As in 2016, a faction of the Republican Party emerged to try to defeat Donald Trump in the next presidential election.
But unlike the last presidential race, where the effort never really took off, this time, the Republican rebels have formed better-organized groups, with some even openly endorsing Trump’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
In 2016, as Trump made his way through the Republican primaries, some Republican lawmakers and agents attempted to mount an effort to stop him. Elected officials and veterans of previous Republican administrations organized letters, endorsed Hillary Clinton, and some organized outside groups to beat Trump.
That is happening again, but there are differences. Outside groups are more numerous and better organized, and most importantly, Trump has a record of government that Republicans can use to decide whether to support him or not.
“I think it is qualitatively different,” said Republican agent Tim Miller, co-founder of one of the leading anti-Trump organizations. “Many people who opposed [Trump] He did everything: ‘Oh, Hillary is also bad, and Trump is bad, and everyone can vote on his kind of thing.’
Miller said the 2016 effort was much more of a “smallpox in both houses” phenomenon than the “2020 organized effort to defeat it.”
The last prominent Republican anti-Trump organization made its debut in early July. He is a Super Pac called 43 Alumni for Biden, and he aims to bring together alumni of the George W. Bush administration to support the Democrat.
The new Super Pac was co-founded by Kristopher Purcell, a former Bush administration official; John Farner, who worked in the commerce department during the Bush administration; and Karen Kirksey, another longtime Republican agent. Kirksey is the director of Super Pac.
“We are really a grassroots organization. Our goal is to do everything possible to elect Joe Biden as president, “said Farner.
The Super Pac is still in its early stages and isn’t setting expectations to raise something like $ 20 million. By contrast, 43 Alumni for Biden focuses only on organizing.
“After seeing three and a half years of chaos and incompetence and division, many people have just been pressured to say, ‘We have to do something else,'” said Purcell. “We may not fully agree with the Democratic agenda, but this is a single issue choice. “Are you for Donald Trump or are you for the United States?”
43 Alumni for Biden is new compared to two other larger anti-Republican groups.
The best known is the Lincoln Project, a political action committee founded in 2019 by Republican strategists who have long criticized Trump.
The Lincoln Project has made a name for its creative anti-Trump ads. It has also attracted veteran Republican strategists like Stu Stevens, a top adviser to the 2012 presidential campaign for now-Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. George Conway, the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, is also a co-founder of the group.
Unlike other anti-Trump groups, the Lincoln Project has influenced Senate elections and has begun to endorse Senate candidates. He has endorsed Montana Governor Steve Bullock in his Senate bid against Republican Steve Daines.
Then there are the Republican voters against Trump, a group led by Bill Kristol, a well-known neo-conservative and former chief of staff to then Vice President Dan Quayle, and Republican consultants Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller.
That group is focused on organizing anti-Trump Republicans.
“Lincoln is doing two things really well. One is the narrative setting, and just hitting Trump in the head with forceful attacks, ”said Miller. “And they’re also working on Senate races, which we’re not doing. I think frankly, they are bringing the gavel and working on Senate races, and we are raising these peer voices to persuade voters. ”
A set of Republican national security officials also emerged in opposition to Trump.
That group has yet to give itself a name, and includes former Bush national security adviser Ken Wainstein and John Bellinger III, who served in the state department. The group seeks to alienate Trump’s national security officials, either by supporting Biden or by writing to someone else.
Even with the entire organization of these groups, there is still the lingering fact that swaths of former Republican officials and operatives methodically backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, and since then Trump has enjoyed skyrocketing approval ratings among the Republican party constituency.
But these groups say it was the result of Americans not yet experiencing a Trump presidency. They also say that the reason elected officials are not going to support Biden is because they are concerned about the pullback.
Colleen Graffey, part of the group of national security Republicans who opposes Trump, said the reason some elected Republican officials do not publicly oppose Trump is because they are afraid.
“They are concerned that they are going to be primary,” Graffey said. “They are concerned that they will be tweeted, if that may be an armed verb.”
When asked what his great fear was now, Farner said the Republicans are not going to vote at all.
“My fear is that they will not go out to vote. And we are here to say that it is fine. We’re also putting ourselves here, “said Farner. “It’s okay.”
.
