Just how hard is this hold the GOP has on its fool’s gold?

The rift in the Republican party is intriguing, but may or not be increasing. In the past six or so years, the GOP obviously morphed into the “Party of Donald Trump,” and carried him to the presidency. But the cocoon that cultivated that victory in 2016 shed some stalwarts from the squad.

Most notably, though, are the people who were once hardcore Republicans who are still cheering against their former colleagues even though Trump is out of the White House and Democrat Joe Biden is residing on Pennsylvania Ave.

It’s understandable that “Never Trumpers” were turned off by the 45th president, who was certainly not as dignified as the past candidates promoted by the Grand Old Party. Plus Trump was anti-free trade, was not a war hawk by any means, and didn’t seem to care about deficits that ballooned the national debt. The list goes on and on.

It’s refreshing, though, when citizens find it in themselves to vote their conscience and do not walk in lockstep with one party. You know, vote the issues?

This writer, for example, first voted to give Ronald Reagan his second term in office, voted for every Bush he could and cast a ballot for Bob Dole, rest his soul. But Barack Obama seemed to be a better fit for what America needed than John McCain, especially after the iconic war hero chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Manual High School debate coach Larry Reents taught his students there are two sides to an argument and one would be better served to know — read: research — them both.

So there was a vote for Aaron Schock, but not the next time in favor for Sheldon Shafer. Rod Blageovich got a nod for governor, but then it was Judy Barr-Topinka four years later. There were votes for Bob Michel, Jim Thompson and Ray LaHood, but also for Carol Mosely-Braun, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. And Hillary Clinton, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Popular pundits from the right side were not shy about condemning Trump — GOP pols, not so much. But what’s interesting, especially since Biden is back at the White House, is that these people are still fighting against their former Republicans.

It really should not be surprising that many Republicans could not vote for Trump in 2020, but did decide go straight ticket down the rest of their ballot. What’s surprising are those who are still going against their party’s politicians after punting on Trump.

Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are the most visible challenging their fellow Republican politicians, but a total of 10 in Congress voted to impeach Trump the second time. They are all suffering the consequences of the Trump cult’s wrath, as does anyone who does not think the 2020 election was stolen from him. And the 32 Republicans (13 in the House, 19 in Senate) who had the audacity of voting to improve the infrastructure in their districts are persona non grata in their party now.

Nicole Wallace and Steve Schmidt were Republican operatives, but both switched sides and now work across the aisle at MSNBC. Wallace, who was communications director for George W. Bush and was a top aide for Schmidt when he was campaign manager for McCain/Palin, actually has her own show and does not hesitate to call out any shenanigans from anyone in her former party.

“There’s broad recognition among women who worked in the Republican Party when it was led by Mitt Romney or George Bush or George H. W. Bush, or Ronald Reagan, that the party is largely unrecognizable,” Wallace told Business Insider.

Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, once the Republican National Committee chairman, does not recognize his GOP anymore, either, and made it clear he voted for Biden over Trump.

Former Florida Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough regularly took Obama to task on his morning show, but has since renounced his Republican roots and calls out the cult all the time.

Schmidt, who also worked for the George W. Bush campaign, has actually registered as a Democrat after helping found the Lincoln Project, which is made up of (former?) Republican “Never Trumper” flamethrowers who wield a battle axe of questionable tactics to challenge the cult of Trump. The family separation policy of the Trump Administration was a bridge too far for Schmidt.

“This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history,” Schmidt told Twitter in 2018. “It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated. Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken.”

Those are extreme examples of former Republicans who descended to the hated Hades of uber-liberal MSNBC.

But McCain seemed to to be miffed by his party’s metamorphosis, and Mitt Romney, who ran on the Republican ticket four years after McCain in 2012, voted to impeach Trump; one of seven Republican senators to do so after the Insurrection on Jan. 6. Those were the last two standard-bearers for the GOP before Trump took it over.

RINOs, you may say.

Take Bill Kristol, who is as conservative as one gets. He worked in the Reagan Administration and was chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle. But Kristol left the neoconservative Weekly Standard to help found The Bulwark, which boasts that is “free from constraints of partisan loyalties or Tribal prejudices.” He still claims the Republican Party, and has been trying to recruit members to get back to what he considers its grand old days.

“We’re in a new moment. Both because of Trump and also because of what’s happening now [with the pandemic],” Kristol told the Washington Post in March 2020. “It’s interesting, intellectually, honestly, trying to think through where one should go on a lot of issues in the country. It’s a new set of circumstances. We need to really think in a fresh way.

Parties have a cyclical tendency to fall into the trap of backing a loyal candidate whose “time has come.” Dole was no match for Bill Clinton, but he’d paid his dues. McCain was made into the Maverick to take on Obama. In hindsight, they were set up to lose. But the party felt it was obligated to back both those candidates.
It happened in 2016, too.

Hillary Clinton was pre-ordained to lead the Democratic Party slate since 2012 or maybe even ’08.

Kinzinger is parting from those partisan loyalties and will not seek reelection this fall. The decorated Air Force pilot is serving on the January 6th Committee so he knew he would not be endorsed by the cult of Trump, and Democratic redistricting in Illinois put him in the same 16th District as Darin LaHood. Kinzinger, who is still staunchly Republican, has mulled making up his own party.

“I’m going to maintain my Republican identity,” he said in January. “I’m a Republican. I’ve been one since I was 6, and I’m going to fight for the soul of the party. But I’m not going pretend like it certainly feels like I’m a member of the Republican family.

“There’s a lot of people that are silent that I think agree with me. We just need people to speak out because silence is complicit and silence will allow the conspiracy to infect this party way worse than it is now, which is frightening.”

LaHood is caught up in the cult, which is politically important since the Tri-County area is definitely Trump country. He, of course, voted against improving infrastructure in Illinois.

Politicians can seem to be smarmy swamp creatures on both sides of the aisle. There’s a chance, though, the opponent on the other side may be worth your while.

Brian Ludwig is Managing Editor of The Community Word.