From time to time a Republican official will make reference to the size of the GOP tent, but I think those claims are becoming less and less accurate. After all, former President Donald Trump really has no civilized tolerance for rivals, or their supporters, as this NBC News report makes clear:
A new super PAC ad attacking former North Carolina Republican governor and Senate hopeful Pat McCrory criticizes the Republican for backing Mitt Romney — in 2012, when Romney was the party’s presidential nominee.
Seeking to draw a contrast between how McCrory spoke about Romney and about Trump, a new Club for Growth Action ad airs audio of McCrory calling Romney “a man of incredible courage” followed by him saying that “Donald Trump is destroying democracy.”
McCrory’s praise of Romney came in August of 2012, per the disclaimer on the bottom of the ad, when Romney was the GOP presidential nominee (who had been endorsed by Donald Trump months earlier). And the North Carolina Republican’s comments about Trump came in the aftermath of the 2020 election as he criticized Trump’s unfounded claims the election was stolen, comments McCrory’s opponents have used to argue he isn’t the right fit for Republican voters in a party dominated by Trump.
Superficially, this makes some tactical sense. By associating McCrory with Romney, The Club for Growth makes it clear to the Trumpist base that McCrory is not the Trump-endorsed candidate (that would be Rep Ted Budd (R-NC)) in this race.
But this is not an isolated tactic:
It’s not the first time that a GOP group has tried to use a candidate’s support for the party’s 2012 nominee against them. Last cycle, a GOP group attacked future Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty for working as Romney’s national finance chair in 2012, the Club for Growth evoked Romney’s image in an attack on future Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, and the Club also attacked a GOP House candidate in Florida for donating to Romney’s presidential bid.
Yeah, this tactic is not working – yet. But by attempting to drive wedges between the Trumpist base and Romney-associated politicos, especially those with lots of experience such as McCrory, the Club for Growth is doing Trump’s bidding, and by so doing they are sending a signal to all non-Trumpists that their welcome in the GOP is not assured.
And the Trumpist base, while sizable enough to be worthy of a financial harvest, is neither huge nor even stable. That is, Trump’s moral standing is neither bolstered by heading a church, nor is it stabilized by his own behaviors, and if his tax records are released and show he’s not the genius he claims to be, his base could shrink rapidly.
And with other factions expelled from the “Big Tent,” it could become quite the small tent indeed. This may be the necessary next step in the Reformation of the Republican Party, as the party tears itself apart because of the utterly immature impulses of the man-child at the titular head of the party, and those who are expelled begin building a new party.
We shall see.
