The former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney “hopes to be able to rebuild” the Republican party after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. Mitt Romney, the retiring Utah senator and former presidential nominee, reportedly hopes so too.
Among other prominent Republicans who refuse to bow the knee, the former Maryland governor Larry Hogan is running for a US Senate seat in a party led by Trump but insists he can be part of a post-Trump GOP.
Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair turned MSNBC host, advocated more dramatic action: “We have to blow this crazy-ass party up and have it regain its senses, or something else will be born out of it. There are only two options here. Hogan will be a key player in whatever happens. Liz Cheney, [former congressmen] Adam Kinzinger and Joe Walsh – all of us who have been pushed aside and fortunately were not infected with Maga, we will have something to say about what happens on 6 November.”
Hogan is a great example. I actually wasn’t upset when he won his second term as governor, even though I disagree with some of his policies - but in general he did some good stuff for Maryland during his terms. Like getting masks and covid test kits in secrecy so Trump’s idiots wouldn’t confiscate them, as happened elsewhere in the country.
I’ll never forgive him for axing the bike lane on the new Nice Bridge; we’re stuck with that decision for at least 50 years now. But, by far, my biggest problem with Hogan is the “R” after his name.
Those third-party organizations are running ads that say things like, “I voted for Hogan, but not this time - we can’t let the Republicans gain power in Congress.” (Other organizations are noting “scandals” for the other candidate about taking tax breaks to which she wasn’t entitled, but they seem overblown. It seems pretty silly coming from supporters of the party of George Santos, Matt Gaetz, and how many others…)