‘Rationals’ vs. ‘radicals’: Anti-Trump Republicans threaten third party

Over 100 former Republican officials will sign a letter on Thursday declaring that if the Republican Party does not break with former President Donald Trump and change course, they will back the creation of a third party.

The letter, headlined: "A Call For American Renewal," is an exploratory move toward forming a breakaway party, two of its organizers said. The group is dismayed by what it says is a modern Republican Party driven by its allegiance to Trump, who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from him.

"The Republican Party is broken. It's time for a resistance of the 'rationals' against the 'radicals,'" said Miles Taylor, one of the organizers. Taylor, while serving in the Trump White House, wrote an anonymous opinion piece in the New York Times in 2018 headlined: "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration."

The group first raised the threat in February, following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters to try to disrupt congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election victory.

The letter highlights the wide intraparty rift over Trump.

Most Republicans remain fiercely loyal to the former president.

House Republicans are expected on Wednesday to oust Representative Liz Cheney from her No. 3 party leadership position within the chamber, because of her refusal to embrace Trump's election claims and her move to back Trump's second impeachment after the Capitol riot.

The letter signatories, who include former ambassadors, governors, congressional members and Cabinet secretaries, want the Republican Party to return to "principled" leadership and reject division and conspiracy theories, or face a new party dedicated to fighting for Republicans such as Cheney and against fearmongering and lies.

Backers of the reform group include former Republican Governors Tom Ridge, Christine Todd Whitman, George W. Bush-era Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and former House members Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble and Mickey Edwards.

They may face an uphill battle in getting any current Republican officeholders to sign on - including Cheney herself, who in February rejected the idea of a third party, saying it would empower Democrats.

A spokesman for Trump, Jason Miller, said: “These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden."

Evan McMullin, a former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference and an independent presidential candidate in 2016, said if the Republican Party does not reject lies and extremism, part of it “will have no choice but to part ways with it and build something new. We’re excited about that prospect.”

Link: ‘Rationals’ vs. ‘radicals’: Anti-Trump Republicans threaten third party

Posted: 05/12/2021 at 12:26AM

NEXT REPLY

Insert a Link

Enter the title of the link here:

Enter the full web address of the link here -- include the "http://" part:

Current Thread:

‘Rationals’ vs. ‘radicals’: Anti-Trump Republicans threaten third party -- Hoo TV 05/12/2021 12:26AM

I'll believe it when I see it. I think something like this been talk about -- JohnHoo2 05/12/2021 10:15AM

Nah. One party is extreme. Equivalency is not the story. Fox, et al do a -- Molina 05/12/2021 10:42AM

Competence should be their focus. Forget the ideological spectrum. -- Molina 05/12/2021 08:26AM

But let's celebrate when Biden puts together a coherent sentence ** -- HokieDan95 05/12/2021 08:55AM

Good one, Dan. ** -- Molina 05/12/2021 09:05AM

The unintended irony in your posting can be really special ** -- 111Balz 05/12/2021 09:03AM

Meh- I'm looking for smaller victories. I'll celebrate the fact that he's -- Capital City Hoo 05/12/2021 09:02AM

Slow motion suicide. -- Chuck Taylor 05/12/2021 08:23AM

Interesting given the fact that GOP leadership gave the party to Trump -- Capital City Hoo 05/12/2021 07:43AM

Sure, but who votes for this new party? The White Trashionalist Party the -- WahooRQ 05/12/2021 08:08AM

The GOP could have (and should have) dumped Trump -- Capital City Hoo 05/12/2021 08:25AM

Sure, but every ounce of momentum they’ve had since Dubya’s reelection has -- WahooRQ 05/12/2021 08:49AM

History and the new census both suggest they should. ** -- hoolstoptheheels 05/12/2021 08:33AM

In a divided country, a spoiler in a few congressional districts or one -- Molina 05/12/2021 08:30AM

I'd vote for a conservative 3rd party without the religious right or -- BocaHoo91 05/12/2021 08:14AM

I was curious who was the last 3rd Party POTUS elected...search engine says -- Tuckahokie 05/12/2021 08:30AM

Fillmore wasn't elected. -- DanTheFan 05/12/2021 09:06AM

Gotta start somewhere... I'd love to see a 3rd party make inroads in the -- Capital City Hoo 05/12/2021 08:59AM

We are about as two-party as a system gets. ** -- hoolstoptheheels 05/12/2021 08:34AM

Yep...made Perot's 20% look impressive ** -- Tuckahokie 05/12/2021 08:35AM

I’d like to see a centrist 3rd party. -- hoolstoptheheels 05/12/2021 08:28AM

If that wing of the Dems does take over, I might consider joining you. -- WahooRQ 05/12/2021 08:21AM

My guess is, not here. I think it took a certain confluence of things to -- hoolstoptheheels 05/12/2021 08:43AM

Agree, but look at everything that has happened since Dubya. -- WahooRQ 05/12/2021 09:01AM

“You didn’t build that” was Obama's message, not Romney's. -- PBCHoo 05/12/2021 10:02AM

It was an out of context Obama quote that Romney tried to weaponize. The -- WahooRQ 05/12/2021 10:06AM

IMO online radicalization is our single biggest problem. ** -- hoolstoptheheels 05/12/2021 09:26AM

Love it!!! But seriously, how long do we have to pretend to like them?!?!? ** -- ResistHoo 05/12/2021 07:23AM

They definitely aren't the party of Reagan who was then the most evil -- HokieDan95 05/12/2021 07:46AM