GOP appears fractured over Trump support
WASHINGTON – Weeks before President Donald Trump accepts his party’s nomination, cracks are deepening in the party as a host of GOP lawmakers distance themselves from the Republican standard-bearer as they weigh their election chances in November.
Republicans have increasingly split with Trump on issues shadowing his administration, from his tone on racism to wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic and intelligence reports of a Russia-backed bounty program on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
It’s a rare moment in the president’s 31⁄2-year tenure, during which Trump otherwise relished in party unity on issues such as his impeachment and former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“There’s a real disagreement between the president and his party in this election,” said Alex Conant, a GOP strategist and former aide to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. “I think a lot of Republicans are really fed up with the president’s divisive strategy. People are just throwing up their hands with some of the rhetoric that’s coming out of the president. It’s really unhelpful not just to his own reelection but also to keeping the Senate.”
Last week, several GOP lawmakers said they will skip the party’s national convention in Jacksonville, Florida, where coronavirus cases have surged, leaving supporters, politicians and officials who plan to attend with the hard choice of risking their personal health or facing potential retaliation from Trump.
The Republican Party moved its convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, last month after state and local officials refused to commit to the president’s desire to hold a full convention, packed with thousands of supporters, over health concerns amid the pandemic.
But aside from coronavirus concerns, the Republican convention may have lost its luster for some lawmakers, according to GOP strategist Matt Gorman.
“For a lot of these elected officials, it’s a chance ... for fundraising and press attention,” he said. “And if a lot of media folks are not planning to go and a lot of donors choose not to go ... then there’s not much incentive to show up.”