Defiant House Republicans showed that 'Trumpism can be beaten back': GOP strategist

As a veteran GOP strategist and former director of the California Republican Party, Mike Madrid has a long history of promoting conservative policies. Madrid co-hosts the Latino Vote podcast, and he has long viewed Latinos as potential conservatives.

But Madrid, a founding member of The Lincoln Project, is a scathing critic of former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Madrid believes that Trumpism has been terrible for conservatism.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on October 24, Madrid laments that the GOP has not reached a "post-Trump era" — as Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. But Madrid points to Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) failed bid for House speaker as a hopeful sign that Trumpism "can be beaten back."

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"Last week, Jim Jordan and the MAGA hordes used death threats, intimidation tactics, social media pressure, and even Sean Hannity in an attempt to force recalcitrant Republican members to make Jordan the speaker of the House," Madrid observes. "And for the first time since Trump became the leader of the party, this heavy-handed approach failed — spectacularly. What we have seen since has provided us the first glimpse of what the GOP will look like in the post-Trump era."

The conservative strategist continues, "To be clear, we are not in the post-Trump era. Trump himself holds a strong majority of the Republican electorate. But until last week's debacle, Trump's hold on the elected class in the House of Representatives was just as firm."

The House held three votes on Jordan's speaker nomination. After 20 House Republicans voted against Jordan during the first vote, that number increased to 22 on the second vote and 25 on the third.

"The slow bleed of Jordan's support round by round was designed not only to reveal the collapsing support for the Trump-backed candidate, but to signal that MAGA World's brute-force attacks would be ineffective this time," Madrid argues. "Death threats were made public. Threatening phone calls were leaked to the media. Defiant Republicans issued press releases stating they would not be bullied or threatened. Jordan himself had to call off the hounds in a tweet decrying the attacks."

READ MORE: 'All hope is lost' with Jim Jordan after he 'loses big' on third speaker vote — his worst yet

Madrid adds, "If only for a moment, the formerly establishment Republicans became the rebels, and they turned the MAGA movement impotent and incapable of choosing one of their own to lead…. Again, Trumpism hasn't been vanquished in the party. But we now know that it can be beaten back — at least when it is divorced from the person of Donald Trump."

READ MORE: Republicans publicly blast Jim Jordan's 'threats and intimidation'

Mike Madrid's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.