Tuesday, 23 February 2021_Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele has indicated the Republican voters joining a new party by former US President Donald Trump are most welcome to do so.
In an interview with MSNBC on Monday, Steele noted that the GOP “battle” has begun.
"You have 46 percent of the folks saying they will follow Trump," he said. “I’m like, OK, there's the door. Y'all go do your thing, and we'll just pick up the pieces on this side and keep moving. And that's the battle."
By inciting a breach of the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and disputing the 2020 election results, Trump has created a rift within the party, with some members turning against him and some still sticking with the billionaire businessman, who is originally an outsider to the GOP.
Now, half of the party’s voters are awaiting the outcome of the row to see whether they would join a new party founded by Trump, the only US president to have been impeached twice and that to no avail.
‘Trump shrine’
The more moderate Republicans are weary of being associated with Trump extremist supporters such as QAnon and Proud Boys.
"When you're losing Republican members and you're left with QAnon and Proud Boys, you've got to reassess whether or not you're even close to being a viable party," Steele, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, said last year.
Trump is targeting the GOP leadership, which has rebuked him over the Capitol protests, at the same time that it helped stop his conviction in a recent Senate trial.
Passions are running high among pro-Trump activists, one example being a Trump “shrine” built in Pennsylvania by a GOP nominee for an open state legislative seat.
Leslie Baum Rossi was selected Saturday by GOP county officials as their nominee in a May 18 special election for the state House seat from the 59th District, located outside Pittsburgh.
New faces are, meanwhile, trying their chance in replacing Trump as the party’s nominee for the next presidential election.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to be starting to dominate the scene with his popularity steadily rising among Republicans.
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