In fight over GOP, state parties stand firm as firewall for Trump
Donald Trump has mused about forming a third party. But it’s unclear why he needs one.
As he faces an impeachment trial for inciting insurrection, state and county Republican Party committees have rushed to Trump’s defense — highlighting the former president’s firm control of the GOP machinery.
In swing states and GOP bastions, state and local Republican committees are stocked with Trump supporters who remain loyal. Trump critics have been pushed out or marginalized. Party committees from Washington state to South Carolina have moved to punish many of the 10 House Republicans who supported Trump’s impeachment for egging on the deadly Jan. 6 raid of the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s lock on the party apparatus is the result of a years-long takeover of an institution he only loosely affiliated with before taking office. The effect amounts to a firewall protecting him and his far-right, nationalist politics from Republicans who argue the party needs a new direction if it wants to win elections.
“It’s come to the point where you have to be with him 100 percent of the time, or you’re the enemy,” said Dave Millage, a former Iowa lawmaker who was pushed out as Scott County GOP chairman after calling for Trump’s impeachment.
On Saturday, the South Carolina GOP will decide whether to censure Republican
Rep. Tom Rice for his vote to impeach the former president. It’s a move meant to scar the five-term congressman for what many of his constituents considered a betrayal, said GOP chairwoman Dreama Perdue in Rice’s home Horry County.
In some cases, the state parties’ defense of Trump has exposed the extent to which disinformation, conspiracy theories and views once considered fringe have been normalized in the GOP.
In Oregon, the state party last week released a resolution passed by its executive committee that in part falsely alleged the Capitol attack was a “false flag” designed to embarrass Trump supporters. State parties in Hawaii and Texas have recently tweeted references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state” and a sect of powerful devil-worshipping pedophiles including top Democrats.
In other states, the rapid defense of Trump is notable for Republicans’ willingness to double down on Trumpism even after voters rejected it.
The Arizona state party Saturday reelected its controversial Trump loyalist chairwoman, Kelli Ward and censured Trump critics Cindy McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake and even Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican Trump supporter who offended the party leadership by certifying Trump’s loss in the state.
In Washington state, several county party committees have called for the removal of the two House members who voted for Trump’s impeachment. Primary challengers have begun lining up to take on all 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump.
Trump’s hold on state parties reflects the ex-president’s continued popularity with the base and the work his political operation has done to plant loyalists in the typically obscure local GOP apparatus. His reelection campaign focused heavily on packing state and county committees with devotees to avoid the spectacle of 2016, when many in the party’s machinery fought Trump’s nomination.
Chuck Coughlin, a Republican strategist in Arizona, said he is troubled by what Ward’s victory says about the party’s inability to shake Trump, the first Republican presidential candidate to lose the state since 1996. “The party as it’s currently defined today, as the party of Trump, cannot win statewide elections in Arizona,” he said. “A smart party would try to figure out how to be more inclusive and not exclusive.”
“Literally this is idol worship.”
But Trump brought in millions of new voters to the party with his nationalist approach. And Republicans should welcome those voters’ decision to stay involved, even when Trump is not on the ballot, argued Constantin Querard, a conservative Republican strategist in Arizona.
“Without Trump, some of them will go home, but some of them will stick around forever,” he said.