Why Some Republicans May Be Against President Donald Trump

Is the previously impenetrable wall of support that erected President Donald Trump starting to crack and crumble?

Throughout his four years in office, Trump has largely had unwavering support from his party.

But a week after the attack on Capitol Hill, a deep rift appears to be forming in the Republican Party, and some former staunch Trump allies appear to be distancing themselves.

Trump was indicted a second time on NZT Thursday, after 10 Republicans sided with Democrats and voted against the president for inciting the deadly riot in the US Capitol.

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During his first impeachment trial in 2019, the vast majority of the Republican Party supported him, and Trump was also acquitted by the Senate. Will it be the same this time?

University of Otago professor of international relations Robert Patman said there is a “deep divide”, and what we are seeing now is “a major collapse for the Republican Party.”

The party was “clearly divided” between pro-Trump elements and increasingly anti-Trump elements, he said.

Many Republicans supported Trump for perceiving a political advantage based on his power, “but with Trump increasingly isolated by bans on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and preparing to step down, his power appears to be visibly waning and some Republicans may believe it’s a good time to leave the Trump ship. “

Capitol riots are hard to defend

But why now? Patman said the insurrection on Capitol Hill is difficult for many Republicans to defend.

Some Republicans have explicitly held the president responsible for the events that led to the angry riots that caused five deaths on Capitol Hill.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, rallied the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” said Liz Cheney, the highest-ranking member of her party who voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment, in a release.

“There has never been a greater betrayal on the part of a president of the United States in charge and his oath to the constitution.”

Even Trump ally Kevin McCarthy, who is the House Republican leader and opposes impeachment, said the president is responsible for the scenes on Capitol Hill.

Drawing the line?

Then Trump faces impeachment in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict him. That might be unlikely: 17 Republicans would have to join all the Democrats in rendering a guilty verdict.

So far, only a small group of Republicans have indicated they will weigh the impeachment charge. These include Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, and Pat Toomey, as well as possibly Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.

Before Thursday’s vote, Murkowski of Alaska said of Trump: “I want him out. I want you to quit. It has done quite a bit of damage. “In a stinging statement, he later called Trump’s actions before the riots” illegal, “saying they warranted consequences.

Romney is already a vocal critic of Trump. He was the only Republican who voted to convict Trump when the House first impeached him.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has said he has not made a final decision on how he will vote in the Senate. According to the Associated Press (AP), McConnell has told people that he believes Trump perpetrated chargeable crimes.

A party strategist suggested McConnell saw the push to impeach Trump as an opportunity to distance the party from the tumultuous and divisive president as he heads for the door, the AP reported.

McConnell has said the chamber will not address the issue before Trump leaves office.

A deterrent for the future

The director of political science at the University of Canterbury, Professor Alex Tan, said the impeachment vote was a step towards restoring order and emphasized again the concept that no one is above the law.

More importantly, however, it is a deterrent against any future president who tries to pull off another seditious stunt like the one Trump did, Tan said.

If he convicts Trump, the Senate could hold another vote to bar him from holding federal office again.

If some Republican senator wanted in private to prevent Trump from running for his party in future elections, that might be one way to do it.

Many still support Trump

However, not all of Trump’s support has withered. Although 10 Republicans voted in favor of impeachment, the large number of Republicans in the House of Representatives, 197, voted against.

Many have lined up behind the argument that impeachment would be too divisive for the country. Although they have not defended Trump’s actions, they are trying not to acknowledge his role in the rhetoric that led to the assault on Capitol Hill.

Most Senate Republicans are also silent on what they think should happen to Trump. Some argue that impeachment is a bad idea.

Party member Young Kim has said she supports censorship of President Trump but is opposed to impeachment. “This would be a strong rebuke of his actions and rhetoric and would unite our country and our chamber, rather than divide them.” CNN she reported saying.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who halted his support for Trump after the riots, argues that impeachment would only further inflame a dangerously divided nation. the New York Times reported.

“I think letting the president cook in his own juices is probably the right way to do it,” he said. The Washington Post. “The prosecution is going to rekindle the problem. It will do more harm than good, and I hope people on our side see it that way. “

Other prominent Republican figures like Ted Cruz also continue to strongly support Trump and continue to support the president’s “fantasy” that the election had been stolen, Patman said.

Clearly, there are risks for Republicans who oppose Trump. Cheney, for example, has received calls to resign after harsh criticism.

According to the New York Times, a petition circulates privately among Republicans saying Cheney’s vote to impeach the president had “discredited the conference and produced discord.”

In an interview in Fox NewsRepublican Matt Gaetz said “One of those 10 cannot be our leader,” referring to the group of those who voted to impeach Trump. “It’s unsustainable, unsustainable and we need to make a leadership change.”

Bloomberg reports there is a fear that opposing Trump may invite a primary challenge, when a member of his own political party challenges a sitting elected official in an upcoming primary election.

Trump has already threatened to contest the primaries against various Republican officials who broke with him or who acknowledged Biden’s election victory.

Support in the streets

Many Republicans will now be scrambling to try to determine what the political consequences are of breaking with Trump after four years of loyalty, and whether or not there is a higher price to pay for not doing so.

“What we are going to see now is a real battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and as that battle continues, I don’t think they can be an effective force until their identity is resolved,” Patman said.

As for regular Trump supporters, he retains a devoted following, Patman said. Although he admits that the events of the past week “may have shaken” some of that support.

A survey of Five thirty eight shows that 42 percent of Americans don’t want Trump to be impeached. Among Republicans, only 15 percent say they want to be removed from office, The conversation reported.

The White House’s chief political adviser, Jason Miller, said this week that grassroots and grassroots support for Trump is strong. “That is really what matters. Washington is a very fickle city, and President Trump has never wagered his strength on being in the nation’s capital. He has always dated real people, ”he told reporters in a memo.

Miller also argued that those who voted to impeach Trump would pay a political price.

Patman said we shouldn’t underestimate the potential for more violence, especially among supporters of the far right. The FBI has been warning of plans for armed protests in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

“It is a potentially dangerous situation from a political point of view in the United States at the moment. It is not a good situation for an incoming administration, ”he said.

The crisis gripping the United States is “far from over,” he said.