Acquitted again by Senate, Trump still a powerful force in Republican politics

By John Whitesides

 

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is still Donald Trump's Republican Party - at least for now.

 

The vote by 43 of the 50 Republican senators to acquit Trump on the charge of inciting last month's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, with only seven voting for conviction, highlights just how powerful a grip he has on the party he remade in his image over the past five years.

 

The former president, who has largely stayed out of sight at his Florida home since leaving the White House on Jan. 20, commands fervent loyalty among his supporters, forcing most Republican politicians to pledge their fealty and fear his wrath.

 

But after two impeachments, months of false claims that his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden was rigged, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters that left five people dead, Trump is also political poison in many of the swing districts that often decide American elections.

 

That leaves Republicans in a precarious position as they try to forge a winning coalition in the 2022 elections for control of Congress and a 2024 White House race that might include Trump as a candidate.

 

"It's hard to imagine Republicans winning national elections without Trump supporters anytime soon," said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and aide to Senator Marco Rubio during his 2016 presidential primary race against Trump.

 

"The party is facing a real Catch 22: it can't win with Trump but it's obvious it can't win without him either," he said.

 

Trump has not signaled his long-range political plans for after the trial, although he has publicly hinted at another run for the White House and he is reportedly keen to help primary challengers to Republicans in Congress who voted to impeach or convict him.

 

"Whether he does run again is up to him, but he's still going to have an enormous amount of influence on both the direction of the policy and also in evaluating who is a serious standard-bearer for that message," one adviser said. "You can call it a kingmaker or whatever you want to call it."

 

Trump has maintained strong support from Republicans in polls even since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

 

Just days after the riot, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 70% of Republicans still approved of Trump's job performance, and a later poll found a similar percentage believed he should be allowed to run for office again.

 

But outside his party he is unpopular. A new Ipsos poll published on Saturday showed that 71% of Americans believed Trump was at least partially responsible for starting the assault on the Capitol. Fifty percent believed he should be convicted in the Senate with 38% opposed and 12% unsure.

 

Trump's defenders in the Senate argued that the trial was unconstitutional because Trump had already left office and that his remarks ahead of the riot were protected by the constitutional right to free speech. But a majority of senators including seven Republicans rejected that view.

 

Democrats said many Republican senators were afraid to vote with their conscience to convict Trump out of fear of retribution from his supporters.

 

"If this vote was taken in secret, there would be a conviction," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said.

 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the Republicans who voted to acquit Trump on Saturday, though he later slammed the former president as "practically and morally responsible" for provoking the violence.

 

His position illustrated how some Republican leaders are trying to distance themselves from Trump and limit his influence without triggering the full-blown fury of Trump and his supporters.

 

McConnell's words will not help the Republican party in the 2022 mid-term congressional elections, Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham, who wants to unite the party under Trump's banner, said on Sunday.

 

"I think Senator McConnell's speech, he got a load off his chest obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans," Graham told Fox News Sunday. Republican candidates in 2022 will inevitably be asked what they thought of McConnell's denunciation of Trump's actions, Graham said.

 

But Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican, said there will be a big fight for the soul of the party.

 

"I think we've got to move on from the cult of Donald Trump and return to the basic principles that the party's always stood for," Hogan told NBC's "Meet the Press."

 

Trump's continued sway, however, was evident in House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy's visit last month to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where they huddled on strategy for the 2022 congressional elections.

 

That visit came just three weeks after McCarthy had enraged Trump by saying he bore responsibility for the Capitol riot. McCarthy later backtracked, saying he did not believe Trump provoked the assault.

 

POLITICAL BACKLASH

The few lawmakers who have broken with Trump have suffered a stinging backlash. This continued after the impeachment verdict as Republican senators who found Trump guilty, including Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, were criticized by party officials at home.

 

Representative Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives and one of 10 who voted for Trump's impeachment, quickly faced an effort by conservatives to remove her from her leadership post. She survived it, but Trump has vowed to throw his support behind a primary challenger to her.

 

In Arizona, which backed Biden and elected a Democratic senator in November, the state party censured three prominent Republicans who had clashed with Trump while he was in office - Governor Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, widow of the late Senator John McCain.

 

When Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska was threatened with censure by his state party for criticizing Trump, he suggested it was down to a cult of personality.

 

"Let's be clear about why this is happening. It is because I still believe, as you used to, that politics isn't about the weird worship of one dude," Sasse said in a video addressed to the party leadership in Nebraska. He was one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on Saturday.

 

The fissures have led to an open debate in conservative circles over how far right to lean. At Fox News, the cable news network that played a key role in Trump's rise to power, Fox Corp Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch this week told investors the outlet would stick to its "center right" position.

 

Trump tore into the network after its early, and ultimately accurate, election-night projection that he lost in Arizona, presenting an opportunity for further-right video networks to draw disaffected Trump supporters.

 

"We don't need to go further right," Murdoch said. "We don't believe America is further right, and we're obviously not going to pivot left."Dozens of former Republican officials, disillusioned by the party's failure to stand up to Trump, have held talks to form a new center-right party, though multiple congressional Republicans rejected the idea.

 

Advisers say Trump himself has talked about forming a breakaway Patriot Party, exacerbating Republican divisions.

 

While Trump maintains control over the party for now, several Republican senators said during the impeachment trial that the stain left by the deadly siege of the Capitol and Trump's months of false claims about widespread election fraud would cripple his chances of winning power again in 2024.

 

"After the American public sees the whole story laid out here ... I don't see how Donald Trump could be reelected to the presidency again," Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who also voted for a conviction, told reporters during the trial.

 

With Trump out of office and blocked from Twitter, his favorite means of communication, some Republicans said his hold on the party could fade as new issues and personalities emerge.

 

Republican Senator John Cornyn, a Trump ally, said the former president's legacy had suffered permanent damage.

 

"Unfortunately, while President Trump did a lot of good, his handling of the post-election period is what he's going to be remembered for," Cornyn said. "And I think that's a tragedy."

 

(Reporting by John Whitesides; Additional reporting by David Morgan, Steve Holland and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-15

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

It is still Donald Trump's Republican Party

A party of spineless cowards!

Just now, PatOngo said:

A party of spineless cowards!

It will be Ok....????

12 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

It will be Ok....????

No it won't. A party hijacked by a seditious leader. Sad some can't comprehend this.

 

Let's hope that the democrats get their 2 bills passed that will expand voters rights and stop gerrymandering by the GOP.

[“If this vote was taken in secret, there would be a conviction," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said.]

 

The criminal cases against Trump are heading right at him and these will further broadcast his criminality.

 

Republicans in the Senate decided to put themselves on record as his blind faith supporters, they’ll pay a price for this.

 

Putting aside the problem their support for Trump creates for the GOP in the mid terms it’s already causing a schism in the party.

 

 

 

 

 

23 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

It will be Ok....????

No it’s not ok not by a long shot the Republican Party no longer exists imo trump is running true to form killing everything he comes in contact with

44 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

It will be Ok....????

I think it will be better than OK. If Trump starts his own party and splits the vote - good news.

If they stick to Trump I don't think he can now go above 35 to 40 per cent on a good day as many, except the base, have seen how seriously dangerous he can be  - good news. 

If he ends up getting convicted on one or more of the possible charges he faces - good news.

 

Without social media he is emasculated. That's what many people are saying.

 

And holding rallies may soothe his fragile ego, but there will be little coverage and he'll have to pay (OK, his contributors will have to pay) the expenses.

 

Plus he's going to be busy writing his memoir, bulding his library and propping up his business/brand. /joking

 

Not sure how much of a "force" he will be? Plenty of Kooks, Krazies and Kultists anxious to step into his shoes.

 

I doubt that this version of the GOP will be able to rid themselves of the Nut-Jobs as they did shedding the John Birch Society sixty-years ago.

 

 

How the GOP Surrendered to Extremism

Sixty years ago, many GOP leaders resisted radicals in their ranks. Now they’re not even trying.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/02/republican-extremism-and-john-birch-society/617922/

 

1 hour ago, Jeffr2 said:

No it won't. A party hijacked by a seditious leader. Sad some can't comprehend this.

 

Let's hope that the democrats get their 2 bills passed that will expand voters rights and stop gerrymandering by the GOP.

Expand voters "rights" ????? 

 

by allowing no identification proof and ballot harvesting that is illegal in almost every country for obvious reasons. In other words, the exact same things in the ridiculous house bill HR1. 

3 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

by allowing no identification proof and ballot harvesting that is illegal in almost every country for obvious reasons. In other words, the exact same things in the ridiculous house bill HR1. 

 

Hear, hear.

 

Let's get back to good 'ole 'merica, a return to poll-taxes and guessing the number of jelly-beans in the jar.

 

And what's with this 19th Amendment anyway?

 

 

For normal people, it will forever be a puzzle why the cult formed around 45, and why so many were susceptible to his delusions. There's the great division, of course, culminating in the terrorist attack on the Capitol he incited---over months of barking and lying about an election where he was drubbed fairly and squarely---but really nothing epitomizes the abject delusion of the maga crowd better than the two charts below, produced by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with data from the rest of the Dept of Commerce as well as the US Treasury.

 

45 inherited a growing economy, tumbling unemployment, and a trend toward a more balanced budget, an achievement remarkable in itself given what President Obama inherited from Bush II with the Financial Crisis. 45 left...to use his own term...American Carnage.

 

Coupled with 45's incompetent and willfully destructive response to the pandemic (for the latter, listen to the Woodward tapes as to what 45 knew and when he knew it), plus the 43% increase in US National Debt under his watch (from $19.4 trillion to $27.7 trillion using all OMB numbers including off balance sheet increases), 45's performance is surely to be viewed by historians as the absolute worst Presidency ever, bar none, and it is a record that will be tough to beat. 45's lasting legacy will be one of failure, mendacity, division, racism, and embarrassment for the nation.

 

The graphs that follow are bad enough, and show failure on a scale almost unimaginable, but what makes it even worse is that the failure was also debt fueled (note the national Debt increase over his term), which constitutes astonishing monetary inefficiency, whose best analogy might be how 45 was such a bad businessman he even bankrupted virtually guaranteed moneymakers like casinos.

 

If this is what the (R)s think is there future path to glory, it seems certain that party will go the way of the Whigs, the Know Nothing Party, and the dodo bird. NB that the (R) Party, even apart from 45, is markedly inferior in economic and labor performance relative to (D), as the 'blue' is clearly superior.

 

This, in the world of maga, ostensibly constitutes 'the best economy ever':

 

 

1 hour ago, Tug said:

No it’s not ok not by a long shot the Republican Party no longer exists imo trump is running true to form killing everything he comes in contact with

The trump gop platform has been set. It is not the platform of wall street and the chamber of commerce. By far the best thing to happen to politicians in decades. 

 

We know where Joe's campaign was funds came from. Wall Street and big tech. Neither of these entities have the interest of the public in mind. 

 

He'll have his own media voice that will only grow larger and the cabal of big tech oligarchs will not be able to cope. 

 

 

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Hear, hear.

 

Let's get back to good 'ole 'merica, a return to poll-taxes and guessing the number of jelly-beans in the jar.

 

And what's with this 19th Amendment anyway?

 

 

That has nothing to do with anything in the weak deflection you have tried. 

 

Anyone can register, prove your identity and your address then vote. 

 

What are you afraid of? A fair bipartisan verification and observation of every single ballot? 

1 minute ago, Chiphigh said:

The trump gop platform has been set. It is not the platform of wall street and the chamber of commerce. By far the best thing to happen to politicians in decades. 

 

We know where Joe's campaign was funds came from. Wall Street and big tech. Neither of these entities have the interest of the public in mind. 

 

He'll have his own media voice that will only grow larger and the cabal of big tech oligarchs will not be able to cope. 

 

 

If you want to see the economic performance 45 brought to the nation, look at the graphs in my post above yours.

 

Nothing says 'failure' like 45.

 

BTW, the 'swamp', epitomized by K Street and double dipping, was never deeper than under 45. He even repealed the only-for-show EO he once signed that prohibited former members of his Administration from lobbying; he took it away, thus allowing anyone who served under him to be as swamp-like as possible.

 

It seems he can fool some of the people all of the time.

if it hadn't been for covid, you'd still have DJT as the POTUS.

28 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

The trump gop platform has been set.

 

The GOP did not have a platform in 2020.

 

 

A flame post and reply have been removed, along with one containing false information.

You may shred the content of a post all you like, but you will refrain from getting stuck into the poster at a personal level.

1 hour ago, Chiphigh said:

Expand voters "rights" ????? 

 

by allowing no identification proof and ballot harvesting that is illegal in almost every country for obvious reasons. In other words, the exact same things in the ridiculous house bill HR1. 

Perhaps you should read up on what it's really about. The ability to vote is a pillar of the U.S.  Sadly, the GOP knows it will kill them. Perhaps they should stop supporting the far right nuts. People are leaving the party in droves now.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act

 

The For the People Act^[1] (also known as HR 1) is a bill first introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives in 2019 to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.

 

The bill would make it a criminal offense "to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote", would establish criminal penalties for such conduct, and would instruct the Election Assistance Commission to adopt recommendations for states on the prevention of interference with voter registration.^[

3 hours ago, Chiphigh said:

The trump gop platform has been set. It is not the platform of wall street and the chamber of commerce. By far the best thing to happen to politicians in decades. 

 

We know where Joe's campaign was funds came from. Wall Street and big tech. Neither of these entities have the interest of the public in mind. 

 

He'll have his own media voice that will only grow larger and the cabal of big tech oligarchs will not be able to cope. 

 

 

What?  Trump’s policies supported the rich. And saved him a lot of money.

51 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

if it hadn't been for covid, you'd still have DJT as the POTUS.

Agreed!  He shot himself in the foot big time with his lies and denials of the virus. Otherwise, he would have won.

It seems the GOP politicians do their very best to bring the party even more to the extreme right.

That's good news. Because now undecided voters have the choice between the DEMs and the extreme right GOP.

Even people who are no fans of the DEMs will likely see them as the smaller evil compared to Qanon fanatics on the right.

 

It the GOP wants to win elections then they have to move to the center. That is obviously not happening. Good. That means they will lose more often.

3 hours ago, Chiphigh said:

That has nothing to do with anything in the weak deflection you have tried. 

 

Anyone can register, prove your identity and your address then vote. 

 

What are you afraid of? A fair bipartisan verification and observation of every single ballot? 

That's what we have. As proven by this election. A fair verification and observation of the election. Congrats to the election officials. Shame on those who still support the lies of voter fraud.

18 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Perhaps you should read up on what it's really about. The ability to vote is a pillar of the U.S.  Sadly, the GOP knows it will kill them. Perhaps they should stop supporting the far right nuts. People are leaving the party in droves now.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act

 

The For the People Act^[1] (also known as HR 1) is a bill first introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives in 2019 to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.

 

The bill would make it a criminal offense "to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote", would establish criminal penalties for such conduct, and would instruct the Election Assistance Commission to adopt recommendations for states on the prevention of interference with voter registration.^[

I have read it. It is a ridiculous bill. It includes a federal ballot harvesting scheme, statehood for DC and Puerto Rico. 

 

A Pure power grab. Disguised in the usual virtue signaling title of this ridiculous bill. 

7 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It seems the GOP politicians do their very best to bring the party even more to the extreme right.

That's good news. Because now undecided voters have the choice between the DEMs and the extreme right GOP.

Even people who are no fans of the DEMs will likely see them as the smaller evil compared to Qanon fanatics on the right.

 

It the GOP wants to win elections then they have to move to the center. That is obviously not happening. Good. That means they will lose more often.

Forgot the extreme left

I'm sure there are hardcore Trump supporters who still believe Trump won the election.  My feeling is...who cares?  There are people who believe in big foot, the flat earth, fake moon landing, 9/11 conspiracies....etc.  Again, who cares?  You can believe what you want.  But Trump will never be President again.  Which means these nutters will no longer have a voice in the White House...which is a wonderful thing.     

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

if it hadn't been for covid, you'd still have DJT as the POTUS.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Incredible how it took trump's criminal mismanagement of a virus resulting in countless Americans dying needlessly for enough of the voters to wake up to the fact that the individual they voted for the last time is as fit for the presidency as a kiddie fiddler is fit to run a kindergarten.

35 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Forgot the extreme left

Is there anything left in the USA?

 

Obviously from the extreme right even the center looks left. But compared to other i.e. European countries I don't see any left option in the USA.

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

if it hadn't been for covid, you'd still have DJT as the POTUS.

I doubt it folks are tired of his trolling and dragging the country through the sewer but ya do have to hand it to him on covid got more Americans killed in one year than the axis powers managed in four years just beggers belief 

3 hours ago, Walker88 said:

For normal people, it will forever be a puzzle why the cult formed around 45, and why so many were susceptible to his delusions. There's the great division, of course, culminating in the terrorist attack on the Capitol he incited---over months of barking and lying about an election where he was drubbed fairly and squarely---but really nothing epitomizes the abject delusion of the maga crowd better than the two charts below, produced by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with data from the rest of the Dept of Commerce as well as the US Treasury.

 

45 inherited a growing economy, tumbling unemployment, and a trend toward a more balanced budget, an achievement remarkable in itself given what President Obama inherited from Bush II with the Financial Crisis. 45 left...to use his own term...American Carnage.

 

Coupled with 45's incompetent and willfully destructive response to the pandemic (for the latter, listen to the Woodward tapes as to what 45 knew and when he knew it), plus the 43% increase in US National Debt under his watch (from $19.4 trillion to $27.7 trillion using all OMB numbers including off balance sheet increases), 45's performance is surely to be viewed by historians as the absolute worst Presidency ever, bar none, and it is a record that will be tough to beat. 45's lasting legacy will be one of failure, mendacity, division, racism, and embarrassment for the nation.

 

The graphs that follow are bad enough, and show failure on a scale almost unimaginable, but what makes it even worse is that the failure was also debt fueled (note the national Debt increase over his term), which constitutes astonishing monetary inefficiency, whose best analogy might be how 45 was such a bad businessman he even bankrupted virtually guaranteed moneymakers like casinos.

 

If this is what the (R)s think is there future path to glory, it seems certain that party will go the way of the Whigs, the Know Nothing Party, and the dodo bird. NB that the (R) Party, even apart from 45, is markedly inferior in economic and labor performance relative to (D), as the 'blue' is clearly superior.

 

This, in the world of maga, ostensibly constitutes 'the best economy ever':

 

 

Where on Earth did you get these figures from, totally wrong.

 

And did you/they account for the black swan event in 2020?

 

From the BBC

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-45827430

 

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

if it hadn't been for covid, you'd still have DJT as the POTUS.

He still could have been POTUS if he didn't mismanage Covid. He flunk the test big time.