'We can never go back': Anti-Trump Republican says reforming GOP now 'off the table'

30 November 2024

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's campaign, no group may be more politically homeless than anti-Trump Republicans.

A Saturday report in Politico detailed how some of the most prominent Republicans who opposed Trump during the 2024 election are considering the future of their party as Trump recasts it in his image. This past election cycle not only returned Trump to power in spite of opposition from lifelong Republicans like former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), but also proved to be the one in which Trump's family took over the GOP's national campaign apparatus with his daughter-in-law Lara elected as its co-chair.

Now, some Republicans are wondering whether there's room for them in the GOP at all given the MAGA-led takeover of the party. Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave and ousted two years later, says any hope of reforming the Republican Party to go back to traditional conservative philosophy is now "off the table."

“It’s down to two options,” Walsh told Politico. “Productively throw rocks at the administration — kind of be like a group in exile and from a distance do what we can to damage MAGA, knowing we can never go back — or become Democrats.”

Even though she endorsed Trump in the general election, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has since come out against some of Trump's more controversial Cabinet picks like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the potential new Health and Human Services secretary and Director of National Intelligence-designate Tulsi Gabbard. Haley — a foreign policy hawk — accused Gabbard in a recent episode of her radio show of being a "Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer." And she called RFK Jr. a "liberal Democrat" with "no background in healthcare."

Former Vice President Mike Pence has also come out against Kennedy due to his position on abortion. Pence called RFK Jr.'s nomination to lead U.S. health agencies "deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades." Now, these Republicans are putting their hopes in the hands of more moderate members of the Senate Republican conference to put the kibosh on Trump's most extreme nominees. This includes Senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

“That is the only way for Trump to be checked … the sort of in-group moderates, the people who are members of the Republican Party who won’t give Trump carte blanche and who will push back against the most damaging things,” Sarah Longwell, publisher of anti-Trump conservative website The Bulwark, told Politico. “You’re going to need people in the Republican Party to not cave completely to Trump.”

Click here to read Politico's article in full.

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