There is no GOP civil war
Despite the unrequited longings of the left and certain vocal Republicans, there is no civil war in the Republican
Party, and there is not even widespread disaffection with
President Donald
Trump among rankand-file GOP voters.
But this is not what you would assume listening to Democrats and the mainstream media or frequenting the Twitter accounts of a number of highprofile Trump-disdaining conservatives.
Sen. John McCain has been in a public feud with President Trump, as have Sens. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, who both have announced that they will retire, lamenting the decline in dignity and manners that Trump has allegedly ushered in. And no less a Republican well-wisher than Hillary Clinton has declared that the GOP is imploding.
President Trump, for his part, obviously perceives matters differently, tweeting, "The meeting with Republican Senators yesterday, outside of Flake and Corker, was a love fest." Even sometime Trump critic Lindsey Graham praised the luncheon, saying that Trump was "upbeat," "lighthearted" and "funny as hell."
With the liberal media gleefully showcasing these intramural squabbles and obsessing over Trump's every tweet and phone call, it's no wonder some might infer that Republicans are in hopeless disarray and headed for extinction. But outside their echo chamber and that of the denizens of NeverTrumpistan, I think we'll be fine.
Victor Davis Hanson, in a piece for National Review Online, cited data showing that despite perceptions to the contrary, Trump received roughly the same percentage of Republican votes as other previous GOP presidential candidates. Additionally, my own experience tells me that the overwhelming majority of fellow Republicans and conservatives are supportive of Trump, even if they don't wholeheartedly embrace everything he may tweet or say.
Indeed, very few conservatives I've run into are that concerned about Trump's tweets — even those who would prefer he dial them down a notch — because they appreciate that he is speaking their language instead of the guarded language of the typical politician. Columnist Salena Zito offered a fascinating insight on this, saying, "The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." Though certain conservative Trump critics cringe at this, I dare say the rank-and-file Republican voter understands the difference and isn't sweating the small stuff — provided we can move forward on policy and dismantle the Obama agenda.
Trump supporters don't dispute that
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