Tuesday’s Senate vote on the constitutionality of the so-called impeachment against former US President Donald Trump shows that the much-discussed departure of Republicans from the former head of state seems increasingly unlikely.
It is written today by the American media, according to which Trump’s influence on the party’s supporters is still too great for state and federal republican leaders to reject, even though he has only recently been publicly criticized.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted on Senator Rand Paul’s objection, claiming that conducting a constitutional lawsuit against the former president was contrary to U.S. law. Forty-five Republican members of the upper House of Congress out of 50 argued for this argument, and thus postponed the constitutional lawsuit. Many of them, including their Senate leader Mitch McConnell, expressed cautious support for the lawsuit shortly after the January 6 riots in Congress. after Trump was held accountable.
“Tuesday’s vote in the Senate is a sign that, although there is low opinion of Trump in Washington after the riots, a large proportion of Republicans are careful not to incite his supporters, who are still the majority among party voters,” the AP agency wrote in its analysis.
“If the Republican Party was at a crossroads about its post-Trump future, it now seems to have decided which direction to take,” comments Politico magazine.
The Washington Post, the theory seems to be confirming that the more time has passed since the unprecedented clashes in the Congress building, the less the Republicans are angry with the former president. “If we voted on the constitutional lawsuit on the day of the unrest, it would get 80 votes,” one of the Republican advisers in the Senate told the letter.
The party has already put opponents in the primary election against some Republicans in the House of Representatives, who, together with the Democrats, have approved the constitutional lawsuit, who have Trump’s support.
The former president’s son, Donald Jr., also called for the removal of Congresswoman Liz Cheney from the Republican leadership in the House.
Contrary to his predecessors, Trump clearly has no plans to retire after the end of his term and intends to continue to intervene in party politics. According to the AP, he has more than $ 50 million (1.07 billion crowns) left in his account from the presidential campaign, with which he can support his chosen candidates in various elections and thus complicate the lives of those Republicans who will oppose him.
Trump has also spoken to his former spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, who is running for governor of Arkansas, and has supported Kelli Ward’s candidacy to head the Republican Party in Arizona, which subsequently won the election. “Trump can be involved in the functioning of a party in virtually any state – or at least 90 percent of states,” said Kentucky Republican official Don Thrasher, saying the ex-president’s influence would decide any party vote.
Trump’s advisers say the ex-president wants to devote most of his time to trying to win Congress for the Republicans in the scheduled elections for 2022. His next presidential candidacy in 2024, in which Democrats are trying to prevent him with the current constitutional lawsuit, is also being discussed.
However, according to Politico, devotion to Trump is not without risks for the Republican Party. He ties his future to a very controversial politician who deprived Republicans of the White House and control of both congressional chambers in four years in the White House.
According to the magazine, the real question is not how long Trump’s shadow will hover over the Republicans, but whether there will be room for other personalities under it. Analysts point out that more than 74 million people voted for Trump in the November election and that his support among Republican voters in polls is still around 80 percent.
“A lot of people in the party are quietly hoping to go away so he can move on,” said Politico Republican strategist Sean Walsh, who said the ex-president’s influence was so great that the party would only be able to get rid of it gradually. “In order to move on, you have to survive. And you can’t survive if you start throwing dirt openly at Trump,” he added.
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