The news was intriguing: A group of 120 Republicans held a meeting in the last week to talk about the possibility of forming a “center right” party or a new faction within the GOP to signal a clear break from former President Donald Trump.
Interesting, right? After all, there’s no question that there’s a decent-sized chunk of people who have voted for and supported Republicans in the past but were alienated by Trump’s behavior in office.
As is often the case with talk of possible new political parties, however, there’s less than meets the eye. Here’s why:
1. The Republican Party already fought this fight in 2016. The anti-Trump crowd, which ultimately became every candidate in the GOP primary field other than Trump, lost. And lost badly. Just ask Marco Rubio. And Jeb Bush. And Lindsey Graham. And Rand Paul. And Ted Cruz. And Chris Christie. And Ben Carson.
2. There’s no leader for this movement. Voters rally around candidates, not political parties. Barack Obama appealed to people, first and foremost, because he was Barack Obama. Not because he was a Democrat. Same for Trump, who, prior to running in 2016, was at best loosely affiliated with the Republican Party. Who is the face of this proposed new party or new faction? Ben Sasse? John Kasich? Liz Cheney? Larry Hogan? Adam Kinzinger? Mitt Romney? Lisa Murkowski? You get the idea. Way too many cooks.
3. GOP elected officials have zero interest in it: For people who like to argue that Trump’s actions during and after the January 6 riot have fundamentally changed how he stands in the party, I like to remind them that, in the immediate aftermath of that riot, 138 Republicans voted to object to the Electoral College results in Pennsylvania. That’s a clear majority of House Republicans on the record in support of an objection based on zero facts and 100% loyalty to Trump. So where again is this clamor to get beyond Trump?
The Point: The idea of a non-Trump Republican Party undoubtedly appeals to plenty of GOP establishment types. The problem? There just aren’t enough of them in the party for such a move to succeed.
