On The Firing Line of The GOP Civil War: Republicans Have to Stop Attacking Each Other or They’re Going to Lose Big Time in Two Years

On The Firing Line of The GOP Civil War: Republicans Have to Stop Attacking Each Other or They’re Going to Lose Big Time in Two Years

Bias

Neutral Bias
This article has neutral bias with a bias score of 9.91 from our political bias detecting A.I.


Your browser does not support the canvas element.

Janet Ybarra
Democrat
Former Washington Journalist
Contributor on The Bipartisan Press

Hover to Expand



As Donald Trump’s impeachment trial was getting underway, battle lines in the civil war within the Republican Party became all-the-more-prominent, potentially leaving the GOP in a politically perilous spot heading towards next year’s midterm elections, according to some in the party.

Between Trump’s trial in the Senate for inciting last month’s siege of the US Capitol, and the handling of the firestorm from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s avowed conspiracy theories and social media posts supporting assassination of prominent Democrats, the Republican Party is fraught–caught between diehard backers of Trump and Greene, and more-establishment figures like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

“Well, I mean, there was a really interesting report that came out in Axios over the weekend that said that Kevin McCarthy actually asked her to apologize for voting for impeachment,” conservative co-host of the TV talk show The View, Meghan McCain, said, referring to Cheney, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, and McCarthy, the leader of the House Republicans. “And she said that, she said, ‘People in the caucus asked me to apologize,’ she said that publicly, and it’s interesting to know that it’s the leader of the caucus that asked her to do that and she defiantly said she won’t apologize and she has nothing to apologize for. I now am feeling very concerned about the fact that the leader of Republicans in Congress seems to think that if you are for impeachment, you have something to apologize for and atone for, and I too think that’s a losing strategy.

“I’m very skeptical of the big tent party narrative right now because it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of love for the Liz Cheneys of the party, which I guess at this point includes me,” McCain added.

The political infighting strengthens Democrats–especially at a time when it hurts Republicans who otherwise would be historically looking forward to making gains in the 2022 midterm elections, according to former congresswoman Mia Love (R-Utah).

“Well, I think one of the things that they have to stop doing is stop attacking each other. It does nothing to censure Liz Cheney, it did nothing in Arizona,” where the Republican Party censured several Republicans for not being sufficiently loyal to Trump. “Look, [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi realizes that she has a narrow margin in the House of Representatives and they’re going to capitalize on every opportunity they can to widen that margin. That’s fact. And what Republicans are doing by in fighting is handle that over to her.

“So I think when you talk about truth, you really need to get to point realize that people are going to vote differently than you. They’re going to have a different opinion. And that is okay. They have to deal with that with their constituents. You don’t go and fight within each other and you start talking about the things that you are for,” Love added.

“You start talking about the limited government, the fiscal discipline, all of the things that Republicans actually stand for. Republicans aren’t talking about that right now. It’s — it’s this — purity test that no one’s ever going to win,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. And not only is the GOP going to lose, but they’re going to lose big time in two years if they don’t cut it out.”

Content from The Bipartisan Press. All Rights Reserved.



Please note comments may not immediately appear as they pass through our spam queue.

COMMENTS