The former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney “hopes to be able to rebuild” the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. Mitt Romney, the retiring Utah senator and former presidential nominee, reportedly hopes so too.
Among other prominent Republicans who refuse to bow the knee, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is running for a US Senate seat in a party led by Trump but insists he can be part of a post-Trump GOP.
Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair turned MSNBC host, advocated more dramatic action: “We have to blow this crazy-ass party up and have it regain its senses, or something else will be born out of it. There are only two options here. Hogan will be a key player in whatever happens. Liz Cheney, [former congressmen] Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh – all of us who have been pushed aside and fortunately were not infected with Maga, we will have something to say about what happens on 6 November.”
There’s a middle ground. The near future of the party is Ron DeSantis and JD Vance, the smoothed down versions of Trump. I don’t think that works and someone new will come out fully populist with authoritarian edges, maybe a Hispanic man to help attract the working class beyond just white people, that seems to be the growth opportunity Republicans need and maybe that solidifies Arizona/Nevada/Texas for them while they put all the effort into the Blue Wall and North Carolina.