By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on February 28, 2021
Former President Donald J. Trump is killing the National Republican Party. Since losing the election in November 2020, Trump has attacked every major Republican officeholder who refused to help him steal the election, which he lost by 7 million votes.
Trump has savagely attacked Mike Pence, his hand-picked Vice President. He has thrown spitballs at Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump is angry at Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because they refused his demand to “find” the 11,780 votes Trump needed to win Georgia.
Despite losing 60 straight court challenges to the election outcome – many of which were handed down by federal judges Trump appointed -- the former president bashed them, as well. Trump still has not provided any court with proof that 7 million votes were stolen from him.
Trump is trying to oust Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her No. 3 leadership with House Republicans because she voted in favor of his impeachment following the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump “patriots” that left one police officer and four others dead.
Trump won’t even meet with 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley because she told Politico in February: “I think what we need to do is take the good that [Trump] built, leave the bad that he did, and get back to a place where we can be a good, valuable, effective party.” With Trump, you must be ALL IN with him, or get trashed the way he has done Pence, McConnell, and a litany of other prominent Republican political operatives.
When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Trump on January 6 and asked the former president to “call off the riot” by Trump’s “patriots”, Trump told McCarthy, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” This response stunned McCarthy.
Trump’s response is not surprising in light of the fact that his 2020 campaign organization paid more than $3.5 million to the people and firms that organized the January 6th demonstration before a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Business Interests Distancing Themselves from Trump
Several business groups are distancing themselves from Trump. For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has stepped away from Trump by embracing much of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill; cheering Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris climate agreement; backing Neera Tanden’s appointment as Director of the Office of Management and Budget; and expressing openness to increasing the minimum wage, albeit not to $15 an hour.
Trump’s business partner in two Class A commercial buildings – one on Sixth Avenue in New York City and the other in downtown San Francisco – is threatening to withhold the partnership’s cashflows from Trump. Trump owns a 30 percent stake in these properties, while Vornado Realty Trust owns 70 percent. Vornado’s possible disassociation from Trump arose after the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol and unsuccessful attempts in 2020 to sell the buildings or refinance them. Because Trump is toxic, some banks associated with Trump have simply cut their ties to him. His best two bankers were forced out at Germany-based DeutcheBank in December.
In February, the Screen Actor’s Guild threatened Trump with expulsion, which prompted Trump to resign. After receiving Trump’s resignation, SAG issued a statement saying, “Thank You.”
Even Trump’s neighbors in Palm Beach are trying to evict him from Mar-a-Lago. They want Trump gone.
Trump’s Lawyers are In Danger of Being Disbarred
After bringing frivolous lawsuits to invalidate the November 3rd election and prevent the Electoral College votes from being counted, Trump’s lawyers are facing disbarment and multibillion dollar lawsuits. In Washington, a federal judge formally referred Minnesota attorney Erick Kaardal to his state’s Bar Association for potential disciplinary proceedings in Wisconsin Voters Alliance vs. Pence, which alleged that the election procedures in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin were unconstitutional.
In February, the State Bar of Georgia issued a 1677-page grievance against Georgia attorney, Lin Wood. The Bar Association’s complaint says Wood’s lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results were “frivolous”. The Bar Association had previously urged Wood to seek mental health treatment.
Trump-affiliated lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudolph Giuliani are faring no better. Election technology Smartmatic has filed a nearly 300-page defamation lawsuit against both lawyers. The $2.7 billion lawsuit claims that the two lawyers (and others) made 100 false statements and implications when they claimed that Smartmatic helped to steal the November 3rd election from Donald Trump.
Trump Still Popular with GOP Voters
Despite Trump’s obvious toxicity, he remains popular with GOP voters. Six out of ten Republican voters want Trump to maintain a powerful role in the Party moving forward, according to a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. It looks as if Trump plans to do so. His Save America PAC is flush with $31 million in cash, as of February 2021.
Trump has already endorsed Arizona Party Chair Kelli Ward in her bid for re-election and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for governor of Arkansas.
Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican and Trump zealot, told a right-wing militia group (the Arizona chapter of Oath Keepers) that the U.S. was in a civil war and predicted it would become violent. Gosar’s exact words were, “We’re in it, we just haven’t started shooting yet.”
When Trump’s “patriots” rioted in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, it was the first time that the Capitol had been ransacked since the War of 1812. These “patriots” attempted to disrupt a constitutionally mandated meeting of Congress, kidnap the Vice President, and somehow force Mike Pence to declare Trump the victor in an election he lost by 7 million votes. They left pipe bombs at the headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic National Committees. Investigators also discovered a vehicle fully loaded with weaponry and what federal prosecutors are calling “homemade napalm bombs”.
It is obvious that Trump has the same kind of death grip on the Republican Party and its voters that Jim Jones and David Koresh had on their personality cult followers. This assures that the National Republican Party is doomed as long as Trump is alive. And Trump does not care about any of them. After all, Trump was a New York City Democrat who hijacked the Republican Party during his 2015-16 run for the presidency.
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