GOP at a Crossroads

The defining moment came during the vote on Trump’s second impeachment in the House of Representatives, when ten Republicans voted for the measure — the most ever to support the impeachment of a president from their own party.

One of the representatives supporting Trump’s impeachment was Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House. The daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, a symbol of Bush neoconservatism, she released a statement explaining her decision: “On January 6, 2021, a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral vote. The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

When Cheney released that statement, it was just six days after the events at the Capitol, and many Republicans were still in shock. Even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that Trump bore “some responsibility” for the debacle. Mitch McConnell also condemned Trump, and his wife — Transportation Secretary Elain Chao — resigned from the administration in protest. It felt like a significant part of the leadership of the Republican Party was turning its back on Trump.

But since then the dynamic has reversed, and very rapidly. The first inkling came during a procedural vote in the Senate ahead of the impeachment trial, which will open on February 8. In a vote engineered by Senator Rand Paul, 45 of 50 Republican senators voted against hearing impeachment articles against a former president.