Is the Last, Biggest RINO Hunt Underway?

The president (for the next 30 minutes or so) muses about splitting off of the radical right GOP about forming a new radical right third party. The New York Times describes what is going on in Arizona, where the president's supporters control the state legislature. They still firmly believe the election was fraudulent. They do not seem to be bothered by the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the government by force. The NYT writes:

While some Republicans nationwide are beginning to edge away from Trumpism, Arizona is a case of loyalists doubling down, potentially dividing the party in fundamental and irreparable ways. The consequences could be particularly acute in a state that had long been a safe Republican bet, but that has seen a significant political shift in recent years, in large part because of both the increased political participation of young Latinos and the changing views of white suburban women.

The far-right extremism is hardly new in Arizona. The state gave birth to anti-immigrant border militias, legislation that effectively legalized racial profiling, and is home to Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County who pushed a hard-line message on immigration. But the kind of Trump fervor that has been on vivid display in the state since the November election has taken on momentum that even some conservatives in the state find alarming.

Some Republicans in Arizona have now begun to sound the alarm, warning that the party is pushing itself into oblivion in a state where independent voters make up nearly a third of the electorate.

“The angry, spiteful messaging that is coming out of the party right now, it’s not going to win the new west,” said Adam Kwasman, a former state legislator who was once named one of the most conservative lawmakers in the state while in office and who voted for Mr. Trump last year.

“There’s an act of serial larceny going on right now,” said Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican strategist in Phoenix who changed his own party affiliation in 2017 and is now an independent. In the dozens of calls Mr. Coughlin has received from worried Republicans, he said, his advice has been consistent: Don’t bother trying to save anyone who has supported “acts of sedition.” “It has become a party of outright contempt for any authority except for one man. The Republican Party is in the midst of its own French Revolution now.”  

John Fillmore, a state representative who has attended several protests, likened the debate within the party to a “cleansing,” and said he was more concerned about purging those who have criticized Mr. Trump than losing voters.

“The party is discombobulated and the absolute turncoats like Jeff Flake and Liz Cheney will feel the wrath of the Republican voters,” Mr. Fillmore said. “We’re a family, and ultimately what happened was that members of the family went against the family and they did it with a vengeance. It’s what The Godfather said: Don’t ever go against the family. It’s sad.”

The GOP in Arizona may be in the midst of its own French Revolution. The question is what about the rest of the GOP everywhere else? But as one can clearly see in John Fillmore's comments, the Trump wing of the GOP is tribal: Don’t ever go against the family. That dogma applies no matter how autocratic, corrupt, mendacious and incompetent the GOP family has become. Family uber alles!

The Trump family: Never go against it