Trump’s Impeachment Acquittal Widens Rift Within The GOP | MSNBC

Posted by Hudson Pagh on February 25th, 2021

To start congressman carbello with you, senator lindsey graham said today that mcconnell's post-trial comments could hurt republicans in 2022 campaigns. How might that be the case? Do you think well, senator graham and others who are defending the president just proved what i told your colleagues earlier this morning, alicia that the republican party remains a willing hostage of donald trump. However, senator graham is also correct. That senator mcconnell's remarks yesterday do complicate things for republicans. It is going to be difficult for a lot of republicans to run in primaries with those comments out there, because mcconnell has made it clear that donald trump assaulted our democracy he's made it clear that he doesn't believe that the future of the republican party should be Related in any way to donald trump, so this is going to make for a messy primary season. For republicans, this is the beginning of a civil war. Mcconnell, obviously, doesn't want it to be an all-out war, which is probably why he uh, split and voted one way and then said something entirely inconsistent with that vote in some ways afterwards. Uh because he thinks he can manage this separation between the republican party and donald trump uh. Maybe Browse around this site can do it. Uh he's he's quite shrewd and able, but it's going to be difficult. It'S going to be messy and i think republican primaries in 2022 are going to provide a lot of fodder for for us as we watch and analyze and observe indeed natasha roughly one minute before the vote last night, you had trump releasing a statement that the maga Movement had quote just begun and that he had a lot to share in the coming months. What are you hearing about his plans moving forward? Well, certainly, as we know from lindsey graham's comments today, um, and that is that he is ready to move forward, he's ready to get involved in 2022 primaries and he is ready to seek retribution against anyone who voted against him. He'S talking big and there's also some realities, though, that you should keep in mind, which is there's some active investigations against donald trump and he's been, laying low he's been laying low for a reason. His aides have told him to do so um, but you know he's facing something in georgia. He is facing something in new york um, so i think it remains to be seen what we will really see from trump and as far as mcconnell um, just going back to that quickly, i mean you know: the republican party is undergoing an identity crisis right now And no one better personified that than than mitch mcconnell um saying what he said. You know he called trump's actions unconscionable law. He said it inspired lawlessness and violence and then he voted to acquit um there's only. He could only go so far because he does his own political reality, which is that his members would would be forced to have to call him to step down from leadership and he would be facing that um. So he he is trying to straddle um. What i think we're seeing within the republican party um on a larger scale, beth natasha referenced, what senator lindsey graham said. I want you to listen specifically to what he said today about burr's vote to convict the biggest winner. I think of this whole impeachment trial is laura trump. My dear friend richard burr, who i like and have been friends to a long time, just made laura trump, almost a certain nominee for the senate seat in north carolina to replace him if she runs and i'll certainly be behind her, because i think she represents the Future of the republican party, so what is striking to me beth about some of that, is that, as you have former congressman cabello talking about the forthcoming civil war within the gop, you were talking about. You know republican candidates who could take different lanes. People who want to take the trump off-ramp we're not just talking about candidates that are in his image or that are willing to sign up for trumpism we're talking about literal extensions of his family as being the most likely candidates. Do you think that is ultimately how this plays out? You know i just had to laugh at what senator graham said, because, just because lara trump's name is lara, trump doesn't mean that she automatically is going to be elected senator from north carolina. Nobody knows anything about her nobody's ever heard of her. The simple name, the simple connection to donald trump does not somehow anoint these family members into uh elected office. They need to run, they need to prove themselves, they need to to show what they have nobody's ever heard of laura trump outside of seeing her, perhaps in a family photo with the former president. I think the bigger issue uh is is really about how what trump did in 2016 was significant for many reasons, and the biggest one in terms of looking at the future of the party is he vanquished everyone and those other 15 candidates who ran in that primary? All those establishment figures like jeb bush, because he was speaking a different message. He was speaking a populist message. He was recognizing that the party had gotten too dependent sort of on its message to the donor class that that cutting taxes for the wealthy and slashing uh programs for the disadvantage is, is the way to go. Republican voters showed very clearly in their preference for trump that the establishment message was not working for them anymore, and any successful republican candidate going forward has to decouple perhaps from the personality of trump and some of the sort of racially tinged rhetoric and violent rhetoric. That he's inspired, but perhaps remember the message that did come through that did work, which is to make the party a little bit closer to the grassroots. A little more populist i mean lenses. I would also argue that that ended up being really a faux populism, and that is something that republicans will have to grapple with. I do want you, though, to take a listen to what evan mcmullin said on our air earlier. What'S clear to to me and to the over 120 republican officials who joined us on uh february 5th, is that something new is required? 40 percent feel that there's no hope for the gop to reform and and to you know, rejoin the sort of the healthy political process in america, and so 40 percent thought that we should start a new party. He said that this group of republicans will look to primary trump allies - andy biggs, paul gosar of arizona. What would the addition of a third party mean for democrats? You know, i think we have to be mindful of the movement that donald trump has inspired. It is a name that people are resonating with that low income, that white voters who hadn't been engaged before rural voters. They are seeing something in this, and so i would be careful to say that we can just move on and and that this isn't much that we have to worry about, because we do actually have to worry about the disease that has infected the republican party and Our country and allowed for trumpism to actually become the rally and cry we're having this conversation here and there are republicans in high positions who are talking about wanting um a morally different republican party. But look what happened with the lincoln project we found out. It wasn't. Actually that effective and moving people away from donald trump, and so i would be cautious to believe that we're gon na see something different in the next four years or actually in the next two years and the midterms. If something doesn't at the grassroots level, change and so democrats have to ensure that we are actually getting work done, and so our base will show up for us again in local races as well as in the midterm, and then the republican party they shouldn't just uh Figure out that you know what we're having this moral conversation there's a very large part of their party that has been ignored and they believe in trumpism and whether it's donald trump, his siblings or whoever that he supports they are probably going to support them. And that's going to be very dangerous to our democracy. Hey thanks for watching our youtube channel. You should know that you can follow today's top stories and breaking news and catch up on your favorite msnbc shows all in one place, download the nbc news app today.

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Hudson Pagh

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Hudson Pagh
Joined: February 16th, 2021
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