Republicans who have refused to bend to Trump insist the GOP can be rebuilt – but if he wins, all bets are off

The former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney “hopes to be able to rebuild” the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. Mitt Romney, the retiring Utah senator and former presidential nominee, reportedly hopes so too.

Among other prominent Republicans who refuse to bow the knee, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is running for a US Senate seat in a party led by Trump but insists he can be part of a post-Trump GOP.

Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair turned MSNBC host, advocated more dramatic action: “We have to blow this crazy-ass party up and have it regain its senses, or something else will be born out of it. There are only two options here. Hogan will be a key player in whatever happens. Liz Cheney, [former congressmen] Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh – all of us who have been pushed aside and fortunately were not infected with Maga, we will have something to say about what happens on 6 November.”

    • Flying Squid
      5•27 days ago

      We don’t have to have a two-party system. There’s no law requiring the Republican party to stay together. It’s just in their best interest to do so. I don’t know that they’ll care about what’s in their best interest after Trump. They’ll be too busy tearing each other apart, something they’ve wanted to do since 2015.

      • Logi
        5•27 days ago

        The two party system is an inevitable consequence of the FPTP election system. Replace that, and you can have multiple parties. Otherwise, you might get a short period of chaos with multiple parties which then settles down to the two winners.

        • Mbourgon everywhere
          3•27 days ago

          Ironically, I could see that being the catalyst for ranked choice voting.

          • Logi
            2•27 days ago

            If you get a sane voting system out of all this then it just might have all been worth it. But it’s not how I would have gone about getting there…

            • Mbourgon everywhere
              1•27 days ago

              I’m sure there will be some fun “huh, odd, all the votes for X went to Y” if it happens.

    • @CleoTheWizardEnglish
      1•27 days ago

      You say that but how do you unite extremist and moderate views? You don’t, it’s unsustainable. So no the party won’t fail to exist but if it fractures enough, it will take time to reform. A pretty long time.