Republicans still in thrall to their great disruptor

Calls for the party to move on remain futile while Donald Trump still dominates the landscape.

Trump acolyte Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to be overthrown by pro-Trump Republicans. Picture: AFP

In the days after last year’s January 6 riot at the Capitol, Donald Trump’s approval rating sank to the lowest point of his presidency, just 29 per cent.

Most senior Republicans had been cowed by Trump during his chaotic four-year presidency.

Exasperated by his efforts to overturn the 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden, they finally broke with him as the shockwaves from the violence at the Capitol reverberated through Washington.

When Trump was impeached for a second time a week later, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican house leader, urged colleagues to support the motion.

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, said: “Former president Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty. There is no question that president Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.”

In the weeks that followed, however, Republican grandees fell silent as Trump refused to leave the public stage.

The deadly violence of January 6 has only cemented Trump’s support, while his “Big Lie” about the stolen election is embedded in the fabric of the Republican Party. Among Republican voters, Trump’s support has stayed at stratospheric highs, above 75 per cent.

The ratings of McConnell and Mike Pence, the former vice-president who fled the Senate as Trump supporters called to hang him, have plummeted.

Calls for the party to move on remain futile while Trump still dominates the landscape. His endorsement remains essential for any Republican seeking office, and the months since January 6 have seen a procession of ambitious party hopefuls beating a path to his Florida resort at Mar-a-Lago, craving a photo op.

The 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are now pariahs within the party. Two have announced they will retire after receiving death threats.

Once viewed as the lunatic fringe, Trump’s closest allies in congress have grown in stature, tightening their grip on the party. Trump acolyte Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for McConnell and McCarthy to be overthrown by pro-Trump Republicans. Far from weakening his grip on the party, the January 6 attack has only tightened Trump’s stranglehold.

The Times