The Republican Party could be doomed in future elections if former President Donald Trump creates his own political party.
What are the details?
Nearly half of Trump supporters — 46% — said they would abandon the GOP if Trump created his own political party, according to a new Suffolk University-USA Today poll released over the weekend.
In fact, only 27% of respondents said they would stay with the Republican Party, while the remaining percentage of respondents said they are undecided.
“We feel like Republicans don’t fight enough for us, and we all see Donald Trump fighting for us as hard as he can, every single day,” a Wisconsin business owner told USA Today. “But then you have establishment Republicans who just agree with establishment Democrats and everything, and they don’t ever push back.”
Meanwhile, half of the respondents said the Republican Party should be “more loyal to Trump,” and fewer than 20% said the GOP should jettison loyalty to the former president.
Another poll released earlier this month found that 64% of registered Republicans would abandon the GOP for a Trump-created third-party.
Will Trump start his own party?
Trump has reportedly explored the possibility of creating his own political party.
One day before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Trump discussed the matter with several aides and other people close to him last week. The president said he would want to call the new party the ‘Patriot Party,’ the people said.”
However, Trump allies later rebutted the idea.
“The president wanted me to know, as well as a handful of others, that the president is a Republican, he is not starting a third party and that anything he would do politically in the future would be as a Republican,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in late January.
In fact, Trump reportedly plans to declare control of the Republican Party during his first post-presidential appearance, at the Conservative Political Action Conference next weekend, Axios reported.
From Axios:
In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee” with a vise grip on the party’s base, top Trump allies tell Axios.
A longtime adviser called Trump’s speech a “show of force,” and said the message will be: “I may not have Twitter or the Oval Office, but I’m still in charge.” Payback is his chief obsession.
“Trump effectively is the Republican Party,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Axios. “The only chasm is between Beltway insiders and grassroots Republicans around the country. When you attack President Trump, you’re attacking the Republican grassroots.”