Former President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party has gotten even stronger since the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.
Axios reported the evidence is overwhelming.
It noted House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is likely to be booted from her leadership role. Cheney has taken a strong stance against Trump and his continued objections to his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. She has been outspoken about Trump and the Jan. 6 violent protest at the Capitol.
Cheney also was one of 10 Republican members of the House to vote to impeach Trump earlier this year on charges of “incitement of insurrection” in connection with the Capitol events.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La. said that it’s Cheney’s insistence about “talking about things that happened in the past” that’s leading to the party’s turn against her.
Cheney, in a column for The Washington Post, said the Republican Party is at a “turning point.”
Axios also pointed to the various states looking at proposals to tighten election security as evidence of Trump’s hold over the party. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state’s new election security legislation into law on Thursday.
Florida is now the latest GOP-leaning state to enact voting changes after the 2020 presidential election and is being seen as taking on several issues at once like the election law Georgia passed earlier this year.
Included in the new law is a provision that drop boxes must be geographically located to provide all voters in the county with an equal opportunity to cast a ballot and be monitored in person.
Axios said other evidence showing Trump’s hold on the party, includes:
- The entire House leadership will be made up of strong Trump supporters.
- The Republican positions on immigration and trade now line up with Trump’s.
- The 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have mostly gone quiet. And House Republicans expect Trump-backed candidates to defeat his critics in primaries.
“His endorsement lifts candidates above the pack and often clears the primary field,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Axios. “The general election endorsement provides access to ‘Trump voters’ not normally accessible to Republicans.”
Trump “has already begun to vet and endorse candidates for 2022, with an eye toward electing not just Republican candidates, but America First Republican candidates.”
He said Trump rallies are likely to “start as soon as late spring or early summer.”
Source: Newmax
