Who Is The Next Leader Of The GOP?
Trump’s campaign is deteriorating as the Harris/Walz momentum grows. Each new poll shows Trump falling further behind. Harris/Walz rallies are drawing larger crowds, and fundraising for Harris continues to dwarf that for Trump.
Trump is going to lose again, just like he lost before. He will try to cheat his way to a win but will be defeated there, too. Trump’s days as the leader of the Republican party are about to be over. Who will rise to take his place?
Republicans won’t need to begin seriously considering potential presidential candidates for another three years. However, they will need leaders to reach a consensus on policy and platform until then. The problem is that there are no clear front-runners for the job.
MAGA attempted to hang the last Republican Vice President, and no one likes the new one.
There’s Mitch McConnell, a longtime leader in the Senate but on the verge of retirement and disliked by younger members.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson got the position only after weeks of stalemates involving other candidates and had an ousting attempt against him.
The last Speaker of the House was ousted and retired from Congress. He has since attempted to set up primary campaigns against his Republican enemies.
Lindsey Graham doesn’t have the chops to be a leader. He is more suited to be a loyal sycophant in the number five or six position, dutifully defending any outrageous lies.
Rand Paul is a libertarian.
Republicans have accused Ted Cruz of being the most hated member of Congress.
The House has no better prospects than the Senate and fewer experienced members. The hardcore MAGA group, including Greene, Boebert, Biggs, Donalds, and Gaetz, has made more enemies than friends.
There aren’t any great options outside of Congress, either. Governor Ron DeSantis had a terrible Presidential campaign that had him coming off as odd and unlikeable. Nikki Haley was well positioned by being the opposition to Trump, who warned not only of his downfall but the downfall of the entire party, but then turned around and kissed the ring by giving Trump her support and endorsement—any advantage she had, she destroyed and lost much of her base in the process.
The problem with a cult of personality is that anyone who could challenge the leader needs to be expelled from the group to ensure his long-lasting reign.
The GOP chased out all of the more moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney or anyone more closely aligned with the politics of either Bush President or Reagan. That void was filled by extreme far-right MAGA politicians who don’t think strategically or about the future of the party, only about what grievance they can conjure up on a given day and how best to worship Donald Trump no matter how much of his corruption is exposed.
There aren’t even strong options in those pushed out of the Republican party. Liz Cheney, for example, made a lot of enemies through her involvement in the Jan 6th committee, and her statements before that were extreme, including claiming that Democrats wanted to abort babies after birth. There’s no way for her to reenter the party and build a coalition of support.
Democrats are the exact opposite. They have a deep bench full of experienced, grounded, and well-supported candidates. This depth was on display as talks about Biden stepping down grew louder. Multiple candidates were touted as strong replacements, and once Harris quickly moved to the top of the list, the search for a VP was an embarrassment of riches.
It may seem too early to discuss who will be the next leader of the Republican party, with the election still over 80 days away, but Republicans need to be having these discussions to find the path forward.
They can’t utter any of it out loud, or they will experience the wrath of Trump and his supporters. Instead, you will see evidence of the backroom conversations through how many Republican politicians have begun to distance themselves from Trump. They will do so by no longer praising Trump and even by not discussing him at all. They’ll still use rhetoric on why they feel Democratic candidates are bad, but they won’t combine it with saying that Trump is the answer.
That is already happening because Trump already lost, and Republicans know it. This is the moment so many conservatives have been waiting for to try and rise through the ranks to the top of the party, and it could be even more chaotic than when the GOP was searching for a new Speaker of the House.
