What is Integrity Party or Center Right Party? Republicans planning anti-Trump party slammed as 'losers'
It looks as though former President Donald Trump is no longer the poster boy for the Republican party as more than a hundred former Republican official are now planning on disassociating themselves from Trump. Not just that, the group is in talks of creating a new right-wing 'anti-Trump party' that will be a center-right formation.
In addition to that, the new anti-Trump party is also reportedly deciding on names - with options on their table include the Integrity Party and the Center Right Party.
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Last Friday, more than 120 people got together on a Zoom call to discuss the breakaway party, which, according to recent reports, would run on a platform of "principled conservatism" including adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law. The four people who revealed this to Reuters also added that the early-stage discussions include former elected Republicans, former officials in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump, ex-Republican ambassadors and Republican strategists.
Evan McMullin, who was chief policy director for the House Republican Conference and ran as an independent in the 2016 presidential election, reportedly told Reuters that he co-hosted the Zoom call with former officials because they were concerned about Trump's grip on Republicans and the so-called nativist turn the party has taken. "Large portions of the Republican Party are radicalizing and threatening American democracy," McMullin told Reuters. "The party needs to recommit to truth, reason and founding ideals or there clearly needs to be something new."
Among the call participants were John Mitnick, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security under Trump; former Republican congressman Charlie Dent; Elizabeth Neumann, deputy chief of staff in the Homeland Security Department under Trump; and Miles Taylor, another former Trump homeland security official.
An interesting fact about one of the aforementioned people is that Taylor was the official who wrote the 2018 'Anonymous' New York Times column promising there were 'adults' inside the White House keeping America safe during the Trump administration. According to a recent report, the plan was to run candidates in some races but also to endorse center-right candidates in others, be they Republicans, independents or Democrats, those aware of the situation informed the publication.
While this group remains hopeful to create a change the way of the Republican ideology, those close to Trump dismiss it altogether. When asked about the discussions of the third, anti-Trump party, Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman reportedly said, "Those losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden."
According to the latest reports, the Zoom call participants said that they were particularly dismayed by the fact that more than half of the Republicans in Congress (eight senators and 139 House representatives) voted to block certification of Biden's election victory just hours after the Capitol siege, in a way highlighting the wide divide in the party.