From top to bottom?
Some Republicans ARE trying to extract their party from the grip of Donald Trump….
It is is not gonna be easy…
But the effort IS going on and growing….
Similar clashes between Republican leaders and the candidates Trump has embraced have been playing out across the country with growing ferocity in recent months, a chaotic sign that Trump’s once unchallenged hold on the party and rank-and-file supporters is waning, even if by degrees.
The former president’s power within the party and his continued focus on personal grievances is increasingly questioned behind closed doors at Republican gatherings, according to interviews with more than a dozen prominent Republicans in Washington and across the country, including some Trump advisers. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity because there remains significant fear of attracting Trump’s public wrath.
The growing split is rooted in diverging priorities: Trump has pursued a narrow effort to punish those who challenged his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, while also working to put people in power who would be more sympathetic to him should he try the same thing again. Other Republicans are more focused on finding palatable candidates most able to win in November.
As a result, Trump and his endorsees now find themselves fighting against some elected GOP leaders, donors and party officers intent on navigating the party slowly away from him and his false election claims. Among voters, polls have shown Republican-leaning independents turning from Trump.
“It’s Trump versus the establishment again,” DePerno explained. “There are a lot of people in the state party who — they don’t like Donald Trump. They never liked him.”
In states such as Alabama, North Carolina and Alaska, Trump’s endorsed Senate candidates trail in fundraising or have been challenged in early polls. An increasingly emboldened minority of Republican senators in Washington have bucked Trump’s direct commands, first by supporting a bipartisan infrastructure bill and now by working on a bipartisan effort that would make it harder for a future president to overturn a federal election result….
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The growing dissent and ebbing support has undercut the former president’s efforts to portray himself as an unassailable figure, and thrown suspense into the upcoming primary season….
The effort by Senate GOP leader McConnell to push what he see’s as Trump’s harmful political influence aside….
As Mr. Trump works to retain his hold on the Republican Party, elevating a slate of friendly candidates in midterm elections, Mr. McConnell and his allies are quietly, desperately maneuvering to try to thwart him. The loose alliance, which was once thought of as the G.O.P. establishment, for months has been engaged in a high-stakes candidate recruitment campaign, full of phone calls, meetings, polling memos and promises of millions of dollars. It’s all aimed at recapturing the Senate majority, but the election also represents what could be Republicans’ last chance to reverse the spread of Trumpism before it fully consumes their party.
Mr. McConnell for years pushed Mr. Trump’s agenda and only rarely opposed him in public. But the message that he delivers privately now is unsparing, if debatable: Mr. Trump is losing political altitude and need not be feared in a primary, he has told Mr. Ducey in repeated phone calls, as the Senate leader’s lieutenants share polling data they argue proves it.
In conversations with senators and would-be senators, Mr. McConnell is blunt about the damage he believes Mr. Trump has done to the G.O.P., according to those who have spoken to him. Privately, he has declared he won’t let unelectable “goofballs” win Republican primaries.
History doesn’t bode well for such behind-the-scene efforts to challenge Mr. Trump, and Mr. McConnell’s hard sell is so far yielding mixed results….
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If he loses in a series of races after an attempt to play kingmaker, however, it would deflate Mr. Trump’s standing, luring other ambitious Republicans into the White House contest and providing a path for the party to move on….
Trump Bashes Susan Collins
Former President Donald Trump released a statement slamming Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and claiming “she would have had no chance to win” her 2020 reelection if he’d gotten involved, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “But I remained silent and positive and allowed her to have her victory. She would have lost in a landslide. Gee, aren’t I nice?”