Ronald Reagan once hailed the Republican Party as a “big tent” with lots of room for opposing views, including what were known as “Reagan Democrats” at the time. Reagan’s framing persisted for decades despite it becoming an increasingly hollow claim as the party rallied around white heterosexual Christians to the exclusion of nearly all others.
But at least rhetorically speaking, the idea was to put out the welcome mat and invite more people in. Addition has always been the key to building political coalitions that win elections—until now.
Donald Trump and his allies are overtly executing a purge of the relative moderates in the party, mainly consisting of the “Romneys and those” who aren’t explicitly part of the pro-MAGA, pro-Trump cult—cult being the operative word. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah invited Trump’s ire last week when he vowed not to vote for Trump over President Joe Biden.
After the New Hampshire primary, when Trump first threatened to blacklist Nikki Haley donors, saying that they “will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” it juiced her donations. Haley donors—and likely others—took it on as a challenge, shoveling $1.2 million into her war chest in the 24-hour period after Trump made the comments.
A lesser fool might have decided the tactic backfired. Not Trump. He and his allies are continuing to double down. Not only did he crow about “getting rid of the Romneys of the world” over the weekend, one of his picks to head the Republican National Committee is promising to purge from the RNC ranks of anyone who is lukewarm on the MAGA cult.
Naturally, Trump wants to make the RNC one of the family, quite literally, by naming his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as his pick for co-chair of the organization.
Trump’s immediate acquisition of the RNC is still in dispute, with one prominent member sponsoring resolutions to stall Trump’s takeover until such time as he amasses enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee.
But Lara Trump is now publicly campaigning for the post by promising the ouster of anyone who doesn’t prove sufficiently loyal and subservient to Trump. “I can assure you, there will be no funny business,” she told the right-wing streaming outlet Real America’s Voice on Monday. “Anyone who is not on board with seeing Donald Trump as the 47th president and America-loving patriots all the way down the ticket being supported by the RNC is welcome to leave.”
Last month, Lara Trump asserted that Republican voters want to see the RNC pay Trump’s legal fees. “Having someone like me in there I think will go a long way for people. I can assure you that my loyalty is to my father-in-law and I will make sure that every penny is used properly,” she said.
Properly is clearly doing a lot of work there.
But Lara Trump’s latest invitation for anyone not fully part of the MAGA cult is an escalation of rhetoric that mirrors Trump’s own threats to banish Haley donors and rid the GOP of “Romneys.”
As we have repeatedly pointed out, around 25% to 30% of self-identified Republicans are routinely choosing to vote for Haley over Trump in the Republican primary, and that doesn’t even include the healthy slice of center-right independents who have cast protest votes against Trump.
That’s a hell of a lot of voters to alienate for a candidate who has never won more than 47% of the electorate in either one of his presidential bids.
Over the weekend, Trump claimed that MAGA Republicans account for “96% and maybe 100%” of the Republican Party. And if they don’t, Trump is angling to make certain the party has been whittled down to nothing but MAGA cultists by November.
And Team Biden is happy to help Trump spread the message.
The first downballot primaries of 2024 are here! We’re previewing some of Tuesday’s biggest races on this week’s episode of “The Downballot” with Daily Kos Elections editor Jeff Singer. Singer highlights major elections in four states, including the battle for second place in California’s Senate contest; whether Democrats will avoid a lockout in a critical California House district; if the worst Republican election fraudster in recent years will successfully stage a comeback in North Carolina; and how Alabama’s new map will affect not one but two House races.
