The Trump-inspired civil war within the Republican Party is now fully underway
For the past year it’s been fairly obvious that Donald Trump, thanks to his toxic unpopularity and the fact that he’s on track for prison sentences in multiple states, is a liability for the Republican Party. Politically savvy right wingers have known this all along, but have been hoping to somehow avoid the inevitable scenario where they’d have to ditch Trump and he’d declare war on them accordingly.
Now the inevitable is happening. From the advancing January 6th Committee investigation, to the criminal probes in New York and Georgia, it’s about to become blindingly obvious to everyone that Trump is going down. Sure enough, Mike Pence – whose senior staff is already cooperating with the committee – has finally called out Trump for trying to overthrow the election. His audience, the far right Federalist Society, applauded him for it.
So now you have it. Right wing political entities who want to survive Trump’s downfall are now starting the process of carving out a position against him. Pence, who manages to simultaneously be an opportunist and a coward, will surely try to find a way to play both sides of this, somehow. But his speech today, and the reaction it received, are an indicator that right wingers know they have to cut Trump loose.
Now comes the fun part, so to speak. Donald Trump has spent the past year taking isolated pot shots at various Republicans for, in his view, being insufficiently loyal to him. This list has included the likes of Lisa Murkowski, and more recently, former Trump friend Lindsey Graham. This past week Trump began attacking Pence, and even calling for the January 6th Committee to investigate Pence. Now that Pence is making a point of pushing back, Trump’s attacks on Pence will become much more aggressive.
We all know that Trump makes a point of attempting to obtain dirt on his “friends” and “allies” so he can use it to make sure they remain his friends and allies. Now that Trump is going to do everything he can to take Pence’s legs out, just how much dirt will Trump put on the table? After all, Trump surely knows on some level that his life is ruined anyway, so there’s no reason for Trump not to put dirt out there even if it implicates himself and Pence.
Meanwhile, even as wannabe 2024 Republican presidential candidates like Mike Pence and national right wing political groups like the Federalist Society begin waging war with Trump, it’s going to get even more complicated. There are numerous House Republicans in far right districts who will benefit by remaining loyal to a sinking Trump, even as right wingers on the national level cut Trump loose. So we’re about to see a civil war play out between pro-Trump and anti-Trump Republicans, as they each selfishly take whatever position they think will benefit them the most personally. In other words, Republicans in total disarray.
