Former GOP Congressman Says His Party Is In ‘A Really Bad Spot’
In an interview on Sunday, former GOP Rep. Charlie Dent discussed the state of the Republican Party in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s acquittal in the Senate’s impeachment trial.
Per Raw Story, speaking with CNN host Abby Phillip, Dent said that the Republican Party is in “a really bad spot,” with different groups fighting to take control of it.
Dent began his remarks by praising former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for condemning Trump’s behavior in the days before and after the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
The former congressman said he is glad Haley has finally realized that it is time to reform the GOP because “we are tired of the cronyism, denialism, nativism and those who are advocating this instability.”
Dent argued that the Republican Party needs to return to its roots, embrace traditional center-right conservatism and reject Trump’s agenda.
“I think going forward a lot of us don’t want this period to be led by those who are handmaidens to the big lie and to the insurrection,” he said, referring to Trump’s most ardent supporters in the U.S. Congress.
This fight, Dent continued, is “much bigger than policy,” because one wing of the party has openly embraced Trump and everything he stands for, and plans to follow in his footsteps.
“Our objective now is to clean up the Republican Party and make it something that we can be proud of again,” Dent said, stressing that the two wings of the party are completely incompatible.
Moderate politicians like Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney cannot be in the same party as those who are seen as conspiracy theorists, Dent suggested.
Dent described those supportive of Trump and opposed to the Republican establishment as “the Marjorie Taylor Greene wing who are advocating these QAnon conspiracy theories and other types of radical extremists who showed up at the insurrection on January 6.”
Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump and only seven senators voted to convict him, but some conservatives apparently believe that forming a center-right third party is the answer.
As The Inquisitr reported, more than 120 conservative operatives and activists recently held a meeting to discuss forming a new political party that would embrace traditional Republican values.
It remains unclear if such a political entity would have a real constituency, given that Trump remains exceptionally popular among conservative voters, according to polling.
For instance, in a Hill-HarrisX poll released earlier this month, 64 percent of registered Republicans said they would join a party led by Trump.
