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Donald Trump emerged from his second impeachment trial almost completely politically intact. But amid widespread lamenting (or celebrations, depending on the speaker’s affiliation) over the former president’s control over the Republican party, some prominent voices suggested that a changing of the guard might still be necessary.
“Losing the bully’s pulpit makes a huge difference,” Texas Senator John Cornyn told Hill of Trump’s ouster from the White House and major social media platforms following the attack on the US Capitol.
“I believe that [we’re] He is already beginning to see that other aspiring successors are laying the groundwork. “
In a vote of 57 to 43, the Senate voted to convict Trump on the charge that he incited the mob’s assault on Capitol Hill on Jan.6. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats and independents in a verdict that would have prevented Trump from running again for office. But the vote did not pass the required two-thirds vote.
Only one Republican, Mitt Romney, defected in Trump’s first impeachment trial last year. But as Trump supporters ignored the strongest display of opposition within the party, so did Trump himself.
The former president will turn 78 in 2024 and has made no commitment to run again. But his post-acquittal statement anticipated the resumption of a more visible role in American politics in the coming months.
“Our historic, patriotic, and beautiful movement to make America great again has just begun,” Trump said. “In the coming months I have much to share with you and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it! “
In interviews on Sunday, Republicans who dared to turn against Trump were asked about the likely consequences of their votes.
In Louisiana, the state Republican party voted to censure Senator Bill Cassidy, who was warned by the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Caucus not to “expect a warm welcome when he returns home to Louisiana.”
Speaking to ABC’s This Week, Cassidy said: “I am trying to hold President Trump accountable and that is the trust I have from the people who elected me and I am very confident that as time goes on, people will move into that position. “.
Trump’s allies argued that it remains the center of the Republican universe.
“Donald Trump is the most vibrant member of the Republican Party,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, told Fox News on Sunday. “The Trump movement is alive and well.”
Jason Chaffetz, a former Utah congressman, framed the impeachment as a quixotic Democratic failure.
“I don’t think history treats this very well,” he told Fox. “It didn’t have the legitimacy that the Democrats expected. They didn’t really influence anyone. I think it was a complete waste of time and now the Democrats are 0 out of 2 and America wants to move on. “
At the same time, there are signs that unity remains elusive within Republican ranks. In an interview with Politico, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who criticized Trump after the impeachment but nonetheless voted for acquittal, indicated that he would enter the primaries in which a candidate backed for Trump seemed willing to win.
“My goal is, in every way possible, to have nominees who represent the Republican Party and who can win,” McConnell said. “Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing that matters to me is eligibility. “
McConnell added: “I’m not predicting that the president would support people who couldn’t win. But I think that eligibility, not who supports whom, is the critical point. “
Graham indicated how McConnell’s speech in the Senate had fallen among Trump supporters.
“Obviously it took a load off his chest,” he said, “but unfortunately it put a load on the Republicans’ back. You will see that speech in the 2022 campaigns.
“I imagine that if you are a Republican running in Arizona or Georgia, New Hampshire, where we have a chance to win back the Senate, they may be playing Senator McConnell’s speech and wondering about him as a candidate. And I imagine if you are an incumbent Republican, there will be people who will ask you, ‘Will he support Senator McConnell in the future?’ ”.
Trump’s close allies are running for top office in the upcoming midterm elections. In Arkansas, former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is running for the Republican nomination for governor. In North Carolina, Graham suggested, Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, could well run for Senate to replace Richard Burr, the retired senator who voted to convict Trump.
There is also talk that Ivanka Trump could run for Senate in Florida, challenging Marco Rubio.
Leading anti-Trump figures see the conflict in the future. Larry Hogan, the Maryland governor who is expected to run a presidential race in 2024, said anti-Trump sentiment will continue to grow.
“We are only a month away from the Biden administration,” Hogan told CNN’s State of the Union. “I think the final chapter of Donald Trump and the Republican Party has yet to be written.”
