Republicans’ loyalty to Trump means more doubt hovers over Biden’s hope of bipartisanship
Miles Taylor, a former Trump appointee in the Department of Homeland Security who wrote an anonymous book about the Trump administration before revealing his identity earlier this year, said the influence Trump continues to have over Republicans in Washington could be a sizable obstacle for Biden.
“Trump has badly deformed the GOP, so it may be a challenge to broker deals with a party that is broken,” he said. “That’s going to be a factor for as long as Trumpism exists. And until it’s put six feet under, Biden’s going to have to contend with the ghosts of Donald Trump.”
Earlier this month, more than 120 Republican House members — the majority of GOP representatives — signed on to a lawsuit challenging the election results. The Supreme Court dismissed the case but that didn’t end the president’s efforts.
“No, it’s not over,” Trump said on Fox News after the court dismissed the case. “We keep going, and we’re going to continue to go forward.”
What “continuing to go forward” looks like is Republican allies of the president meeting with him Monday to discuss plans to prevent Biden’s victory from being certified in early January. Lawmakers including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio,) Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Mo Brooks (R.-Ala.) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R.-Tex.) were in attendance, all of them among a long list of Republicans who have remained faithful to Trump even in defeat.
The president assured his supporters Monday of GOP lawmakers’ efforts to prevent Biden from becoming president during a gathering of Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump youth organization.
“They dropped hundreds of thousands of ballots in each state. It’s all documented,” Trump falsely claimed with no evidence. “The problem is that we need a party that’s going to fight. And we have some great congressmen and women that are doing it. And we have others, some great fighters. But we won this in a landslide. They know it, and we need backing from — like the Justice Department and other people have to finally step up.”
Not all of the Republicans are responding this way to Biden’s win. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) notably congratulated Biden on his victory during a speech from the Senate floor on Dec. 15 — something that drew Trump’s ire.
“Many of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20,” McConnell said.
“The electoral college has spoken,” he added. “So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He’s devoted himself to public service for many years.”
With a significant number of Trump loyalists remaining in Congress, Biden’s ability to make bipartisanship more common in his administration than it has been in the current president’s could hit some roadblocks. However, Biden remains confident that Republican lawmakers will prioritize the needs of Americans over any other differences rooted in political divides. He was asked about obstacles to achieving the bipartisanship he has sought.
I’ve been arguing from the very beginning and told how — I love it. It makes me sound so much younger — how naive I am about how the Congress works. I think I’ve been proven right across the board. The things that are left to deal with from unemployment to people needing unemployment insurance to the ability to have access to health care, the ability to get this treatment free, et cetera, all of that is something that the public is not going to stand for us not doing. And I think with Donald Trump not in the way, that will also enhance the prospect of things getting done.
Taylor, who is now a co-founder of Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, a group of government officials who previously worked in Republican administrations, agrees that if Trump can get out of the way and out of Republicans’ heads, Biden will be able to do something he was known for effectively doing in the Senate: making deals with his opponents.
“This is Biden’s sweet spot,” he said. “He’s a born bipartisan. And I think that’s the most important factor here.”
Well, all signs point to the likelihood Trump will be “in the way” because many of his relationships with Republican lawmakers — and perhaps more importantly, their constituents — remain intact. The actions of many GOP lawmakers — particularly those in the House — so far suggest they could take many of their cues on what is best for America’s future from a president whose vision for America is quite different from Biden’s. That could make uniting the country a more taxing feat than some Americans, including the president-elect, are hoping.
