Former New Jersey Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman said on Sunday that she doesn’t recognize the modern GOP and that the Republican Party has been replaced by “a cult around Donald Trump.”
Despite facing a total of 91 felony charges in four separate criminal cases, the former president remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination by a wide margin. The former president has maintained his innocence in those cases and has accused prosecutors of a political “witch hunt,” something that his supporters agree with.
On MSNBC’s The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart, Capehart framed part of the interview with Whitman around a Washington Post op-ed that was written by Robert Kagan and published Thursday.
“Governor, in this Washington Post op-ed, [Robert Kagan] writes this,” Capehart said. “‘As perilous as it is for Republicans to say a negative word about Trump today, it will be impossible once he has sowed up the nomination. the party will be in full general election mode, all to the presidential campaign. There will be no more infighting, only outfighting. In short, a tsunami of Trump support from all directions.'”
Roberto Schmidt
Capehart then asked her, “As a former Republican office holder, does Kagan’s warning ring true?”
“Yes, it does, absolutely,” Whitman responded. “We know Trump supports, first of all let me just say, I don’t think there is a Republican Party, there is a cult around Donald Trump. They didn’t adopt a platform in 2020, which meant that they didn’t set out what they stood for. It was whatever Donald Trump tells us we should stand for today, that’s what we’ll stand for. So it’s not a party as we have known it. Believe what he says. He says what he’s going to do. Believe him. He will tear down the very guardrails of our democracy—the rule of law, the respect for the Constitution. He said he’s going to do it. And no one should question that. He means what he says.”
Newsweek reached out to Whitman and Trump via email for additional comment.
Recently, Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and 2024 Trump rival, picked up a major endorsement by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political policy network founded by the billionaire Koch brothers.
In an interview with Raw Story last week, Senator Lindsey Graham, who also hails from South Carolina and is an ally to the former president, said loyalty to Trump supersedes endorsements.
“Forty percent of our primary has made up their mind about Trump and they’re not gonna change,” Graham said. “The Trump party is different than other Republican Parties. The Trump party is very much focused on President Trump’s personality, and he stands up to people they hate. And I don’t think any ad is gonna change that. I don’t think—there ain’t enough money in the world to convince the loyal Trump person to change.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.