Is the Republican Party about to break in two?
Democrats are not always right, and Republicans are not always wrong — at least the sane Republicans. The crazy ones are not only wrong; they exist in a parallel universe. Some Republicans want to distance themselves from the crazy ones, and according to Reuters, several are doing just that. Co-hosted by Evan McMullin, more than 120 Republicans got together on Zoom to discuss the state of their party.
This group of Republicans is serious about getting away from the current party of crazy that has infiltrated the Republican party. While some are discussing the potential for creating a third party, the Republicans in this group are more focused on a platform of “principled conservatism.” They believe that Trump and his followers have “trashed the Constitution” and plan to run or support other candidates on their platform to point out the differences between the sane and crazy Republicans. They have vowed to support other candidates in the center-right category regardless of whether those candidates are Republican, Democrat, or independent. If a candidate supports the ideals they embrace, these Republicans want to fully support and welcome them with open arms. This is certainly a far cry from many of the Republicans who now disgrace our government with their Trumpism and vow to support and defend him to the end.
Many Republicans have been completely disrespectful of the impeachment process, such as doodling while impeachment managers presented to reading unrelated materials. Because they did not want to face the truth, others decided to blow off the hearing altogether, including the usual Trump acolytes: Josh Hawley, Ron Johnson, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Cindy Hyde-Smith to name a few. These Senators need to be kicked out of Congress, as their refusal to even pretend they care about the Constitution speaks volumes. To make matters worse, CNN reported that three chose to meet and conspire with Trump’s defense team: Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee. Wolf Blitzer asked Ben Cardin (D-MD) whether this meeting was something that “impartial jurors” should be doing, to which Cardin responded that they all took an oath to be impartial jurors, and meeting with defense counsel is not “impartial.” Apparently, Graham, Cruz, and Lee missed this oath. You cannot do that in a court of law, and they should not be doing it here. These are the very type of Republicans from whom the others desire to separate.
Even as Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman calls the principled conservatism group “losers” and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel calls for “unity” within the party, both are missing the point. They may be willing to embrace the looney arm of the party, but these Republicans are not. They believe their party is better off without them, and many agree. No one wants our government run by a bunch of conspiracy theorists who refuse to believe what is right in front of their eyes but would rather believe the online ramblings of some group that obviously knows nothing about the way the world works. If it hopes to survive, the Republican party must weed out those who support, propagate, and believe in nonsense.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years