Trump’s worldview ingrained in Republicans
Even if president fades from politics, supporters say his message will carry on in a party remade in his image
In Cleveland County, Okla., the chairman of the local Republican Party openly wondered “why violence is unacceptable,” just hours before a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. “What the crap do you think the American revolution was?” he posted on Facebook. “A game of friggin pattycake?”
Two days later, the Republican chairman of Nye County in Nevada posted a conspiracy-theory-filled letter on the local committee website, accusing Vice President Mike Pence of treason and calling the rioting a “staged event meant to blame Trump supporters.”
And this week in Virginia, Amanda Chase, a two-term Republican state senator running for governor, maintained that President Donald Trump might still be sworn into a second term Wednesday and that Republicans who blocked that “alternative plan” would be punished by the president’s supporters.
“They’ve got Mitch McConnell up there selling out the Republican Party,” Chase, who spoke at the protest in Washington last week, said in an interview. “The insurrection is actually the deep state with the politicians working against the people to overthrow our government.”
As Trump prepares to exit the White House and face a second impeachment trial in the Senate, his ideas continue to exert a gravitational pull in Republican circles across the country. The falsehoods, white nationalism and baseless conspiracy theories he peddled for four years have become ingrained at the grassroots level of the party, embraced by activists, local leaders and elected officials even as a handful of Republicans in Congress break with the president in the final hour.
Interviews with more than 40 Republican state and local leaders conducted after the siege at the Capitol show that a vocal wing of the party maintains an almost religious devotion to the president, and that these supporters don’t hold him responsible for the mob violence last week. The opposition to him emerging among some Republicans has only bolstered their support of him.
And while some Republican leaders and strategists are eager to dismiss these loyalists as a fringe element of their party, many of them hold influential roles at the state and local level.
These local officials are not only the conduits between voters and federal Republicans, but they also serve as the party’s next generation of higher-level elected officials and would bring a devotion to Trumpism should they ascend to Washington.
The continued support for the president is likely to maintain Trump’s influence long after he leaves office. That could hamper the ability of the party to unify and reshape its agenda to help woo back moderate suburban voters who play a decisive role in winning battleground states and presidential elections.
At the same time, stepping away from the president could cost the party his supporters — millions of new working-class voters who helped Trump capture more votes than any other Republican presidential candidate in history.
“It is priority No. 1 to retain Trump voters,” said Harmeet Dhillon, an RNC member from California. “There is no way to do that with rapid change, tacking in a different direction. Voters are looking to the party for continuity and to stay the course.”
An Axios-Ipsos poll released Thursday showed that a majority of Republicans support the president’s recent behavior and say he should be the Republican nominee in 2024.
Already, some from the Trump wing are threatening primary challenges to Republicans deemed insufficiently loyal to the president and fierce opposition to any Republican who works with the new Biden administration. With Trump banned from prominent social media platforms, they’re immersing themselves in right-wing media outlets and waiting for new conservative social media platforms many say are being set up.
“The party is definitely with Trump,” said Debbie Dooley, a conservative activist in Georgia. “I’m seeing anger but it’s kind of nuanced. There are people that are angrier at these Republicans that have turned their backs on Trump than they are at Democrats.”
That was evident shortly after 10 Republicans joined with Democrats to support impeachment Wednesday. Within hours of the vote, Drew McKissick, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, blasted out a statement attacking Rep. Tom Rice, a Republican from his state who had backed impeachment.
“We completely disagree with this sham and to say I’m severely disappointed in Congressman Tom Rice would be an understatement,” McKissick said.
Several House Republicans also called for Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a high-profile voice for impeachment, to step down from her leadership position in the party’s caucus.
For years, opponents to Trump argued that he would lose his hold on the party after a devastating event — like unrest or violence that would shock the nation. Last week’s breach of the Capitol appears to have presented that opportunity to Republicans who want to refocus the party around Trump’s policies, and dispense with the polarizing language and divisive actions that marked his four years in office.
“In this world, I think there’s lots of room for the Republican Party,” said Juliana Bergeron, an RNC member from New Hampshire. “I’m not sure there’s room for the Republican Party of Donald Trump.”
But for many grassroots officials, the episode at the Capitol was not the inflection point that some Republicans in Washington assumed it would be.
“No, Trump does not have any blame, but the Democrats certainly do, along with all the Republicans that follow with them,” said Billy Long, the Republican Party chairman in Bayfield County, Wis., who said he is planning to break away from the GOP to start a local Trump-centric third party. “The Trump movement is not over; like Trump said himself, we are just getting started.”