Politics

Michigan Republican ex-chair's blunt words show rift as party enters post-Trump era

January 17, 2021, 11:32 AM by  Alan Stamm

A longtime Michigan Republican Party insider waves a warning flag about its post-Trump test.

"There is a battle underway for the soul of the party and at this point it is unclear which direction the GOP will take," writes Rusty Hills in a Detroit Free Press commentary. He was Gov. John Engler's communications director from 1991-2000 and then chaired the state party for three years as Betsy DeVos' successor. More recently, he was public affairs director for the last state attorney general, Bill Schuette.


Rusty Hills; "Is this now the permanent party of Trump?" (Photo: Facebook/2018)

So when this guy says his political allies have a problem, it's like a firefighter pulling an alarm at department headquarters.

His guest column is a thinly veiled shot at Meshawn Maddock, the only candidate for state party vice-chair at its convention Feb. 6. Some Republicans say the Milford resident shouldn't gain leadership influence because she helped organize buses of Trump supporters to Washington, D.C., where extremists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Hills warns his party not to "slavishly and defiantly cling to Donald Trump," an example of signs that "Republicans are headed for a bitter internal showdown," as The New York Times puts it in a front-page article Sunday that doesn't mention Michigan. 

The bitter infighting underscores the deep divisions Mr. Trump has created in the G.O.P. and all but ensures ... a pivotal test of the party’s direction. The friction is already escalating in several swing states.

Below is part of what Hills, a 65-year-old East Lansing resident and a University of Michigan public policy adjunct lecturer, says this weekend under the headline: "Republicans need to decide: Are we the party of Lincoln — or Trump?"

Even after the horror of what occurred in our nation's capitol [Jan. 6], many Republican elected officials still voted against certifying the election results to confirm Joe Biden the winner of the election. Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, along with more than a hundred Republican congressmen, added to the schism that is widening among Republicans. ...

Now the question is whether Republicans, nationally and in Michigan, will slavishly and defiantly cling to Donald Trump? Run primary elections against every Republican who voted to certify the 2020 presidential election? Primary every Republican who voted his or her conscience for impeachment, including Michigan Congressmen Peter Meijer and Fred Upton?

In short, is this now the permanent party of Trump? Or will the party rediscover and return to its roots? ...

The Republican Party’s first president was Abraham Lincoln. Our president now is Donald Trump. Republicans need to decide which of those two will be their North Star in the months and years to come. Is it really that difficult a choice?



Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day