More Republican Party Fracturing

[David G]

And... more --


Chair of Texas Log Cabin Republicans group resigns after state GOP adopts new platform

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-new-platform/

[LeeG]

They may be fracturing but look at all they’ve accomplished!

[David G]

They may be fracturing but look at all they’ve accomplished!

The wind and tide are with them, for now.

[David G]

Group of Pennsylvania Republicans call Trump-backed Doug Mastriano an 'extremist' and endorse Democratic rival Josh Shapiro for governor

https://www.businessinsider.com/penn...tremist-2022-7

[David G]

The 'fracturing' has been manifesting for a while now as an actual 'schism'.

Nebraska Republicans fire chairman at party convention

Nebraska Republicans fired their longtime party chairman at a tumultuous state convention that highlighted divisions within the party driven by activists who support former President Donald Trump and want to take the party further to the right.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nebraska-...151214785.html

[David G]

There were several early on in this thread who argued that saying 'fracturing' was incorrect. Either they wanted another term, or didn't see any sort of fracturing happening, or viewed it as a 'hostile takeover' more than an internal schism, or somesuch. I wonder how they view it now??

I am brought back to this question today by the passing of my friend Glen. When those folks were arguing about fracturing, he PM'd me to agree with the term. And he had some choice words for the naysayers, that he was WAY to polite to say out loud. Still gives me a chuckle. Y'all know who you are. And if not, I can remind you. Are you still arguing that 'fracturing' is incorrect?

[George Jung]

The 'fracturing' has been manifesting for a while now as an actual 'schism'.

Nebraska Republicans fire chairman at party convention


Nebraska Republicans fired their longtime party chairman at a tumultuous state convention that highlighted divisions within the party driven by activists who support former President Donald Trump and want to take the party further to the right.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nebraska-...151214785.html

I was going to post this - nice to see you already have. First impulse, when I saw the story was 'good, a rebuke of Ricketts and his nasty mob'. And then I read about it, and learned it was the Trumpers who pulled off the coup. Outta the frying pan, boys. I'd like to think the in-fighting might torpedo the whole damn bunch - but aside from Omaha/Lincoln, nebraska is pretty pathetically red.

[C. Ross]

I won’t pick nits, David, but I think the phenomena is more like erosion or exfoliation. Fracturing implies “divide into groups”. I think there is “MAGA” and “ex-Republican”. I don’t think there’s yet any emerging cluster of Republicans who aren’t MAGA. But there’s a lot more mineral bits who used to be Republican stone.

2022 or 2024 could change that.

[David G]

I won’t pick nits, David, but I think the phenomena is more like erosion or exfoliation. Fracturing implies “divide into groups”. I think there is “MAGA” and “ex-Republican”. I don’t think there’s yet any emerging cluster of Republicans who aren’t MAGA. But there’s a lot more mineral bits who used to be Republican stone.

2022 or 2024 could change that.

I see several components, with definitions - or even the # of groups - still fluid.

MAGA - Not the majority of R's, but loud and active. They have been on the rise.

Ex-R's - Sure, they exist. A very small cohort from what I can tell, but people are definitely leaving. Not so much to become D's, but more Independent or Unaffiliated.

Loyal Opposition - Those who might post that lawn sign: "I'm a Republican, but I'm not a fool". Cheney, Mitt Romney, et.al. A group that seems to be growing... or at least becoming more emboldened and vocal.

The Center - That large group of largely disengaged, largely uncommitted, follow the herd folks who are mostly influenced by R propaganda, but not really rabid MAGA. They have been mostly sliding toward tRump, but the in-party resistance has given them pause, and confused them. I know lots of rural Oregon folks like this.

The reason I use 'fracture' is that the process I see developing goes beyond the normal intramural policy and strategy disagreements or jockeying for personal advancement. This is bigger. And more divisive. And potentially more destructive. I definitely don't see it as MAGA completely taking over and shedding a few non-compliant outliers.

[C. Ross]

If there’s a loyal opposition or center they aren’t visible. They certainly aren’t organizing. If you’re a Republican you’re MAGA for all intents and purposes.

[Garret]

Here in VT, fracturing may now be accurate. Our Rep. governor is a shoe-in - as he's a moderate, pro-choice (as policy, not personally) Rep. The Lt. Gov. primary for the Reps is pitting a moderate similar to the gov. vs. a MAGA who was at the Jan. 6 insurrection "because the election was stolen & patriots need to step up".

Should be interesting - though historically here a Rep Gov. gets a Dem/Prob Lt. & vice-versa.

[David G]

If there’s a loyal opposition or center they aren’t visible. They certainly aren’t organizing. If you’re a Republican you’re MAGA for all intents and purposes.

Aren't, and aren't? I have to disagree. Though they are still a bit nascent, my read is that they are growing, while tRump's influence is currently huge, but beginning to show signs of waning --

These are the faces of the anti-Trump Republican Party

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/27/polit...ans/index.html

[George Jung]

This might work here - HCR's latest, and a factual rebuttal of what Rep's are saying (not that that matters)

Heather Cox Richardson

12h ·


July 10, 2022 (Sunday)

With the recent Supreme Court decisions gutting federal enforcement of civil rights and business regulation and the public hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, economic news has been pushed out of the center of public conversation. That’s a shame for two reasons.

First, Democratic president Joe Biden appears to be centering his presidency around the idea of rebuilding the middle class through government investment in ordinary Americans. This is a major shift—a sea change—from the past 40 years of Republican policy saying that the economy would prosper if only the government slashed taxes and regulation, leaving more money and power in the hands of business leaders, those “makers” who would invest in new industries and provide more jobs. Watching the effect of his policies is a window into what works and what doesn’t.

Second, the Republicans are counting on anger over inflation, shortages, and gas prices to win control over the House of Representatives and the Senate in the fall elections. It’s worth paying attention to what’s really going on with those issues, as well as to what policies the Democrats and the Republicans are putting on the table to address them.

On the first point: Biden has focused on rebuilding the American middle class that has been so terribly hollowed out in the past 40 years. While he appears to be driven by his belief in the dignity of all Americans and their right to be able to make ends meet with a decent job, historians will tell you that in the U.S., race and gender tensions are significantly lower when income and wealth are more evenly distributed than when a few people at the top of the economic ladder control most of the nation’s capital. The rise of lynching in the U.S. in the late 1880s, just as trusts came to monopolize the economy, was not a coincidence.

The Republican economic promise since Reagan has been that cutting regulation and taxes would create a healthy economy in which everyone who is willing to work can thrive. But political commentator Thom Hartmann marshaled the statistics in a crystal clear Twitter thread a week ago, revealing just how badly that argument has failed.

Hartmann noted that after World War II, “the nation had hummed along for 40 years on a top income tax bracket of 91% and a corporate income tax that topped out around 50%.” Business was growing faster than at any other previous time, and businessmen stayed out of politics. The country had great public schools, research laboratories, trade schools, airports, interstate highways, and small businesses, as well as unions that protected America’s workers.

The election of Ronald Reagan meant radical tax cuts (from a top marginal rate of 74% in 1980 to the 27% it is today), business deregulation, and the gutting of social safety nets. Forty-two years later, Hartmann notes, more than $50 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. In 1980, 60% of us were in the middle class; now fewer than half of us are. Republicans promised that permitting business concentration would lead to innovation and opportunity; instead, we have seen an end to competition, along with price gouging and profiteering from the giant companies that choke out small business. Stock buybacks were supposed to mean that senior executives would care more about the future of their companies, but instead they have become a means for them to pocket cash.

Since the beginning of his term, Biden has tried to take on the concentration of wealth and power among a few elites. Biden’s investment in the U.S. economy through the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill has produced significant results. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the nonfarm job numbers for June, which show that employment continues to rise. The economy added 372,000 jobs in June, mostly in “professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care.” We are still 524,000 jobs down from February 2020, before the pandemic. Unemployment remains at 3.6%, with about 5.9 million folks unemployed.

There were some interesting trends in the data. There are 880,000 more jobs in business, computer design, administration, and research than there were in February 2020. There are 260,000 more jobs in outpatient health care now than in February 2020, but hospitals have lost 57,000 workers, and nursing and residential care have lost 379,000. Leisure and hospitality—restaurants, for example—have lost a whopping 1.3 million jobs, or 7.8% of their workers, since February 2020 (although the sector is growing again).

But look at this: transportation and warehousing have grown fast, with 759,000 more jobs than in February 2020. Manufacturing is back to where it was in February 2020, suggesting that President Joe Biden’s emphasis on repairing supply chains is paying off.

And in the past year, wages have gone up 5.1%. That, along with increased pressure for unionization, suggests workers have more power than they did before the pandemic.

This data suggests that people are moving away from work in restaurants, leisure, and nursing—all professions hit terribly hard during the pandemic—and toward transportation and office work. The increase in wages reflects more bargaining power on the part of employees. All of this is hardly rocket science, I know, but it does suggest that the economy is reorganizing at least temporarily into new forms since the pandemic.

This is of interest as we try to figure out what’s going on with inflation, which is currently afflicting not just the U.S. but the rest of the world as well. That story tells us something about the success of the Republican program Hartmann identified.

One of the reasons for inflation has been the concentration of corporate power since the 1980s. A June report by three economists for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston noted that “[t]he US economy is at least 50 percent more concentrated today than it was in 2005,” and that such concentration amplifies the degree to which companies pass price hikes onto consumers as businesses overcompensate for rising production costs. In the oil industry, the report notes, as prices have spiked, companies have posted jaw-dropping profits.

The price of gasoline has been coming down from its crazy high for the past 25 days. In the past two weeks, the average price of gas has dropped 19 cents a gallon, and as the price of crude oil continues to fall, consumers can expect to see prices continue to fall as well, although they fall more slowly than they rise in a phenomenon researchers call “rocket and feathers.” That term refers to the fact that gas prices go up like a rocket along with the cost of crude oil but fall more slowly as the cost of crude oil comes down, in part because consumers are so happy to see any relief at the pump that they don’t shop around to drive prices lower.

One of the reasons for the crazy highs is speculation by largely unregulated energy traders that creates massive volatility in prices. Lack of regulation is in the news today in another industry, too, as journalists from media organizations including the Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and the Washington Post revealed how Uber evaded regulators by using a “kill switch” that shut down regulators’ access to the files they needed to monitor the company.

There is a coming showdown between the Democrats’ approach to the economy and the old Republican approach. Biden and the Democrats are trying to pass a $52 billion U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) that would invest in U.S. science and technology to boost American industry, support research, and fund the manufacture of semiconductor chips to free the U.S. from relying on Chinese products. But Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has vowed to kill the measure unless the Democrats back off on a budget package that would fund Medicare by placing a 3.8% tax on income “pass throughs” taken by individuals making more than $400,000 a year and would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, significantly lowering costs to consumers.

[David G]

As far as I can tell, R's remain united in their approval of the 'trickle-down' dogma and their cluelessness about the corrosive anti-Republic consequences of their push toward making the rich and powerful even more so. Where some of the split comes is two-part.

First - there are some who retain some level of actual patriotism... who regard tRump's approach as TOO authoritarian/totalitarian. Who see that what he really wants is to become the de facto king. They draw the line at the end of the Republic.

Second - on a strategic level, the creeping dysfunction and the dawning awareness by many of what a con-man douche tRump is... is forcing them to contemplate possible electoral pushback. They don't care about the Republic so much as they worry about their own political careers.

[David G]

More on the schism. Hogan says it's happening... just taking "longer than it should" ---


GOP governor says conservatives are slowly pushing back against Trump: ‘It’s just taking longer than it should’


Hogan told moderator Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump’s “influence is diminishing” and that the Republican Party will slowly distance itself from the former president. The Maryland governor, who has long been critical of Trump, also said he no longer feels he is a lone dissenter.

“I’ve been talking about this for years now, and I felt like I was on a lifeboat all by myself. But now we need a bigger boat because more and more people are speaking out every day,” Hogan said. “I said Trump’s influence on the party was going to diminish over time. It hasn’t happened rapidly, but it has diminished dramatically.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-...han-it-should/

[Art Haberland]

Hogan told moderator Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump’s “influence is diminishing” and that the Republican Party will slowly distance itself from the former president. The Maryland governor, who has long been critical of Trump, also said he no longer feels he is a lone dissenter.

“I’ve been talking about this for years now, and I felt like I was on a lifeboat all by myself. But now we need a bigger boat because more and more people are speaking out every day,” Hogan said. “I said Trump’s influence on the party was going to diminish over time. It hasn’t happened rapidly, but it has diminished dramatically.”

Until Trump 2.0 comes along and hijacks the base out from under them. President and DeSantis are two words I do not want to put together.

[David G]

Trump and Pence squared off in the desert. It was one-sided.

In the run-up to Trump’s rally with Lake, Stan Barnes, a former state lawmaker and longtime Republican consultant, described the Trump and Pence appearances in Arizona as “like some sort of celestial planet lineup that you witness every millennium … That’s what it feels like on the ground in Arizona.”

What was happening, he added, was a slow-motion, real-time “tearing of the fabric in the Republican Party that’s there for us to see. We have Donald Trump doing his thing with his candidate … The voters in the Republican Party in Arizona may not be aware of this yet, but they’re not just choosing a candidate to represent the party in the general election. They’re choosing the actual direction of the party.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-pen...172013407.html

[johnw]

There were several early on in this thread who argued that saying 'fracturing' was incorrect. Either they wanted another term, or didn't see any sort of fracturing happening, or viewed it as a 'hostile takeover' more than an internal schism, or somesuch. I wonder how they view it now??

I am brought back to this question today by the passing of my friend Glen. When those folks were arguing about fracturing, he PM'd me to agree with the term. And he had some choice words for the naysayers, that he was WAY to polite to say out loud. Still gives me a chuckle. Y'all know who you are. And if not, I can remind you. Are you still arguing that 'fracturing' is incorrect?

I wish it looked more like fracturing to me. If, say, Liz Cheney looked like she could win reelection, I'd have a feeling that the party was fracturing rather than being taken over by its radical wing.

[Jimmy W]

Trump booed as he announces endorsement at Arizona rally: ‘But you like me, right?’

[LeeG]

Trump and Pence squared off in the desert. It was one-sided.

In the run-up to Trump’s rally with Lake, Stan Barnes, a former state lawmaker and longtime Republican consultant, described the Trump and Pence appearances in Arizona as “like some sort of celestial planet lineup that you witness every millennium … That’s what it feels like on the ground in Arizona.”

What was happening, he added, was a slow-motion, real-time “tearing of the fabric in the Republican Party that’s there for us to see. We have Donald Trump doing his thing with his candidate … The voters in the Republican Party in Arizona may not be aware of this yet, but they’re not just choosing a candidate to represent the party in the general election. They’re choosing the actual direction of the party.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-pen...172013407.html

For them, Pence — and every vestige of the old, establishment wing of the GOP — is in the past.

“He was a good guy,” one attendee said.

“I don’t have an opinion on [Pence],” said another, who was eager to persuade Trump to “head up a liquidation of the federal government” if elected.

That’s right, tear it all down. Them’s patriots alright.

[John Smith]

I'm hesitant to predict. It is sad that so many people watch FOX and such. They likely have no concept of what actually comes of out the hearings. On the other hand, some republicans MUST be aware.

That might well lead to Trumpsters winning primaries, but losing the general. We also don't know what the DOJ may be doing. Possibly more than we think.

A lot of s**t can hit the fan between now and November.

[David G]

I can only speculate on this one. I think maybe the incessant drumbeat of the 1/6 hearings are seeping into the gestalt, sapping the enthusiasm of the grassroots, non-Maga-Maniac faction of R's.


Republicans Confront Unexpected Online Money Slowdown

Online fundraising has slowed across much of the Republican Party in recent months, an unusual pullback of small donors that has set off a mad rush among Republican political operatives to understand why — and reverse the sudden decline before it damages the party’s chances this fall.

Small-dollar donations typically increase as an election nears. But just the opposite has happened in recent months across a wide range of Republican entities, including every major party committee and former President Donald Trump’s political operation.

The total amount donated online fell more than 12% across all federal Republican campaigns and committees in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, according to an analysis of federal records from WinRed, the main online Republican donation-processing portal.

More alarming for Republicans: Democratic contributions surged at the same time. Total federal donations on ActBlue, the Democratic counterpart, jumped more than 21%.

The overall Democratic fundraising edge online widened by $100 million from the last quarter of 2021 to the most recent three-month period, records show.
Exacerbating the fundraising problems for Republicans is that Trump continues to be the party’s dominant fundraiser and yet virtually none of the tens of millions of dollars he has raised has gone toward defeating Democrats. Instead, the money has funded his political team and retribution agenda against Republicans who have crossed him....

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/u...democrats.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republica...120500075.html

[elf]

Cost of living for the rubes. All that income inequality money is going to the Repubs.

[Boatbum]

I'm hesitant to predict. It is sad that so many people watch FOX and such. They likely have no concept of what actually comes of out the hearings. On the other hand, some republicans MUST be aware.

That might well lead to Trumpsters winning primaries, but losing the general. We also don't know what the DOJ may be doing. Possibly more than we think.

A lot of s**t can hit the fan between now and November.

Actually I think that the Trump endorsed candidates will hurt the GOP much more than it will help.

[David G]

Another example --


In a growing schism in the GOP, Matt Gaetz slammed Kevin McCarthy at CPAC: 'He should not be the leader of the Republican conference'

https://www.businessinsider.com/gaet...-leader-2022-8

[David G]

Republicans turn on each other amid post-Roe chaos

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...chaos-00050417

[john welsford]

I can only speculate on this one. I think maybe the incessant drumbeat of the 1/6 hearings are seeping into the gestalt, sapping the enthusiasm of the grassroots, non-Maga-Maniac faction of R's.


Republicans Confront Unexpected Online Money Slowdown

Online fundraising has slowed across much of the Republican Party in recent months, an unusual pullback of small donors that has set off a mad rush among Republican political operatives to understand why — and reverse the sudden decline before it damages the party’s chances this fall.

Small-dollar donations typically increase as an election nears. But just the opposite has happened in recent months across a wide range of Republican entities, including every major party committee and former President Donald Trump’s political operation.

The total amount donated online fell more than 12% across all federal Republican campaigns and committees in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, according to an analysis of federal records from WinRed, the main online Republican donation-processing portal.

More alarming for Republicans: Democratic contributions surged at the same time. Total federal donations on ActBlue, the Democratic counterpart, jumped more than 21%.

The overall Democratic fundraising edge online widened by $100 million from the last quarter of 2021 to the most recent three-month period, records show.
Exacerbating the fundraising problems for Republicans is that Trump continues to be the party’s dominant fundraiser and yet virtually none of the tens of millions of dollars he has raised has gone toward defeating Democrats. Instead, the money has funded his political team and retribution agenda against Republicans who have crossed him....

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/u...democrats.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republica...120500075.html

Many of these donors wont have a lot of discretionary income, so every dollar that goes in Trumps direction is a dollar thats not available to support other republicans, so maybe that should be subtly encouraged.
I'm sure that the raid on Mar a Lago will help in that respect, I see he's already begging for cash. Again. Still.

John Welsford

[David G]

Ousted Republican reflects on Trump, democracy and America: ‘The place has lost its mind’


He identifies as “pro-life”, sees the US constitution as being inspired by God, and voted for Trump in the 2020 election. “I campaigned for Trump, I went to his rallies, I stood up on the stage with him,” he said.

Somewhere along the line, though, things started to come unstuck. A rift opened up between his old-school Republican values and those of a new cadre of activists who were energized by Trump and his embrace of conspiracy theories and strongman politics.

In hindsight, Bowers now recognizes that the opening shots of the conflict were fired not around the 2020 presidential election but earlier in the year, in the initial days of Covid. Trump-fanatical Republicans in the Arizona house displayed in their anti-mask antics the same disdain for the rules, the same bullying style, that was later to erupt in the stolen election furor.

+++++++++++++++++++

He gathered a group of trusted lawyers and went to investigate the counting process close up. “I saw incredible amounts of protocols that were followed and signed off by volunteers – Democrats, Republicans, independents. Yes, Republicans for crying out loud! And they did it by the book.”

++++++++++++++


I asked Bowers whether, through all this, he had ever doubted his strength to stand up to the onslaught. Were his values tested?

“I never had the thought of giving up,” he said. “No way. I don’t like bullies. That’s one constant in my life: I. Do. Not. Like. Bullies.”

+++++++++++++++++++


Bowers said he remains optimistic that the party will one day find its way back on to the rails. He draws succor from the many people who have come up to him since his defeat telling him – quietly, so that nobody can hear – that they admire him and back him.

“It’s not like I’m alone in the wilderness. There’s a lot of people from all over the United States thanking me.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...na-republicans

[David G]

Colo. Senator Says He 'Cannot Continue' to Be a Republican Due to Party's Jan. 6, Stolen Election Claims

https://people.com/politics/colorado...nounces-trump/

[Boatbum]

Colo. Senator Says He 'Cannot Continue' to Be a Republican Due to Party's Jan. 6, Stolen Election Claims

https://people.com/politics/colorado...nounces-trump/

Ya, but that is cherry picking.....

More have switched to Republican that to Democrat

As of August 2022, Ballotpedia staff have counted 156 state legislators who have switched parties since 1994. Ballotpedia has counted 41 state senators who have switched parties and 115 state representatives.
Number of state lawmakers who switched from Democrat to Republican: 76

• State senators: 22
• State representatives: 54

Number of state lawmakers who switched from Republican to Democrat: 21

• State senators: 6
• State representatives: 15

In the past two years it's about even.......

Democrat to Republican:

• 2020 – Jason Barrett, West Virginia State Representative^[113]
• 2021 – Vernon Jones, Georgia State Representative^[114]
• 2021 – John Jay Lee, North Las Vegas Mayor^[115]
• 2021 – Mick Bates, West Virginia State Delegate^[116]
• 2021 – Ryan Guillen, Texas State Representative^[117]
• 2022 – Mike Sullivan, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland (1998–2001) and Governor of Wyoming (1987–1995)^[118]

^{Republican to Democrat:}

• 2020 – David Tubiolo, while Westchester County, NY Legislator^[264]
• 2020 – Frank Aguilar, member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives^[265]
• 2021 – William Marsh, New Hampshire State Representative^[266]
• 2021 – Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction^[267]
• 2022 – Jim Leach, former U.S. Representative from Iowa (1977–2007)^[268]
• 2022 – Kevin Priola, Colorado State Senator^[269]

[George Jung]

By all appearances, 'a tell'. Those individuals inclined to lying, conspiracy theories, hanging on to power regardless the cost - will naturally gravitate to the Republican party.

Rather like what we saw with the old Dixiecrats.

[David G]

7 more Republican leaders endorse Democrat Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania governor, following news of GOP candidate Doug Mastriano wearing a Confederate military uniform


Seven more Republican leaders have announced their endorsement for Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for governor Josh Shapiro, following photos of GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano wearing a Confederate military uniform.

This comes one month after nine Republicans vowed to support the Democratic candidate and called Mastriano an "extremist" who threatens American democracy.

According to a statement released by the Shapiro campaign on Tuesday, the group includes Michael Chertoff, the former US Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, and Mario Civera, a former state representative.

https://www.businessinsider.com/repu...uniform-2022-8

[David G]

Even Biden has publicly recognized the divisions within the Rparty --

According to President Biden, “MAGA Republicans” are a growing danger to American democracy and an extremist faction of a once-principled political party, a radical movement with unpopular, unworkable ideas.

[Boatbum]

Even Biden has publicly recognized the divisions within the Rparty --

According to President Biden, “MAGA Republicans” are a growing danger to American democracy and an extremist faction of a once-principled political party, a radical movement with unpopular, unworkable ideas.

Shocking! a Democrat with mid-terms approaching sees divisions in the GOP. I guess his "Ultra MAGA" meme never caught on.

[David G]

New evidence shows GOP’s Trump problem may be getting worse


Trump remains overwhelmingly popular among Republican voters, but he’s just as unpopular with Democrats, and there is a growing body of evidence that he is losing more support from independent swing voters as he grapples with a slew of investigations.

A new NBC News poll released Sunday found just 34 percent of registered voters said they have a positive view of Trump, compared to 54 percent who said they have a negative view of him. That’s the lowest Trump has polled in NBC’s survey since April 2021.

While Trump has defended himself since the FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified records, the controversy appears to be hurting him.

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in late August found half of Americans think Trump should be prosecuted over his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, including 52 percent of independent voters.

An NPR-Marist poll released on Sept. 7 found 67 percent of independents say they don’t want him to run for president again.

And in another indictment of Trump’s standing with moderate voters, a New York Times-Siena survey conducted earlier in September found him trailing President Biden in a hypothetical rematch by 3 percentage points, despite just 39 percent of independents in that poll saying they approve of Biden’s job performance.

“These candidates have to fight kind of two-fold battles,” said John Thomas, a Republican strategist. “Can you move your base turnout margin ever so slightly? I think Trump has utility there. And can you win with independent swing voters on issues that aren’t Trump-related?”

Trump won’t be on the ballot this fall, but he’s closely associated with GOP Senate candidates Herschel Walker, Blake Masters, J.D. Vance and Mehmet Oz, all of whom got across the finish line in their respective Senate primaries with the former president’s support.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...getting-worse/

The fracture line seems to be mostly developing along the issue of 'mindlessly loyal to tRump' or 'not'.