then we are losing sight of 2022. The only way we’re going to win is if we come together … they don’t want to hear about infighting within the GOP.”
