2 former lawmakers join call to ditch Trump
Two former Wisconsin congressmen have joined a national group of Republicans who say they’re dismayed by the GOP’s direction in the Trump era and want to either “re-imagine” their party or create a new one.
The two are Reid Ribble, who represented Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District from 2011 to 2017, and Tom Petri, who represented the 6th District from 1979 to 2015. They are among more than 100 disaffected Republicans (and exRepublicans), many of them former government officials or former members of Congress, who signed an open letter Thursday rejecting populism, “fear-mongering, conspiracism and falsehoods.”
“Our nation’s future should not be dictated by a single person but by principles that bind us together. That’s why we believe in pushing for the Republican Party to rededicate itself to founding ideals — or else hasten the creation of an alternative,” the letter said.
While the language in the letter is very broad, it is unmistakably a rebuke of the Trump-era Republican Party.
Ribble, who said he helped write the letter, said some of the people who signed it see themselves as ultimately breaking with the Republican Party.
But Ribble said, “That’s not what I’m hoping for. I want to restore the Republican Party — away from its more extremist, populist approach to a more traditional, principle-driven constitutional approach.”
Ribble, who had a conservative voting record in the House and was a critic of Donald Trump before and after he left Congress, said his message to his party is:
“There is a very large group of voters that feels you guys have gotten off
The pair from Wisconsin join a group of disaffected Republicans.
the rails. You may want to reconsider the idea of not running on any ideas other than a particular personality at the top of the ticket.”
In the time since Republicans have lost control of the White House, the Senate and the House, “what we’re not hearing from the party is any type of introspective thinking,” said Ribble. “They’re not looking in the mirror at all. Instead, they’re doubling down.”
Titled “A Call for American Renewal,” the letter was published the day after House Republicans purged Liz Cheney from their leadership for her outspoken criticisms of Trump. As Trump has continued to baselessly claim the 2020 election was stolen, Cheney has continued to blast the former president for lying about the election and blame him for igniting the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.
All five House Republicans from Wisconsin — Bryan Steil, Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Tom Tiffany and Mike Gallagher — supported Cheney’s ouster, saying she could no longer unify GOP lawmakers or effectively speak for them.
“... Across our country thousands of our fellow citizens volunteer their time as poll workers and watchers every election. This enables us to freely chose those who serve in elective office at every level of government. I honor their service and reject attacks on the integrity of our elections by sore losers. The party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan is better than that.”
Tom Petri
Ribble did not criticize that vote by fellow Republicans, even though he agreed with Cheney’s criticisms of Trump, saying Cheney’s role is to be the messenger for House Republicans, and they have “got to decide who they want to be their messenger.”
In a Washington Post op-ed, several of those who signed the letter called it a “nationwide rallying cry against extremist elements within the GOP,” and wrote, “the Republican Party has lost its way, perverted by fear, lies and self-interest.” They also chastised the party for attacks “on the integrity of elections” and accused the Republican legislators of “trying to impede voting rights across the country as a last-ditch effort to retain power.”
Asked about his involvement, Petri, who represented Fond du Lac in Congress, cited the issue of attacks on the integrity of elections.
“In Fond du Lac County, across Wisconsin and across our country thousands of our fellow citizens volunteer their time as poll workers and watchers every election. This enables us to freely chose those who serve in elective office at every level of government. I honor their service and reject attacks on the integrity of our elections by sore losers. The party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan is better than that,” he said.
The letter couched itself as a “rallying cry for pragmatists everywhere,” and a rejection of “illiberalism, whether of the right or the left.”
It listed among its values: Constitutional order, evidence-based policymaking, rule of law, pluralism, open market-based economies, free speech, conservation, and a rejection of bigotry, intolerance and disenfranchisement.
Ribble described it as an effort to build a coalition of people who believe in certain basic principles and are having trouble finding a home in either party.
Wisconsin state GOP Chairman Andrew Hitt issued the following statement in response to the “Call for Ameircan Renewal” letter: “Wisconsinites are worried about rising gas prices, getting Americans back to work and the ongoing crisis at our southern border, not D.C. insider politics. Rank-and-file Republicans in Wisconsin will continue to focus on the issues that affect everyday Wisconsinites.”
The letter from disaffected Republicans represents the latest effort of a relatively small group of high-profile dissenters within the GOP to steer the party away from Trump.
But since the former president’s 2020 defeat, Trump’s sway in the party has been evident in opinion polls of GOP voters, in the rhetoric and actions of party activists and leaders, and in the removal of Cheney Wednesday from her leadership position.
Ribble said he fully expects Republicans to win back the House in 2022 because of the historic success in midterms of the party out of power.
But he argued that the GOP needs to change to avoid remaining a minority party into the future.
“This is a long play,” said Ribble.
Represented the 6th District from 1979 to 2015