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Why did Trump give up on Patriot Party within 24 hours? Sources say ex-POTUS convinced he won't be impeached

'Trump has started to believe there are fewer votes to convict than there would have been if the vote had been held almost immediately after Jan. 6,' Maggie Haberman reported

Merely a day after it was reported that former President Donald Trump was moving forward with the plan of forming a third political party called 'Patriot Party' as an effort to supposedly put pressure on Republican Party members who oppose him and were planning to vote against him in his upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate, latest reports suggested that Trump is no longer interested in the idea. 

Maggie Haberman, a Washington correspondent for the New York Times, was one of the first people who reported Trump's sudden change of mind. Apparently, the reason behind the former POTUS dropping the plan to start his own party was because he was somehow convinced that the Senate will not impeach him. 

"In last 24 hours, after floating through a few folks that he was considering creating a third-party as a way to keep Senate Rs in line ahead of impeachment, Trump has been talked out of that and is making clear to people he isn't pursuing it, per ppl familiar w his thinking. Trump has started to believe there are fewer votes to convict than there would have been if the vote had been held almost immediately after Jan. 6, the people familiar with his thinking said. There’s also the fact that threatening a third party while simultaneously threatening primaries makes no sense, which some folks gently pointed out to him," Haberman wrote in a series of tweets. 

A number of reactions poured in, most of them mocking Trump. "He may have changed his mind again," one of them said, while another noted, "I feel like the word 'thinking' is being used too freely." A third commented, "It would take too much work." One more quipped, "Sounds like a condition for a vote against impeachment."

The next wrote, "He’ll be tied up testifying in a boatload of lawsuits." One more added, "Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to change his mind or have someone else change his mind for him." Another quipped, "I see his legal advisors must have had a chat with him..." A commenter tweeted, "I want to know what he's thinking, because I think he's still dangerous."

What is the Patriot Party?

On January 19, it was reported that Trump has spoken with associates about forming a new political party. It said that he had discussed the matter with several aides and other people close to him last week.

However, it soon became increasingly clear that the effort that would require a significant investment of time and resources. After that, a January 24 report in the Daily Mail said that Trump was indeed moving forward with the plan — an effort to supposedly put pressure on Republican Party members who oppose him. Trump is also supposedly drafting an enemies list of Republicans. 

Trump has instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office, including Representative Liz Cheney, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Representative Tom Rice. Sources on condition of anonymity told the Post that Trump has said that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial.