In fight over GOP, state parties stand as firewall for Trump (AP)

[dalton99a]

https://hosted.ap.org/article/c83fe958e624c1ead5301407eb8a0347/fight-over-gop-state-parties-stand-firewall-trump

Jan. 29, 2021 10:37 AM EST
In fight over GOP, state parties stand as firewall for Trump
By THOMAS BEAUMONT and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Associated Press

Donald Trump has mused about forming a third party. But it's unclear why he needs one.

As he faces an impeachment trial for inciting insurrection, state and county Republican Party committees have rushed to Trump's defense — highlighting the former president's firm control of the GOP machinery.

In swing states and GOP bastions, state and local Republican committees are stocked with Trump supporters who remain loyal. Trump critics have been pushed out or marginalized. Party committees from Washington state to South Carolina have moved to punish many of the 10 House Republicans who supported Trump's impeachment for egging on the deadly Jan. 6 raid of the U.S. Capitol.

Trump's lock on the party apparatus is the result of a yearslong takeover of an institution he only loosely affiliated with before taking office. The effect amounts to a firewall protecting him and his far-right, nationalist politics from Republicans who argue the party needs a new direction if it wants to win elections.

“It’s come to the point where you have to be with him 100 percent of the time, or you’re the enemy,” said Dave Millage, a former Iowa lawmaker who was pushed out as Scott County GOP chairman after calling for Trump's impeachment.

On Saturday, the South Carolina GOP will decide whether to censure Republican Rep. Tom Rice for his vote to impeach the former president. It's a move meant to scar the five-term congressman for what many of his constituents considered a betrayal, said GOP chairwoman Dreama Perdue in Rice's home Horry County.

In some cases, the state parties' defense of Trump has exposed the extent to which disinformation, conspiracy theories and views once considered fringe have been normalized in the GOP.

[0rganism]

1. Democrats have to win back state governments or our problems intensify

Especially when they're trying to pull shit with lunatic legislative appointment of presidential electors (lookin' at you Arizona)

Somehow we have to turn this around, and I have no idea how it could be done. There are not enough Stacey Abramses to go around, but we seem to have plenty of Boeberts lining up to burn the house down.

[Thekaspervote]

2. Time and persistence....the deposed idiot king has no real power..not anymore

[0rganism]

3. no real power, but much perceived power and popularity, and many propaganda channels

We'll soon see if Trump's influence lasts among the electorate. I have a hunch it can survive unless actively opposed. Our DOJ must show that it can handle the challenges set before it, or our democracy will fail. As you say, time and persistence.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. Yes, we are facing a "firewall" of ever more radical Republican state legislatures.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[crickets]

6. K&R for visibility.