Trump Plans New Super PAC, Setting His Sights On 2022 Elections

Former President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is planning to form a super PAC as part of his post-presidential footprint into Republican Party politics.

Trump confidante and advisor Corey Lewandowski has been named to head up the super PAC, which is still in the planning stages as we head into CPAC weekend.

Trump political team member, senior advisor Jason Miller, said, “MAGA supporters and candidates supporting President Trump’s America First agenda are going to be impressed with the political operation being built out here. We expect formal announcements of the full team in the coming weeks, which will include some very talented operatives not yet named.”

Forming A Trump Super PAC Plan

According to a report by Politico, the meeting took place on Thursday at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

In addition to Lewandowski and Miller, the meeting’s attendees included former Trump Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, former deputy Campaign Manger Justin Clark, former Campaign Manager Brad Parscale, former White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino, and attorney Alex Cannon.

Donald Trump already has a leadership PAC called “Save America,” which was last reported to have roughly $31 million in the bank. While there are limits to how much a regular PAC can raise, super PACS are not limited on how much money can be raised for a particular cause.  

In the short amount of time since Donald Trump left the White House, it has become very apparent that he will play a huge role in shaping the future of the Republican Party.

This development is much to the chagrin of people like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Mitt Romney, and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), all of whom have been harsh critics of Trump.

RELATED: Mitch McConnell Says He Would Back Trump In 2024 If He Wins GOP Nomination

A Trump endorsement is likely to be coveted by many 2022 GOP candidates.

Some of these coveted endorsements could fall to the primary challengers to seven of the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.

Of course, Trump has already begun handing out endorsements for 2022.

So far the former President has endorsed his former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has announced a run for Governor in Arkansas, and Sen. Jerry Moran’s reelection bid in Kansas. 

RELATED: Report: Squad Extremists Aggressively Trying To Eliminate Establishment Democrats

Trump To Give Major Speech At CPAC

In his first major appearance since leaving office, Donald Trump is scheduled to give the keynote address this coming Sunday in Orlando at CPAC, the large yearly gathering of conservatives.

Many expect that Trump will lay out his political vision and plans going forward for not just 2022, but possibly 2024 as well.

According to Fox News, the former president intends to address issues such as immigration, jobs, and energy during his CPAC keynote.

It’s no surprise that Trump intends to tackle immigration after President Joe Biden hastily halted building of the wall on America’s southern border.

Jobs and energy are also on the agenda in light of Biden’s EO halting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project which has cost people their jobs, a good many of them being union jobs.

CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp told “Fox & Friends” Thursday of Trump, “He knows it’s a very important reset for him and for the country and for half the country and so many people who are here in this ballroom.”

RELATED: Trump vs. DeSantis: 2024 Clash Of Heavyweights Starts Early 

Trump Ready To Move The Republican Party Forward

The Politico report goes on to say that Trump told his advisers that he is eager to “engage” in the outcome of the 2022 elections.

Said engagement reportedly includes plans to “exact revenge” on those that the former president feels were not loyal to him.

This could include House Republicans who voted to impeach, and possibly Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who Politico says Trump criticized for not “overturning the election.”

The new super PAC could serve as a conduit for Trump to raise funds and funnel them to his favored candidate in key 2022 races.

Trump has also recently met with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, and former Senator David Perdue of Georgia.

However, it is not known if he intends to meet with any other possible presidential candidates who are attending CPAC including Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota. 

According to a report from “Morning Consult,” 59% of GOP voters say Trump should play a “major role” in the Republican Party going forward.

To the disappointment of the GOP establishment, that might be all he needs.

The post Trump Plans New Super PAC, Setting His Sights On 2022 Elections appeared first on The Political Insider.

‘It’s really bad news for Republicans’: Continued GOP defections could upend party primaries

The great GOP exodus continues in some of the very states that will prove most critical in the battle for control of Congress in the midterms. In Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that some 19,000 voters have left the Republican Party since Donald Trump's Jan. 6 siege at the Capitol. And while that represents a tiny slice of the state's 8.8 million registered voters, the number of voters who have left the GOP accounts for about two-thirds, or 64%, of overall defections—up from a third or less in typical years, according to the Inquirer.

The data on exactly who is leaving the GOP—pro-Trumpers or never-Trumpers—are still a little murky. Based on interviews, the Inquirer concludes that the defections are fueled more by a swath of older, formerly loyal and highly engaged Republicans who have been turned off by Trump's takeover of the party. 

"Former Republicans interviewed largely were united in why they left," writes the outlet, "They saw it as a protest against a party that questioned the legitimacy of their votes and the culmination of long-simmering frustration with Trump and his supporters, who now largely control the GOP."

Lifelong Republican Diane Tyson, 68, renewed her license at the DMV on Jan. 5 and opted to wait until after the pro-Trump Jan. 6 rally in Washington before deciding whether to change her party affiliation. The attack that unfolded along with her watching her congressman vote to nullify the Keystone State's election results sealed the deal. Tyson officially became an independent on Jan. 7.  

“I knew I could not be a Republican anymore,” she said. “I just can’t—it’s not who I am. The Republican Party has gone down a deep hole that I want no part of. I don’t want an ‘R’ after my name.”

Similarly, 70-year-old Tom Mack, who has been a Republican since the late 1970s, offered, "It’s not the Republican Party I know. ... It’s drifted far away from my beliefs."

If the Inquirer is right about about the demographics of the GOP defectors and the trend holds, the Republican Party could end up saddled with a slew of right-wing primary winners heading into the 2022 general election contests. The party will also be losing some of its most active and loyal voting base—the people who are more likely to turn out in off-year elections and non-presidential cycles. 

The whole cocktail will make it that much harder for Republican candidates who prevail in the primaries to muster the votes to beat Democrats in the midterms. “If these voters are leaving the party permanently, it’s really bad news for Republicans,” Morris Fiorina, a political scientist at Stanford University, told Reuters.

Reuters homed in on GOP defections in the three battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina and found that roughly three times more Republicans as Democrats had left their party in recent weeks. In all three states, the outlet also noted that defections were concentrated in the urban and suburban areas surrounding big cities—areas where sagging GOP support for Trump helped deliver the presidency to Joe Biden.

Based on interviews, Reuters also concluded that Trump was the main catalyst fueling the exodus, though some party switchers did say they don’t believe the Republican Party was supportive enough of Trump. 

But the sentiment of Nassau County Floridian Diana Hepner, 76, suggests that Republican Party leaders really blew their opportunity to pivot away from Trump following the election and reestablish itself as something beyond a cult of personality.

“I hung in there with the Republican Party thinking we could get past the elements Trump brought,” Hepner said. “Jan. 6 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Now Hepner is hoping to be a "centrist influence" on the nominating contests in the Democratic Party. 

Political observers generally agree about the inflated rate of GOP defections, what remains to be seen is whether the trend continues and how it affects the contours of the nominating contests that are already taking shape.

In North Carolina, for instance, the GOP saw a slight uptick in party affiliations following Trump's acquittal, a reversal after weeks of declining registrations following the lethal Jan. 6 riot. There’s still a lot of time between now and next year, but the Jan. 6 riot does appear to be an inflection point. And despite Trump’s acquittal, the impeachment trial really gave Democrats an opportunity to reinforce for voters Trump’s culpability for the murderous assault on the Capitol.

Last week, following the vote to acquit Trump, there was a slight increase in weekly NC Republican Party registration changes, reversing the downward trend pic.twitter.com/ufrBnwuYOj

— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) February 21, 2021

Don’t look now, but GOP already in disarray over Senate battleground races

With any luck, Donald Trump will apply the very same kiss of death he did in the Georgia Senate runoffs to at least a half dozen 2022 races that stand to decide the fate of the Senate.

In fact, we are already seeing Trump's toxic sludge begin to seep into those races in critical states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, swing states with open seats that are potentially fertile ground for Democratic pick ups.

In Pennsylvania, the vote of retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey to convict Trump has already pitted county parties against Republican moderates like former Rep. Ryan Costello, who is eyeing a bid to replace Toomey. In saner times for the GOP, Costello might be the type of statewide candidate with crossover appeal that the Mitch McConnell wing of the party would champion. 

But Costello has made the fatal error of defending Toomey's vote against Trump. "Former Trump aides, in turn, are making plans to torpedo Costello before he announces a campaign," writes Politico.

Cue Trump-pardoned grifter Steve Bannon. "Any candidate who wants to win in Pennsylvania in 2022 must be full Trump MAGA," Bannon, a former member of the most corrupt White House cabal in American history, told Politico. Bannon also called Costello a "sellout to the globalists" in a separate statement.

Costello had the temerity to claim the rush to censure to Toomey will "hurt Republican candidates," and he even called a censure resolution drafted by his home county, Chester County Republicans, "staggeringly dumb."

The statement of one GOP county official that went viral really summed up the Trump loyalty test and why the inanity of his cultists is anathema to any reasonable voter. “We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing, whatever he said he was doing,” Washington County Republican chair Dave Ball told Pittsburgh television station KDKA Monday. “We sent him there to represent us, and we feel very strongly that he did not represent us.” 

Of course, Toomey represents nearly 13 million constituents and a majority of Keystone State voters rejected Trump at the ballot box last November.

As Trump advisers promise to take aim at Costello, the former congressman dismissed the effort. “They can say whatever they’d like, it won’t bother me,” he said. “It might help my fundraising, to be honest with you.” Costello has also dissed "Sloppy Steve" Bannon's broadside because "he's forever indebted for his pardon."

So Pennsylvania is off to a rousing start, but North Carolina isn't any less intriguing. Similar to Toomey, the state's retiring GOP senator, Richard Burr, voted to convict Trump. But Burr is vacating his seat under the cloud of a trading scandal in which he dumped a bunch of stock just before the pandemic tanked the market. While Trump lost Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes, he narrowly won North Carolina by roughly 74,000 votes.

But Burr's conviction vote forced state Republicans to choose sides with nearly all of them lining up behind Trump. According to CNN, the state party censured Burr, he was banned from at least one county GOP headquarters, and every Republican eyeing his seat took Trump's side. So much for moderation—whoever wins that primary will almost surely be the most Trumpy of the bunch. And certainly the prospect of Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump potentially entering the race is already pushing the GOP primary to extremes.

The problem isn't lost on GOP strategists in the state, who fear Trump's brand took a big hit in the aftermath of Capitol insurrection. But they also aren't speaking openly about it. "They're all making a play for the primary," one state Republican strategist told CNN anonymously. "But my worry is that we're going to lose the seat because we get the Trumpiest guy of the bunch."

On the flip side of the equation, Trump's influence already has Republican strategists fretting he could doom their chances in potential pick-up races. In particular, they fear Trump's tinfoil hat loyalists such as Arizona GOP party chair Kelli Ward and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene could kill whatever chances they have to defeat Democratic incumbent Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.  

These races and more are likely to offer a bevy of Trump-inspired surprises for Republicans throughout the 2022 cycle. 

‘I don’t want to eat our own’: Senate Republicans fret over Trump-McConnell schism ahead of 2022

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell first saw Donald Trump's pointed screed skewering him as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack,” he laughed, according to CNN

That's certainly the image McConnell's allies want to project, as they assure reporters in multiple stories the the Minority Leader is moving on from Trump, likely won't ever speak to him again, and remains laser-focused on one thing only: retaking control of the Senate in 2022. In essence, Trump is riffraff and canny McConnell doesn't have time for it.

What is undoubtedly true in all that projection is the fact that McConnell's every waking moment is devoted to reclaiming power over the upper chamber. Power is everything to McConnell and it's only fitting that it's the legacy issue he cares about most. "Mr. McConnell needs to be returned to his top role after the 2022 elections to become the longest-serving Senate leader in history in 2023, a goal the legacy-minded Kentuckian would no doubt like to achieve," writes The New York Times. The Times also reports that one GOP senator said McConnell might have triggered a rebellion if he had voted to convict—which is exactly why he didn't. But think about that—McConnell, worshipper of raw power, didn't have the political juice to lead his caucus and so he once again fumbled the opportunity to navigate a way out of Trump's wilderness. 

Whatever McConnell wants everyone to believe about his cool, cunning strategery, 42 members of his caucus voted to acquit Trump and several of them are openly losing their minds about the Trump-McConnell schism. 

Trump's chief sycophant, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, is beside himself trying to find enough adjectives to convey how invaluable Dear not-Leader remains to the party. Since the acquittal vote, Graham has cast Trump as the most "vibrant," "consequential," and "potent force" of the Republican party in various interviews. Oh, and don't forget, daughter-in-law Lara Trump is "the future of the Republican Party." (Talk about single-handedly killing your own credibility.)

Anyway, Graham fretted about the internecine warfare Tuesday on Fox News, saying, “I’m more worried about 2022 than I’ve ever been ... I don’t want to eat our own.” Graham said that if McConnell didn't understand how essential Trump is, "he's missing a lot."

Trump ally Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has been a little more menacing in his denunciations of McConnell. “I think he needs to be a little careful," Johnson said in a radio interview earlier this week on The Ross Kaminsky Show. "When the leader of the Senate conference speaks, he has to understand what he says reflects on all of us. And I didn’t appreciate his comments, let’s put it that way.”

Johnson told the Times that McConnell could kill GOP chances with pro-Trump voters. “You are not going to be able to have them on your side if you are ripping the person they have a great deal of sympathy for in what he has done for this country and the personal toll President Trump has shouldered,” he said.

Poor Trump. The murderous riot he inspired has really taken a toll on him and his cultists. 

But Johnson isn't wrong about the Trump-McConnell feud being a vote killer—he's just over-representing one side of it. Sure, pro-Trumpers have already proven they're not particularly jazzed about turning out in support of Senate Republicans if Trump isn't on the ticket. But on the other side of the equation, a whole bunch of once-dedicated GOP voters are abandoning the party over Trump's post-election rampage against a free and fair contest that he quite simply lost. Trump's months-long campaign to overturn those results, underwritten by the vast majority of congressional Republicans, has done incalculable damage to the party.

So however steely McConnell's resolve, Trump is still the noxious blow torch McConnell has repeatedly failed to neutralize. 

Trump is back, he’s rabid as ever, and the GOP is sure to be collateral damage

Fresh off his Senate GOP acquittal, Donald Trump reinserted himself into the national political arena with none other than a 625-word screed lashing out at GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack." 

Credit where credit's due—the assessment isn't entirely off the mark. But it was the second portion of that sentence that cued up the 2022 fight to the death between Trump and McConnell. "If Republican Senators are going to stay with him," Trump said of McConnell, "they will not win again." He also accused McConnell of getting played “like a fiddle” by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and declared McConnell’s “Beltway First agenda” a loser compared to his own America First agenda. Trump’s broadside was entirely predictable after McConnell tried to absolve his own acquittal vote by declaring Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the lethal Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

Overall, Trump's statement, issued through the pro-Trump PAC Save America, was a lesson in revisionist history. He took credit for the victories of House GOP candidates last November despite the fact that a decisive number of ticket-splitting voters rejected him personally at the ballot box. He 100% scapegoated McConnell and Georgia's GOP officials for the Senate runoff losses in which Trump helped thoroughly muddle the message of the GOP senators. And he claimed credit for McConnell's own reelection, writing, "Without my endorsement, McConnell would have lost, and lost badly." Oh, Trump also generously threw in a non sequitur about McConnell's "substantial Chinese business holdings," a swipe at both McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao, who has family business ties to China and resigned from Trump's Cabinet following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But the lasting impact of Trump's first opportunity to refill the political air with his noxious fumes was his declaration of war on whatever is left of the McConnell wing of the party (frankly, not much, which I plan to write about over the weekend).

"I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First," Trump pledged. In other words, the price of admission in Trump's tent is ultimate loyalty—the surest way to boost the party's most dismal sycophants to any number of Republican primary victories.  

McConnell, on the other hand, has been perfectly clear that his sole criteria for candidates is their ability win a general election. “I personally don’t care what kind of Republican they are, what kind of lane they consider themselves in,” McConnell told The Wall Street Journal. “What I care about is electability.” McConnell added, "That may or may not involve trying to affect the outcome of the primaries.”

But the 2022 Senate map virtually ensures that Trump and McConnell are on a collision course. A total of 34 seats are up in 2022, 20 of which are held by the GOP. With key races for control of the chamber taking place in swingy states like Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, McConnell will almost surely favor different candidates than Trump for some of those races. And even in races where they manage to agree, Trump's massive overcompensation for his flagging ego all but guarantees he'll manage to muck up the message for Republican candidates—witness Georgia.

McConnell declined to issue a response to Trump’s outburst, but he deployed his braintrust of former aides to channel his inner monologue. 

“It seems an odd choice for someone who claims they want to lead the G.O.P. to attack a man who has been unanimously elected to lead Senate Republicans a history-making eight times,” Billy Piper, a former McConnell aide, told The New York Times. “But we have come to expect these temper tantrums when he feels threatened — just ask any of his former chiefs of staff or even his vice president.”

It’s on.

Trump Returns To Public Spotlight, Delivers Blistering Statement On ‘Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell

Donald Trump jumped back into the public eye on Tuesday night to draw a line in the sand between himself and the Republican establishment, delivering a statement absolutely ravaging Mitch McConnell as “a dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack.”

Trump lashed out at the Senate Minority Leader for the party’s loss of the majority, attacked him for being weak on China, and threatened to campaign for his own “America First” candidates in primaries if they are not backed by the GOP.

“The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm,” the statement reads.

“McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse.”

Trump’s message, delivered by the Save America PAC, went on to suggest McConnell “doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.”

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” the former President warned. “He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country.”

RELATED: Polls: Majority Of Republicans Want Trump In 2024, Prefer He Play Big Role In GOP’s Future

Trump Eviscerates Mitch McConnell

If you can believe it, one report indicates aides to former President Trump had to tone down the blistering statement against Mitch McConnell.

“There was also a lot of repetitive stuff and definitely something about him having too many chins but not enough smarts,” a source told Politico.

The statement comes as McConnell has been incredibly vocal of his disdain for Trump and his alleged role in the Capitol riot, despite his vote to acquit him at the Senate impeachment trial.

McConnell practically provided a roadmap for Democrats who are now suing the former President.

“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation,” the Kentucky Republican said adding Trump “didn’t get away with anything, yet.”

RELATED: Dem Congressman Files Lawsuit Against Trump For His Alleged Role In Capitol Riot

America First vs. America Last

Mitch McConnell has warned that he will not support Trump-backed candidates such as Kelli Ward in Arizona and the former President’s daughter-in-law Lara in North Carolina.

“My goal is, in every way possible, to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win in November,” McConnell told Politico.

“Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing I care about is electability.”

Judging by the lack of performance by Republicans in Congress, McConnell isn’t lying that ‘electability’ is the only thing he cares about.

Donald Trump certainly has the backing of Republican voters over Mitch McConnell, and thus likely the political clout for his “America First” candidates to have success.

A pair of polls from earlier this week indicate a vast majority of GOP voters want to see Trump play a big role in the future of the party, including running again in 2024.

“Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First,” Trump’s statement reads.

“We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”

It’s clear Trump doesn’t think McConnell fits that description any longer.

The post Trump Returns To Public Spotlight, Delivers Blistering Statement On ‘Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell appeared first on The Political Insider.

Hey guys, (some) Republicans want you to forget that they’re Trump toadies

Senate Republicans, like almost all Republicans, stood strongly with Donald Trump through four years of chaos, incompetence, malice, and mayhem. They stood with him as he promoted his Big Lie, that he hadn’t lost decisively to an American electorate sick of his bullshit. They stood with him during certification of the vote, not just those who challenged the Arizona and Pennsylvania votes, but those who stayed quiet and refused to criticize their colleagues’ efforts to undermine democracy. And with seven notable exceptions, they stood by him during the impeachment vote by refusing to hold Trump accountable for his unprecedented efforts to destroy American democracy. 

Now they want you to think that they really don’t stand with Trump, you know, just because. 

There are only seven Senate Republicans with any credibility left on the matter of democracy—Richard Burr (NC), Bill Cassidy (LA), Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (UT), Ben Sasse (NE), and Pat Toomey (PA). Every single other Republican can go to hell, having destroyed the United State’s credibility on matters of human rights, democracy, and the right of self-determination. Why should the military coup leaders in Myanmar give two shits what Mitch McConnell has to say about their undemocratic power grab? He literally just gave Donald Trump a pass on the same kind of effort, here at home. 

Trump literally tried to get Vice President Mike Pence killed, and 43 Republicans didn’t give a shit. 

Oh, many are talking a good game. 

McConnell himself tried to have it both ways, pretty much hoping the criminal justice system does to Trump what he himself was too afraid or feckless to do. With an eye to nervous corporate PACs, wary of giving money to insurrectionists, he all but begged them to come back to the GOP’s embrace, without doing anything to actually address those concerns. 

Trump’s literal strategy was to try and throw out the votes of predominantly Black voters in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Detroit. And McConnell, given the chance to do something about it, merely shrugged, while his Senate committee sent out “stand with Trump” fundraising emails. 

As Senate GOP leader McConnell blasts Trump but uses constitutional excuse to vote to acquit, his NRSC issues fundraising email to “stand with Trump against impeachment.”

— Rick Pearson (@rap30) February 13, 2021

Other Senate Republicans are equally eager to put Trump and the damage he creates in his wake behind them. “Senate Republicans are warning that they no longer view former President Trump as the leader of the party amid growing signs that they are ready to turn the page after a chaotic four years,” says the lede of a Hill piece on those efforts, as I almost died of laughter. North Dakota’s Kevin Cramer, who was too cowardly to hold Trump accountable for trying to murder his Vice President, said, “Now, as you can tell, there’s some support that will never leave. But I think that there’s a shrinking population and it probably shrinks a little bit after this week.” South Dakota’s John Thune claimed that the vote was “absolutely not” an endorsement of Trump’s actions, except it was exactly that. 

You’d think that Republicans would be concerned about their political peril. Under Trump, Republicans lost the House, the Senate, and the White House. In fact, Trump was only the third president in the last 100 years to lose reelection. They lost ground among people of color (in absolute numbers, even if as a percentage, they may have made some gains). They lost ground among young voters. They lost ground among suburban college-educated women. 

Their most substantial gains? Old white rural men, a constituency that is literally dying off. 

Smart Republicans might look at that damage and think, “on the one hand, he tried to get his Vice President murdered, launched an insurrection against our country, and damaged out international standing, and we’re okay with that, but hell, do we want to keep losing elections?” It’s not as if they’re blind to the damage, as Indiana’s Kevin Cramer said, “I am more concerned about how we rebuild the party in a way that brings in more people to it.”

But really, their strategy, for the most part, really appears to be “let’s pretend Trump doesn’t exist.” Texas’ John Cornyn said, “We won’t keep talking about his tweets or what he did or did not do.” Ha ha ha as if they ever talked about his tweets. It was uncanny how Republicans never ever saw his tweets! 

Meanwhile, too many Republicans still think they can win over Trump’s base in a 2024 presidential bid, like the Senate’s biggest opportunist, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham. “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asserted on Sunday that twice-impeached former President Donald Trump was the face of the Republican Party, declaring that “Trump-plus” was the best path forward for the GOP. At the same time, he insisted that Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara was the “future of the Republican Party,” reported the Daily Beast, on his appearance on Fox’s Sunday show. Too many Republicans will trip themselves to be the biggest Trump cheerleaders, when Trump will only ever enthusiastically support someone from his own tribe, and her name is “Ivanka.” 

Undoubtedly, Trump’s deplatforming has dramatically reduced his influence, but it’s only a matter of time before he lands on one of the right’s many platforms, whether it’s Gab, OANN, or Parler, if it ever resuscitates. And then, it doesn’t matter if Trump is speaking to the mainstream as long as he reaches the true believers. He doesn’t have to control the party to severely damage it.

Now to be clear, there’s no way Trump launches a viable third party to challenge the GQP. No freakin’ way. We’ve seen the crowd that surrounds Trump. He doesn’t exactly attract top talent. He’s the guy who bankrupted a casino, a business that literally mints its own money. What’s he going to do, put Steve Bannon in charge? Jared Kushner? We’d witness the biggest grift in political history, which might be great for Trump and his cronies, but wouldn’t be particularly effective in winning significant support. 

Ultimately, it’s much easier to take over the existing party, which is where Republicans stand today—swarmed by the MAGA/Q believers they so avidly cultivated with fear-based racist appeals. I don’t think anyone doubts that Trump would be convicted by the Senate in a secret vote. The fact that Republicans couldn’t publicly pull the trigger is all the evidence you need that the Republican Party hasn’t moved past Trump or his supporters. They remain held in thrall by them. 

In the short- and mid-term, it’s important we hold corporations accountable for any donations to the Republican Party. They made the right move to cut off that flow of money, and McConnell did nothing to mitigate their concerns. And of course, we need to make sure our side remains engaged and active, to punish Republicans in 2022. History says we’ll lose Congress, but history isn’t always right. It wasn’t in 2002 when George W. Bush won seats in his first mid-term, in the wake of 9-11. January 6 should have as much cultural and political resonance, if not more, than 9-11. Saudi terrorists never threatened our Constitution or democracy. My own fury remains unabated. 

So yeah, good luck GQP trying to pretend that they can move on and pretend Trump is irrelevant, and that their own actions enabling him to the very end should be shrugged off. No one is ready to move on. 

A whole bunch of reactions to the Senate impeachment vote

Anger. Rage. Disgust. That is the vibe after 43 cowards and zealots within the Party of Trump opted not to convict their Dear Leader for inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6 in his historical second impeachment. Seven Republicans—a record-breaking 14% of the caucus—did vote “Guilty,” but it wasn’t enough to protect the nation from four more years of Trump rallies full of emboldened devotees. 

Minutes after the verdict was read, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who vowed to acquit ahead of the last day of the trial, had the rotten gall to state that Trump was absolutely guilty, but couldn’t be convicted due an extremely questionable “process” technicality of the Kentucky Republican’s own creation. 

Senate Republicans acquitted Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors twice. So make them pay: Donate $1 right now to each of the Democratic nominee funds targeting vulnerable Senate Republicans in 2022.

How predictable this outcome may have been doesn’t temper the horror that Americans and our allies feel today. We can rage together.

The 43 (complete list here) will not be remembered fondly.   

To quote a friend, “Today tells me that there are 43 Republicans and 57 Americans in the US Senate.”

— Laura Anne Gilman (@LAGilman) February 13, 2021

Officer Goodman risked his life. The 43 wouldn't risk criticism from Fox News.

— Kurt "Masks Save Lives" Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) February 13, 2021

The precedent set is of concern.

43 Senate Republicans have endorsed the idea that a president can do anything in his last month in office, without facing any consequences. It is hard to overstate what a dangerous precedent this is.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 13, 2021

Today, the Senate minority was large enough to establish a precedent that presidents may send hordes of raving followers to attack the Capitol building and commit murder in an effort to overthrow the outcome of a valid national election.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) February 13, 2021

Acquittal is not only approval of Trump’s effort to overturn the election and install himself in power, it is an invitation for him or someone else to do try it again.

— Adam Serwer 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) February 13, 2021

The cowardice of the GOP is palpable.

If Trump had incited two white nationalist insurrections, would that have been enough for Republicans to find their spine? What about four? Seven? What’s the number here?

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) February 13, 2021

43 cowards put one man and their own political ambition ahead of the Constitution, the rule of law, and our democracy. Apparently, for them, there is no depravity too low.

— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) February 13, 2021

It’s remarkable that so few Republicans put their country first.

It is truly sad and dangerous that only 7 Republicans voted to convict a president who is promoting a Big Lie, conspiracy theories and violence, and is aggressively trying to destroy American democracy.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 13, 2021

But some did step up and do what was right. Remember, Sen. Mitt Romney was the first, in the first Trump impeachment, to vote to impeach a president of his own party. So the seven also matter.

Thank you,@MittRomney@SenatorBurr@lisamurkowski@SenatorCollins@SenBillCassidy@BenSasse@SenToomey History will remember u as courageous patriots who put country first. The other 43 Republicans, were a rigged jury, an embarrassment to the country. History will not forget. pic.twitter.com/mMOfisui3G

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) February 13, 2021

This trial proved Trump’s high crimes against the Constitution. 43 senators put Trump first and failed the test of history. But history was also made with the largest bipartisan majority ever voting to convict a president. The rest of the story is ours to write.

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) February 13, 2021

Donald Trump incited a mob of domestic terrorists to attack our Capitol and overturn the election. Even 7 Senate Republicans couldn’t stomach his act of insurrection. Our democracy must be stronger than the former president and the 43 senators who sided with him today.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 13, 2021

Unfortunately, they’re the minority within their own party.

Well that was a waste of time. Let’s get back to work.

— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) February 13, 2021

House Managers did an amazing job proving Trump’s guilt. Republicans did an amazing job proving that they don’t care.

— Irishrygirl (@irishrygirl) February 13, 2021

Republicans have a great gig in that they can just refuse to take governing seriously and gum up the works and everyone blames Democrats for it.

— Joshua Holland (@JoshuaHol) February 13, 2021

How can the Democrats ever work with these obstructionist cowards who answer to one man?

5 years ago—Republican Senators warned what would become of their party if Trump became their nominee. 5 years later—Trump tried to overturn the results of an election and provoked an assault on our government. And well over half of Senate Republicans decided to condone it.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 13, 2021

Republicans: If you call witnesses we'll obstruct congress, you'll never get anything done. Democrats: Fine. No witnesses. You win. R: D: R: Just kidding. We're going to obstruct congress anyway and you'll never get anything done! Ha hah! Owned! D: Rats!

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) February 13, 2021

The demands to kill the filibuster might never be louder than they are now.

The danger of having Republicans in government is obvious.

— Secret Agent Number Six (@DesignationSix) February 13, 2021

Even an armed insurrection isn’t enough to persuade 10 Republicans to seek bipartisanship so nuke the filibuster and let’s get to work.

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) February 13, 2021

If 7 Republicans is the most that will vote to convict a man who incited a mob that threatened their very lives — where the hell do people think 10 GOP votes are going to come from for anything in Biden’s agenda? We must abolish the filibuster. There is no other path forward.

— Kai Newkirk (@kai_newkirk) February 13, 2021

To: President Joseph Biden From: Every American who saw what the GOP did today Forget unity. Forget bipartisanship. Forget compromise. This is Trump's mob. Eliminate the filibuster and get everything America needs done now.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 13, 2021

Beyond the filibuster, folks are looking forward.

Republicans have ZERO conscience. Remember in 2022. Pass it on.

— Chip Franklin InsideTheBeltway.com (@chipfranklin) February 13, 2021

The big winner from the impeachment is Biden. In 3 days he has divided the Republicans, destroyed Mitch McConnell & accrued huge moral authority The failure to convict will be an albatross around the Republicans’ neck. Not least because Trump isn’t gone

— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) February 13, 2021

Ppl saying this are overlooking how Republicans are already at work to prevent next election. Y’all think you’re going to defeat them electorally because Americans are outraged but they’re not trying to win electorally. It’s going to be a raw power grab w/ more political violence https://t.co/THxRNPIejT

— Unite in justice for the poor & oppressed (@BreeNewsome) February 13, 2021

Okay, the Senate trial is over. Republicans are traitors. Time for law and order to take over. DOJ, SDNY, DC and NDVA...whatcha got??? Bring it NOW!

— Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) February 13, 2021

Then there was the limerick.

Republicans, making their pick, Concluded acquitting him quick. They have no dispute; They kneel at his boot; They want to continue to lick.

— Limericking (@Limericking) February 13, 2021

Feel free to share reactions that resonate with you in the comments, or even your own tweets.

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Dick Morris: Liz Cheney ‘Has A Snowball’s Chance In Hell’ At Getting Re-Elected

Former Clinton campaign adviser and popular political prognosticator Dick Morris recently said that Congresswoman Liz Cheney will lose her re-election campaign in 2022 in the GOP primary due to her decision to impeach former President Donald Trump.

Morris also said allowing Cheney to remain in Republican leadership shows how out of touch party’s leaders are with their base.

RELATED: Newt Gingrich Predicts Democrats Will Throw Away Congress ‘Once Again’ With ‘Radical’ Budget Agenda

Morris: ‘Liz Cheney Is A Gone Goose’

“She has snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected,” Morris recently told Newsmax

“Her favorability is down to 13% and she loses the projected primary by 3-1 or 4-1,” Morris said. “Wyoming went 70% for Trump.”

“And Liz Cheney is a gone goose,” he added.

Morris explained how Republicans leaders don’t understand where the rank and file base is right now.

Morris said, “And it’s ridiculous, and shows how out of touch Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership is with the voters of the Republican Party, that he and Scalise worked overtime to round up votes for this…traitor, who voted to impeach Donald Trump.”

“The voters of her state, Wyoming, her state,” Morris insisted “will not be so forgiving.”

Cheney was censured last week by the Wyoming Republican Party for being among the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump.

Previous to that state-wide Party vote, many of Wyoming’s County Republican parties also voted to censure her.

Morris: ‘She’s Part Of Republican Royalty Because Of Her Father’

“While she did win the vote in the House because it was basically set up by the leadership and she’s kind of inherited royalty among Republicans,” Morris noted.

Morris did stated a glaring fact about Cheney’s current popularity back home.

“But, in fact, there’s some polling in Wyoming [that suggests that] she has a 13% job approval among Republicans,” Morris said.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is currently the third highest-ranking position in the House GOP.

“She shouldn’t be [Wyoming’s] congressman in any case,” Morris said. “But she’s part of Republican royalty because of her father and they don’t want to move against her.”

“But the voters have their own minds,” Morris reminded.

RELATED: Trump Voices Support For Lou Dobbs After Fox Cancels His Show – ‘Nobody Loves America More’

Morris then explained how Republican leaders are probably mis-analyzing their own voters.

“The word ‘base’ is something the Left likes to use to describe Trump supporters,” Morris said.

“It’s not his base, it’s 80% or 90% of the Republican Party. The word is the Republican Party. And they try to pretend it’s fragmented, but it’s not.”

“And if it [is] fragmented, it’s not the Left against the Right, it’s the top against the rest of it,” Morris explained.

“That’s what you’re seeing here” Morris finished.

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