NRCC Chair Warns Trump Against Backing Primary Challenges

National Republican Congressional Committee Chair (NRCC) Tom Emmer warned former President Trump against backing primary challenges to Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him.

Emmer made the comments in an interview with Politico.

“He can do whatever he wants,” said the Minnesota Republican. “But I would tell him that it’s probably better for us that we keep these people and we make sure that we have a majority that can be sustained going forward.”

On Trump weighing into the primaries, Emmer said, “That’s not gonna be helpful.”

Still, Emmer opined that it would be wise for the party to embrace some of Trump’s policies because they brought Republicans “a lot of new voters” and were “hugely popular.”

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

Trump Will Support Primary Challenges to Pro-Impeachment Republicans

President Trump last week announced that he was planning to form a super PAC, a sure sign he intends to help shape the future of the Republican party heading into 2022 and 2024.

Seven out of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of impeaching Trump are already facing primary challenges for their congressional seats.

Adam Kinzinger (IL), one of those seven being primaried and who voted in favor of impeachment, formed a new PAC of his own, claiming he is fighting to “take back” the party from Trump.

In a statement last month, Trump savaged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying he is “a dour, sullen and unsmiling political hack” and indicating he was willing to wage war against the establishment GOP.

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

While McConnell did not vote in favor of impeachment, he certainly placed blame on the former President for a riot at the Capitol in January.

RELATED: Nearly 50% Of Trump Voters Say They Will Follow Him To Another Party And Abandon The GOP

How Can They Win Back the House?

Emmer needs to find a way to back Trump, not the other way around.

The NRCC last month released a list of 47 “vulnerable Democrats” they plan to target in 2022 in an effort to take back the House.

The memo reminds voters that Republicans are “just five seats short of a majority” following some unexpected successes in the 2020 election.

But how do they think those unexpected successes came about? It wasn’t because Trump supporters stayed away from the polls.

A newly released poll indicates a majority – nearly 50 percent – of Trump voters would follow the former President to a new party and abandon the GOP.

And while he has shied away from announcing a new party, Trump would certainly hold some weight when it comes to his supporters voting in favor of primary challenges.

Other polls have shown a vast majority of GOP voters want to see Trump play a big role in the future of the party and a supermajority of them want their legislators to be more like Trump and less like establishment politicians.

Emmer told Politico he expects to have a conversation with Trump “at some point” about how to move forward.

 

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Majority Of Trump Voters Say They Will Follow Him To Another Party And Abandon The GOP

A poll released this past weekend indicates a majority – nearly 50 percent – of Trump voters would follow the former President to a new party and abandon the GOP.

The Suffolk University/USA TODAY survey indicates 46 percent of those who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 would join the third party if he were to go that route.

“If there’s a civil war in the Republican Party, the voters who backed Donald Trump in November’s election are ready to choose sides,” USA Today writes. “Behind Trump.”

By contrast, 27 percent of Trump voters said they would stick with the GOP while another 27 percent said they were, as of yet, undecided.

The polling represents another in a series of findings that indicate voters are more in line with the vision of the former President than they are with the Mitch McConnells and Liz Cheneys of the world.

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

Trump Voters Willing to Abandon GOP

Poll after poll seems to indicate Donald Trump continues to be popular with Republican voters, a terrible sign for those trying to instigate an in-party civil war with the former president.

A vast majority of GOP voters want to see him play a big role in the future of the party, including running again in 2024.

A Rasmussen survey in late December indicated 72 percent of Republican voters want their legislators to be more like Trump and less like establishment politicians like McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader.

Brandon Keidl, 27, a Republican and small-business owner from Milwaukee, told USA Today following their survey why he supports Trump.

“We feel like Republicans don’t fight enough for us, and we all see Donald Trump fighting for us as hard as he can, every single day,” Keidl explained.

“But then you have establishment Republicans who just agree with establishment Democrats and everything, and they don’t ever push back.”

It really is that simple. Trump remains popular because he fights for the American people. It was true in 2016, and it will remain true even as we barrel toward 2024.

RELATED: Poll: The Republican Party Is More Marjorie Taylor Greene Than It Is Liz Cheney

More Bad News For the Anti-Trumpers

To Keidl’s point, it seems that establishment Republicans of late are willing to fight harder against Donald Trump and his supporters than they ever were against Democrats.

Earlier this month, for example, a group of “anti-Trump” Republicans led by former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin announced that they are considering forming a political party of their own.

Republican Adam Kinzinger (IL), one of only 10 Republicans in the House to have voted in favor of impeachment earlier this year, formed a new PAC which he claims is fighting to “take back” the Republican Party from Trump.

Speculation of Trump forming a third party has been ongoing since the election, though those rumors have subsided a bit.

Perhaps more frightening for the establishment GOP? 

The Guardian reports that Trump, in a speech he will deliver later this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida, is expected to argue that he is still the man to drain the Washington swamp as the Republican “presumptive 2024 nominee.”

This civil war isn’t going to end well for the party.

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Gaetz Challenges Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger: ‘F***ing Bring It’

Florida congressman Matt Gaetz challenged anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger (IL) to “bring it” after the latter named Gaetz as a target for his newly formed PAC.

Well, he actually used slightly more colorful terminology than that.

Gaetz, first elected to Congress in 2016, has fast become one of former President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters.

In a late-night tweet on Wednesday, the Florida Republican began by praising Kinzinger for his military service before making it clear he wasn’t afraid of a fight.

“Adam is a patriot who fought for America from Northwest Florida. We will always appreciate [and] honor his service,” Gatez wrote.

“Now, he wants to target my America First politics, referencing me by name,” he added. “My response: F***ing bring it.”

RELATED: Of The 10 Republicans Who Voted To Impeach Trump, 7 Are Already Facing Primary Challenges

GOP Civil War: Matt Gaetz Fights Back Against Adam Kinzinger

Matt Gaetz was responding to an article published by The Hill in which Adam Kinzinger announced a new PAC he claims is fighting to “take back” the GOP from Trump.

Kinzinger went on the offensive against Gaetz and recently punished Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

“Oh, there’s a huge list. … I mean, look, all you have to do is see people like, of course, Marjorie Taylor Greene. You look at people like Matt Gaetz, who know better,” Kinzinger said. “I think neither of them believes the stuff they ascribe to, they just want fame.”

Ironic, considering the only reason anybody even knows Kinzinger’s name is because he’s willing to pimp himself out to liberal media by attacking Donald Trump.

Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump, one of 10 Republicans in the House to do so, making him a poor man’s Mitt Romney. Or a dumb man’s Ben Sasse, depending on how you look at it.

“The party that always spoke about a brighter tomorrow no longer does,” he said. “It talks about a dark future instead. Hope has given way to fear. Outrage has replaced opportunity. And worst of all, our deep convictions are ignored.”

“This is not the Republican road and now we know exactly where (that) new and dangerous road leads. It leads to insurrection and an armed attack on the Capitol,” Kinzinger suggested.

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene Fires Back After Mitch McConnell Calls Her ‘Cancer’ To The GOP

Gaetz Leads the Way

Gaetz has been leading the charge in the GOP’s civil war against anti-Trump Republicans.

Gaetz actually traveled to Wyoming for a rally in which he ripped Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), another pro-impeachment Republican.

There, he suggested the only two things Cheney has done in Congress is “frustrate the agenda of President [Donald] Trump and sell out to the forever war machine.”

Cheney and Sasse (R-NE) were both censured by their own party in various counties due to their anti-Trump actions.

And many Republicans who sided with Democrats in the House are facing other issues.

Of the 10 House members that voted for impeachment, seven of them, including Cheney, already have primary challengers.

Senate Republicans have seen controversy of their own, with six of them voting Tuesday alongside Democrats to affirm that the impeachment trial is constitutional.

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Donald Trump Meets With Kevin McCarthy At Mar-A-Lago To Plan 2022 Republican House Takeover 

On Thursday, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy met with former President Trump in Florida where the two discussed plans at Mar-a-Lago on how Republicans could take back the House in 2022.

McCarthy’s meeting was “very good and cordial” with the former President, according to Trump’s team.

After the meeting, McCarthy tweeted, “United and ready to win in ’22”

RELATED: RNC Says They Will Be Neutral If Trump Runs In 2024 – But Polls Show GOP Voters Definitely Won’t

‘President Trump Has Agreed To Work With Leader McCarthy’ On 2022

A statement from the Trump-backed Save America PAC read, “President Trump has agreed to work with Leader McCarthy on helping the Republican Party to become a majority in the House.”

“They worked very well together in the last election and picked up at least 15 seats when most predicted it would be the opposite,” it continued. “They will do so again, and the work has already started.”

A statement from McCarthy’s team on the meeting read, “For the sake of our country, the radical Democrat agenda must be stopped.” 

“A united conservative movement will strengthen the bonds of our citizens and uphold the freedoms our country was founded on.”

Fox News reports that an aide familiar the meeting said its purpose was to move the Republican Party forward. 

The aide told Fox News, “They are catching up as McCarthy will be in the neighborhood.” 

“They’ve been on good terms for a while, and that will be important for the party moving forward” the aide added.

Liz Cheney A Top Target For Trump

CNN reports that Trump will bring his energy to bear on neoconservative Rep. Liz Cheney, the #3 Republican in the House. 

Cheney, along with nine other Republicans, voted with Democrats to impeach Trump in January.

According to CNN, Trump has been following the effort by House Republicans to remove Cheney from her leadership position. 

Just this week, America First Congressman Matt Gaetz, a top ally of Trump, flew to Wyoming to encourage Republicans to toss Cheney and elect someone else to Congress.

The Meeting Indicates GOP Needs Very Popular Trump

The meeting was reportedly set up after Trump’s team learned McCarthy would be fundraising in Florida.

It is no secret McCarthy would like to replace Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker if his party can take back the House in two years.

Trump invited McCarthy to Mar-a-Lago and the House Republican Leader was quick to accept.

What this also signifies besides the upcoming midterm is that top Republican leaders appear to have no plans to break away from Trump following the January 6 Capitol Hill attacks.

McCarthy had said that Trump bore some responsibility for the attack.

RELATED: Rashida Tlaib Boasts That Green New Deal Pressured Biden To Be ‘More Aggressive’ About Climate Change

McCarthy Criticized Trump After Capitol Violence

Opposing impeachment on the House floor on January 13, McCarthy still said “the President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.”

“He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding,” McCarthy added. “These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”

As for whether or not Trump’s speech that day provoked the attack, McCarthy said last week, “I don’t believe he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally.”

It is likely that this subject was not a focus when McCarthy and Trump met Thursday at the former president’s resort.

Whether Republican leaders like it or not, Republican voters still very much support President Trump. 

An Axios poll from the week after the Capitol incident showed that 92% of Republican voters want to see Trump run for President again in 2024.

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