Trump-Pence Election Kerfuffle Clears a Path for Some GOP Senators

A few Republicans seem more willing to criticize the former president’s 2020 election narrative.

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When Donald Trump left office on January 20, 2021, many Republican lawmakers quietly hoped the former president’s stranglehold over the GOP would leave too. But that wishful thinking quickly dissipated once Trump made clear he would continue to single out any Republican lawmaker, candidate, or former official who challenges his claim that Biden was not lawfully elected president in 2020.

With the next presidential election already looming after this year’s midterm elections, even some anti-impeachment Republicans are losing patience with the former president’s stolen election narrative, a trend particularly evident in the Senate. “I would like to say [Trump] had great policies, but we’ve got a lot of talent and ability that’s out there and a really deep bench, and I know people are vying for 2024,” Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst—vice chair of the Republican conference—told The Dispatch in a brief interview last week.

Ernst isn’t alone. Trump’s attempt to silence dissenting Republicans has mostly worked for the past year, effectively silencing most GOP lawmakers who privately grumbled about his lingering influence over the party, save the few elected Republicans who voted in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. But a few recent news cycles suggest that the more Trump speaks, the more rank-and-file Republicans are willing to speak out against him. 

GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota is one such example, having called the 2020 election “as fair as we’ve seen” on ABC News’ This Week in early January. Rounds’ comments prompted the former president to issue a statement calling the senator a “jerk” he will never endorse again. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    McConnell is starting to give me hope.

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  2. Kurt Von Fuchs

    To be crystal clear the Democrats largely messed up the impeachment hearings, however; not voting to impeach is a betrayal of everything the Constitution stands for. These folks all deserve to be pounded out of office unfortunately the Democrats aren't smart enough to put up a good campaign I'm not sure I see any hope at all

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    Joe Lancaster

    “What he’s doing by attacking Republicans who don’t think and act like him is going to ensure that we lose the majority. … It’s infuriating.” A reminder that the last thing Trump cares about is the Republican Party!

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    David Atkinson

    So sad to see our nation’s “leaders” conjure up the backbone of a Jenga tower with about a dozen sticks pulled out.

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  5. Mary Stine

    I believe the next elections will come down to this basic element: which party wants to do things WITH you; and which party most wants to do things TO you. Spoiler: the healthy answer is WITH.

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    rlritt

    And yet they still ousted Cheney and Kinzinger from the party.

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    Pence's break with Trump, while politically calculated, might deliver the US senate to Republicans in the fall

    Pence is gambling that the first leader to beak with Trump will help him win the POTUS nomination in 2024. I think he's wrong, but I think it ha helped other Republicans choose to move away from Trump.

    Why don't I think he'll win? He's not charismatic enough.

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      DougCLE

      I don't see how Pence wins the nomination either way. To Trump guys, he's Judas. To everyone else, he will never be able to wash off the Trump stink. It's a pity, because I think he's serious enough to be a decent President, though that's a pretty low bar these days. But it ain't gonna be him.

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        Mudskipper

        Frankly, I'd like my presidents to have more going on upstairs than Pence does.

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          DougCLE

          Does he strike you as stupid? I've never thought that, but I haven't followed him all that closely. What has he said or done (other than thinking that being Trump's VP was a good career move) that would make you think so?

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            Mudskipper

            Not stupid, exactly. But an unimaginative and conventional thinker who has difficulty grappling with messy realities. His handling of the HIV breakout in Indiana when he was governor is an example of that. He'd be, IMO, another W. The kind of guy who would think that because of our military strength and because everyone wants to be just like us, the war in Iraq would be swiftly won.

            And although I give him credit for standing up to Trump on 1/6, I find the fact that he had to consult Dan Quayle to achieve the legal clarity and the backbone to do so a bit disconcerting.

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      PaulH

      Yes. Pence is smart enough to realize that running as Trump's VP is not going to be a path to victory in either the primary or the general election. So he, more than any other potential contender, needs to create some space between Trump and him. I tend to agree with you that he is too bland to win the nomination but it is not surprising that he is trying.

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  8. Jeff Fuller

    Remember that some polls have percentage of registered Republican voters at 25-26% so the number may be a lot smaller, although still a concern. How can so many people misunderstand the constitution and electoral law?
    JKF

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      rlritt

      Never under estimate the stupidity of the American people. Why do you think the current Republicans hate public education? Education used to be favored by Republicans.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Wilhelm

    Perhaps the Republican senators' inclination toward acknowledging reality will encourage more of the same from GOP house members -- despite the latter's spineless leader.

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    Jason Gibson

    encouraging article but still much more work to do!

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