The Republican Party with Mr. Donald J. Trump as its central figure has become unrecognizable to many whom have called it a second-home since the near-inception of their civic rituals.
Mr. George Wills, a longtime conservative commentator, during the 2016 campaign repudiated Mr. Trump. In June of 2016, the Maryland resident who writes for The Washington Post withdrew his affiliation.
Mr. Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressman and co-host of ‘Morning Joe’ on MSNBC, quit the party in October of 2017 and registered as an independent. He consistently criticizes Mr. Trump, though they were once friends.
The president’s brand of conservatism has riled up the fringes of the Republican Party, those who are tantalized by racially and culturally insensitive language and actions. With those radical voices seemingly growing in volume, mainstream Republicans who don’t conform risk not fitting in.
Mr. Trump’s unit is widely perceived as the embodiment of extreme nationalism. And the president’s zero-tolerance immigration policy – which went into effect in April of this year and has resulted in the separation of families at the southern border – has only furthered that perception.
In pursuing a hardcore deterrence to illegal immigration, which is a real problem in the country, Mr. Trump weakens his party while aiming to project strength. His unmitigated machismo and nationalism may mean the imminent demise of his colleagues who seek reelection in November; most Americans oppose separating families at the border.
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Mr. Steve Schmidt, a former GOP strategist who was an integral part of the presidential campaigns of Mr. George W. Bush and Mr. John McCain, is among those Americans who oppose the federal government’s zero-tolerance policy.
“This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of humanity in our history,” he wrote on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Mr. Schmidt disavowed the Republican Party, calling it “corrupt, indecent and immoral,” and, upon renouncing his membership, urged Americans to vote for Democrats in November.
“Our politics are badly broken. The first step to a season of renewal in our land is the absolute and utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 Democratic majorities.”
Mr. Schmidt, who had been with the GOP for nearly three decades, will register as an independent but will align himself with the Democratic Party. According to a Fox News poll released last week, Democrats hold a 9-point advantage over Republicans on a generic ballot for control of the House in November.
With a number of registered Republicans hoping for their party to lose, the Democrats seem to be the biggest benefactor of Mr. Trump’s undisciplined and provocative style of governing.
On Tuesday, The Daily Beast ran a story entitled ‘The Conservatives Who Want the GOP to Lose This Fall.’ The piece quotes several disillusioned Republicans who are cheering on their opposition.
“I am now a member of a party I want to see cast into the political wilderness for a few years — or longer, if that’s what it takes to break the fever,” Mr. Tom Nichols, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, wrote in a February column that was cited in the article.
Mr. Matt Lewis of The Daily Beast also in his article mentioned conservative columnist John Ziegler, who has never voted for a Democrat for a federal or state office in his life but this year will do exactly that.
“I will actually be rooting for Democrats to win back at least the House of Representatives,” he wrote.
The Democrats’ chances to take back the House improved on Wednesday when former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged $80 million to assist their efforts. Mr. Bloomberg – a registered independent who has, at times, supported both parties – in a statement first reported by The New York Times said “Republicans in Congress have had almost two years to prove they could govern responsibly. They failed.”
According to CNBC, Bloomberg advisor Howard Wolfson, a 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign aide and a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is charged with overseeing the multi-million-dollar effort. On Wednesday, Mr. Wolfson on Twitter wrote: “We will make sure that voters in November remember which members of Congress allowed the president to separate children from their parents.”
Mr. Trump on Wednesday said he will sign an executive order that will end the separation of families at the border but keep the zero-tolerance policy on the books.
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