The Trump-loyal part of the GOP has been cheering the announcement that Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell is stepping down. A sizable percentage of the Trump-loyal GOP are just like Trump – they weren’t involved in the Republican Party before the 2016 presidential election. I’ve been a pretty loyal Republican since 1980, when President Ronald Reagan was elected and now I consider myself a “none-of-the-above” when it comes to Washington politics.
Many of the Trump-loyalist comments I’ve seen online were trashing McConnell, saying good riddance and there’s a theme of how McConnell wasn’t a true “conservative” and now they’ll hopefully have some real conservative leading the GOP in the Senate.
One of Trump’s biggest weaknesses as president was his total lack of knowledge on the Constitution and how our federal institutions work – including the powers and duties of the President of the United States. Trump does not pay attention to details or study policies and his positions fluctuate constantly, based on what the buzz is in the media. Throughout his four years, he often announced policies or actions, then backpedaled when he was informed he didn’t have the presidential power to do that. He also believed that he could cut deals just like he did in the civilian business world and those invariably failed too or he’d pivot to some other spin battle with another liberal media personality or more often than not – target another “RINO” to attack. Of course, there was always the nebulous Deep State to attack to rally the faithful too. Despite, all that, there were many Trump administration policies that I supported and still do support – especially securing our borders.
Today I heard some Trump-loyalist comments online labelling McConnell as a “RINO,” which is completely absurd. McConnell has a decades-long track record of championing conservative causes and winning. And he was instrumental in there being a conservative majority on the US Supreme Court. The “RINO” smear that Trump-loyalists toss about constantly more accurately fits Trump, who was a NY liberal and Bill Clinton’s golfing buddy, before he decided to enter the 2016 presidential race than it does Mitch McConnell, who was fighting conservative battles back when Trump was cheering on Bill Clinton.
Trump’s doing well in the polls right now and the non-stop Democrat lawfare efforts to neutralize Trump’s 2024 presidential bid have been backfiring in dramatic fashion. Trump could very likely win the election in November. The Biden presidency, in my view, has been a total disaster, but the incendiary combination of Trump’s impulsiveness and the Democrat/liberal media deranged efforts to stop Trump could lead to more destabilization within America.
There’s no soft-landing regardless what happens in November, but when it comes to the Senate, I expect a Trump-loyalist led GOP in the US Senate to be much like the current Trump-loyalist led US House – constant in-fighting and a non-stop GOP circular firing squad – that will accomplish nothing. The Trump-loyalist faction in Washington loves to label and take out Republicans, who are effective at navigating within the US legislative institutions. Unfortunately, for the GOP, those purged knew how to cut deals and actually get legislation passed, while the Trump-loyalist crowd spends most of their time online, preening in front of media cameras, and smearing other Republicans as “RINOs.”
The big picture is America’s two main political parties are deeply fractured, corrupt and driven by radical factions. Both main parties are being hollowed out by extremists – the far-left in the Democratic Party and the Trump-loyalists in the GOP. Both parties no longer seem able to tolerate moderates or centrists, which is a symptom of how deep the partisan divides have grown in America. Within Congress, the only way to get legislation passed or stop legislation is to have seasoned legislators, who understand the intricacies of how the House and Senate function and can build consensus. That usually takes years of experience in Congress. Mitch McConnell was quite successful at that and so far the Trump-approved House Speaker, Mike Johnson, has been even more ineffective than Kevin McCarthy and the House GOP dominated by raging Trump-loyal firebrands has accomplished absolutely nothing.
Any political party led by people who are more committed to internal purges (destroying RINOs) over any sort of political platform that allows for differing viewpoints will become more and more dysfunctional and more radicalized. This bodes poorly for the longevity of the Trumpian GOP, once Trump is gone, and it bodes poorly for the GOP in the House or Senate being able to build consensus and pass legislation in the near term. On the other side, the Democratic Party keeps trying to appease the most extreme factions on the left, so there’s no moderating force to be found there. Both sides seem poised to become more radical and more extreme and that’s terrible for all of America.
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