Over 100 Never Trumper Republicans are expected to sign a letter on Thursday stating that if the GQP doesn't stop with the Trump Personality Cult crap, they were going to start a break away party that were loyal to the traditional Republican values. You know, things like guns, God, voter suppression and rights suppression.
They had threatened to do this in February in response to the MAGA Sedition Riot of January 6. Apparently now, the catalyst is the expected ouster of Liz Cheney from her seat of power in the GOP, because she had the nerve to vote with the law and uphold the Constitution.
The letter is rather scathing in parts:
"The Republican Party is broken. It's time for a resistance of the 'rationals' against the 'radicals,'" said Miles Taylor, one of the organizers. Taylor, while serving in the Trump White House, wrote an anonymous opinion piece in the New York Times in 2018 headlined: "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration."
Also interesting are some of the names of those intending to put their names to the letter:
The letter signatories, who include former ambassadors, governors, congressional members and Cabinet secretaries, want the Republican Party to return to "principled" leadership and reject division and conspiracy theories, or face a new party dedicated to fighting for Republicans such as Cheney and against fearmongering and lies.
Backers of the reform group include former Republican Governors Tom Ridge, Christine Todd Whitman, George W. Bush-era Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and former House members Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble, and Mickey Edwards.
However, as happy as this might sound, don't break out the party hats and noisemakers yet. It probably won't go anywhere since all the signers are former officeholders. Not one current office holder - including Liz Cheney - are planning on signing on, out of fear of the cultists and of giving Democrats a stronger grip on the House and a majority in the Senate.
The good news is that the Trump cultists have put the party in a Catch-22. If they are successful against all odds, it will cause a major rift in the party that would take years to get resolved.
And if even if they aren't successful, it could have the effect of opening the eyes and strengthening the spinal fortitude of voters who usually stick with candidates just because they have an "R" after their names, regardless of how offensive and batshit crazy the candidate might be. We already saw a start of that last year when a number of them switched over to Biden at the polls.
