The Republican Party may be girding for a brutal internal war amid the wreckage of its midterm elections — and Donald Trump is ready to “burn it all down” if he can’t keep his grip on the GOP, predicts New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Who or what remains standing after such a clash is far from clear, she noted Friday.
The throw-down is likely to begin next week when Trump is expected to announce that he’s running again for president, against the advice even of some of his allies. Trump has already been trashing potential primary rivals, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and possibly Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump is “vulnerable” to internal attacks now in the wake of the Republican Party’s dismal showing in the midterms — but “that has happened before and he’s survived,” Haberman pointed out in a series of tweets.
“Extremely few major donors ... want to do anything for him right now and a number of them are having active conversations about the best way to stop him,” she added. “But. Again…sound familiar?”
Nevertheless, the party appears ready to do battle to shove Trump aside to improve Republican chances of future ballot box victories.
Trump, meanwhile, has made it chillingly clear that he’s willing to “burn it all down if he doesn’t get what he wants, which is maintaining his grip on the product line he’s been developing for six years: the Republican Party,” Haberman warned.
The party, meanwhile, looks nearly as heartless and calculating as Trump, commentator Chris Wallace noted Friday on CNN.
He blasted the party for only now finally distancing itself from Trump, long after he urged the insurrection and repeatedly peddled rigged election lies. What was the ultimate deciding factor? “Republican candidates underperformed by 10 points,” Wallace pointed out.
“In the end, that’s what it’s all about it seems for the Republicans,” said Wallace. “It’s not a matter of principle. It’s not a matter of the truth. It’s a matter of who’s a winner and who’s a loser. Right now, for instance, Ron DeSantis, who won a landslide ... victory looks like a winner, and Donald Trump ... looks kind of like a loser.”