Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Jason Smith was, quite literally, caught in the middle of his party\u2019s tug of war this week.<\/p>\n
The Missouri Republican lawmaker stood at the microphones alongside House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for their weekly news conference, usually a staid affair where GOP leaders project unity before a dubious Capitol Hill press corps. Then Smith watched McCarthy and Cheney clash over Donald Trump’s role in their party \u2014 all live on C-SPAN.<\/p>\n
Should Trump be speaking at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando? McCarthy offered an immediate “yes.” Cheney said it\u2019s up to CPAC, but then forcefully restated her position against the former president “playing a role in the future of the party, or the country.”<\/p>\n
Asked later if it was awkward to witness his leadership give such conflicting visions on Trump, Smith replied: \u201cHasn\u2019t that been happening all year?”<\/p>\n
The episode perfectly captured the civil war raging inside the not-so-post-Trump GOP. And those divisions will be on full display this weekend during CPAC, an annual party gathering where the action of late has become very much about one man \u2014 Donald John Trump \u2014 and very little about conservatism or policy or much of anything else.<\/p>\n
McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who have separately trekked to Mar-a-Lago to schmooze with Trump, are both slated to speak at the conference. So is Trump, in what will be his first public political speech since leaving office.<\/p>\n
Not speaking: Cheney, who unapologetically voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riots, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who didn\u2019t vote to convict Trump but condemned him nonetheless and has cut off communication with the ex-president. Cheney did, however, speak at a Reagan Institute event this week, where she urged Republicans to “make clear we aren’t the party of white supremacy\u201d and called for any commission on Jan. 6 to look into Trump\u2019s lies about the election.<\/p>\n
Even before CPAC gets underway, the event is already showing how the top Republican leaders in Congress are making very different bets about the future of the GOP \u2014 and how it could be years before anyone finds out who is right.<\/p>\n
In one camp, there are the Republicans like McCarthy and Scalise who have calculated that getting cozier with Trump and his base is the best way to boost the party\u2019s prospects in the next election. In the other are establishment-minded pols like McConnell and Cheney, who counsel a more traditional brand of conservatism after the GOP lost both chambers of Congress and ultimately the White House under Trump.<\/p>\n
Yet even McConnell \u2014 despite his reservations \u2014 told Fox News on Thursday that if Trump were the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, he would support him.<\/p>\n
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) acknowledged that questions about the GOP\u2019s identity are \u201cclearly not settled yet.\u201d But, he added: \u201cthe narrative that Republicans are fractured is greatly exaggerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is going to heal that,\u201d he said, because \u201cwe\u2019re united in the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, though, tensions are undoubtedly simmering as the party argues over its future. That includes a confrontation<\/a> earlier this week involving freshman Rep. Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), who pushed back against former Trump aide Stephen Miller over his immigration views at a Republican Study Committee meeting. She made the case that the party needs to chart a different path in attracting Hispanic and Latino voters, while Miller has advocated for a hardline approach to curbing both illegal immigration as well as legal. <\/p>\n Not to mention, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has kept up her controversial antics, earning some rebukes<\/a> from her colleagues this week for posting an anti-transgender sign outside her office amid a heated debate about a LGBTQ rights bill.<\/p>\n “This is sad and I’m sorry this happened. Rep. Newman’s daughter is transgender,” tweeted Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who noted that “this garbage must end” in order to restore the GOP. Greene’s decision to antagonize Newman “represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs,” he wrote.<\/p>\n All of this is unfolding as Republicans were looking to move past the Cheney and Greene drama that consumed the party this month, when the GOP was forced to decide the fates of both GOP women. McCarthy maneuvered the party to stand by both: Cheney would keep her leadership post following an effort by conservatives to oust her, and Republicans wouldn\u2019t kick Greene off her committees \u2014 though Democrats ultimately voted to do so. <\/p>\n But conservatives are now reviving their attacks on Cheney after this week\u2019s press conference. The comments about Trump, while hardly new for Cheney, show how the party\u2019s fissures can rip apart at any moment.<\/p>\n Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), chair of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, says he still wants Cheney to resign from leadership after he was asked about her latest remarks. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it was appropriate at all,\u201d Biggs told POLITICO. \u201cIt is consistent with the pattern she’s shown the last four weeks where she is basically dissing the vast majority of Republicans \u2026 I think she\u2019s not reading and understanding where the Republican Party is at right now.\u201d Biggs warned that if Cheney continues to criticize Trump publicly, the party could \u201cgo through the whole same rigmarole again\u201d in challenging her role in leadership. <\/p>\n Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), another close Trump ally, also tweeted after the Cheney-McCarthy presser: \u201cPresident Trump is the leader of the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n Primary contests could be the next battlefield between the GOP\u2019s warring factions. Last month, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has positioned himself as Trump\u2019s enforcer within the party, flew all the way to Wyoming to campaign against Cheney. Patching in Donald Trump Jr. through a speaker phone, he criticized Cheney\u2019s leadership, called for a \u201cchange at the top\u201d and even mocked her father\u2019s shooting skills.<\/p>\n Then in early February, after McCarthy defended his deputy in a closed-door conference meeting, Gaetz sought to shift the responsibility for Cheney\u2019s apostasy to the GOP leader.<\/p>\n \u201cKevin put it all on the line for Liz. Every House Republican knows it,\u201d he tweeted<\/a> on Feb. 7. <\/p>\n While Cheney\u2019s fiercest critics haven\u2019t changed their minds, neither have her defenders. <\/p>\n \u201cI have a tremendous amount of respect for Congresswoman Cheney,\u201d said Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), the only GOP freshman who voted to impeach Trump. When asked about the revived Cheney criticism, Meijer replied: \u201cOur conference already held a meeting and discussed this very subject. Asked and answered.\u201d<\/p>\n Pro-Trump primary challenges, especially in critical swing districts, could imperil the House GOP\u2019s efforts to win back the majority. And the targeting of Cheney in particular could put McCarthy in a bind \u2014 forcing him to choose between a member of his own leadership team, whom he vouched for, and the Trump wing of the party, whom he can\u2019t afford to alienate. <\/p>\n McCarthy dodged repeated questions from POLITICO on Thursday about Cheney, while allies insisted they have a good working relationship. But he did touch on the topic during an interview on Fox News, saying \u201cthe idea a Republican would join cancel culture is wrong\u201d when asked about her latest comments on Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve got to bring people together,\u201d McCarthy later added. \u201cYes, we’ve gone through a rocky time, but we’ve done that before.\u201d<\/p>\n But at least one leader has vowed to jump to Cheney’s defense: McConnell indicated<\/a> during a POLITICO interview this month that he might get involved in her reelection campaign.<\/p>\n Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), however, argued that the split in the party between the anti- and pro-Trump forces shouldn\u2019t be so cut and dry: \u201cWhy do I have to choose?\u201d <\/p>\n He also said it\u2019s OK for Cheney and McCarthy to have different views on Trump. And to anyone in the conference who has a problem with that? <\/p>\n \u201cMan up,\u201d Crenshaw said.<\/p>\n