The Republican Party is Splinting Before Our Eyes

From time to time I visit the blog "Bearing Drift" which bills itself as "Virginia's Conservative Voice."  In the past - I have tracked it for years now - the site has been fiercely pro-Republican.  That has changed since the rise of Trump and even more so since the 2020 election and the endless lies of Trump and his political whores about election fraud.  Perusing the site today, I found two noteworthy pieces.  The first one sets forth the author's reasoning behind his decision to leave the Republican Party.  The second focuses on the congressional Republicans who are about to challenge the Electoral College results  this includes local congressman Rob Wittman who is excoriated in a piece here - and makes the case for (i) remembering who they are and (ii) making it an agenda item to see them voted out of office at all levels.  I suspect a similar exoduses and declarations of war are occurring across the country as moral and decent people who have struggled to remain in the GOP have reached the braking point. If the Republican Party of Virginia believes it has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning state wide elections without those leaving the party, they are as delusional as Trump.  Here are excerpts from the first piece:

In 2015 I was honored to be the Republican nominee to represent the 74th district of the Virginia House of Delegates, but today it pains me to say goodbye and leave a party that I have fought for and worked to see succeed.

The present day Republican Party is a party where a majority believe in crackpot conspiracy theories such as QAnon.

The present day Republican Party openly embraces seditious tactics to satisfy a deranged base and an authoritative President in Donald J. Trump whose only goal is to stay in power.

The present day Republican Party is a party that largely remained silent when President Trump told the extremist Proud Boys to “stand by.”

The present day Republican Party is a party of corruption because they refused to check or admonish Trump for funneling millions of taxpayer dollars to Trump and his family via his business.

The present day Republican Party is a party that is willing to donate millions of dollars to millionaire (maybe billionaire) President Trump who claims to be using it to fight for candidates in Georgia, but is actually pocketing most of the money into his political slush fund PAC.

The present day Republican Party is a party that turned its back on the Constitution, failing to hold confirmation hearings, allowing President Trump to illegally appoint many individuals in “acting” capacities. 

The present day Republican Party has permitted lie after lie from President Trump to go largely unchecked. Many of these lies have been embraced by the GOP and its members.

On Sunday we heard evidence of President Trump, in his own words, demanding of the Secretary of State in Georgia “to find 11,780 votes.” This illegal shake-down of a state election official should have been rebuked far and wide within the GOP but, sadly, most were silent. This silence speaks to the control that Trump has on the GOP and the GOP’s willingness to overlook and willfully embrace authoritative rule and an attempt to overthrow an election.

On Wednesday, when during a Joint Session of Congress they will certify the Electoral College votes to officially make Joe Biden President-elect, we will see something that is purely disgusting in that a large number of Republicans (13 Senators and 144 members of the House thus far) will attempt a legislative coup d’etat.

Over the last 5 years I have fought from within the GOP for change as a NeverTrumper and was kicked out of “official party membership” because I would not cave to the crass and corrupt nature that is Donald J. Trump.

Since 2015 it’s become clear to me that the Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush, McCain, or Romney. Sadly, the party has capitulated to a mob boss in Donald J. Trump to become the Trumpkin Party, a party that I cannot and will not support.

Leaving the Republican Party was not an easy or quick decision. It’s been my political identity since 5th grade. There are many in the party that will be happy to see me leave (which is sad since a political party’s goal should be to grow). Some will probably say don’t let the door hit you on the way out or something much more vulgar. In the end, the GOP has become unrecognizable.

As noted above, the second piece makes the case of why the sedition caucus need to be remembered and forced from elected office.  Here are highlights:

On Wednesday afternoon, Congress will begin the counting of the electoral votes for president that were cast last month. Normally, this formality could be done in minutes. This time, Donald Trump’s insistence on trying to overturn the election, combined with the spinelessness of so many Republicans, makes it possible that the count could roll into Thursday. We now know several Republicans in Congress will challenge the count in certain states (Politico), forcing a debate in both houses.

How many will vote to reject the duly chosen electors in various states? We won’t know until Wednesday. That said, we know at least 126 asked the Supreme Court to disenfranchise voters in several states. Barring the very unforeseen, they will all maintain their obsequiousness to Trump, with a few more added on for bad measure.

We also know it won’t be enough to actually overturn the election: the Democratic majority in the House will refuse to reject any Biden electors, and based on recent reports (see the Politico link above), there are more than enough Republican Senators who have stated their opposition to this madness to ensure the Senate will reject these efforts as well.

More than one hundred Washington Republicans will refuse to accept reality, let alone make the effort to disabuse millions of Republican voters of Trump’s election fantasies. We may very well see a majority of Republican members of Congress go down the “stolen election” rabbit hole.

However many Republicans choose to do this, we must remember every single one of them. We must make it clear that they have no place in our body politic. We must oppose every single effort they ever make to gain a political office.

That may sound harsh, because, well, it is harsh. It is also necessary. The members of Congress who amplify Trump’s lies will make it easier for the next would-be autocrat to succeed, should there be a more pliant Congress in the future. Unless it becomes clear that such behavior will mean the end of their careers, they will suffer no consequences for their promotion of presidential tyranny – and make it much more likely for said tyranny to triumph in the future.

We will see which Senators and Representatives will choose Donald Trump over democracy. We should neither forget nor forgive them for this – ever.

Moreover, Americans who are not prepared to allow tyranny to take power must reject the party that allowed it to get this far. Republicans no longer have the benefit of the doubt. They have squandered it via their embrace of Trump and Trumpism. Until the Republican Party is purged of Trumpism, American political institutions must be purged of Republicans.

Donald Trump will no longer be president in less than three weeks, but the damage he has done to American democracy will take decades to heal. First and foremost, we must keep the wounds clear of infections. We should be grateful that so many of them will be prepared to name themselves by their votes against democracy starting on Wednesday.

Remember their names. Remember their actions. Remove as many from office as possible. Repeat until they’re all gone.

Both pieces are reminiscent of my thought process two decades age. In some ways, I foresaw all of this occurring once reality denying Christofascists infiltrated the GOP.