Former President Donald Trump has secured his return as the undisputed leader of the Republican Party and is increasingly wielding his influence over lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the Republican National Committee.
Mr. Trump’s return to the helm of the GOP, unthinkable to many following his 2020 loss to President Biden, is nearly complete. And some say unstoppable.
“He has taken over this party unlike anything I have ever seen,” longtime Republican political strategist Ed Rollins said.
Mr. Trump’s attempts to block Mr. Biden from becoming president and his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol appeared to doom him to political exile.
Instead, the opposite happened.
A little more than three years later, the bulk of the party is in lockstep with Mr. Trump and eager for a second term, even as he faces 91 charges in four separate criminal cases, some of them related to election interference, and the Supreme Court weighs whether he is an “insurrectionist” who can be barred from the ballot.
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Mr. Trump’s enduring popularity with voters has buoyed him back in command over the party. If he wins in November, his reign is poised to outlast most other Republican leaders in the modern era, at least since Ronald Reagan.
Polls show Mr. Trump, 77, has the backing of roughly 40% of Republican voters, enough to make him impossible to beat in the primary. National polls show he’s several points ahead of an increasingly unpopular Mr. Biden, 81, notably in the swing states that cost Mr. Trump the election in 2020.
The evidence of his grip on the party is everywhere.
As he barrels toward the presidential nomination undefeated, Mr. Trump played a key role in ensuring the defeat of a border security package in the Senate. House and Senate Republicans shot down the package even though it was backed by one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who happens to be a staunch Trump foe.
At the Republican National Committee, Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel leaked word of her imminent departure after Mr. Trump signaled he lacked confidence in her leadership. “Ronna is now Head of the RNC, and I’ll be making a decision the day after the South Carolina Primary as to my recommendations for RNC Growth,” Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social media site on Monday.
By Tuesday, Ms. McDaniel was preparing to step down after South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary, which Mr. Trump is poised to win by double digits.
In the race for GOP presidential nomination, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is Mr. Trump’s only remaining opponent, and he is polling ahead of her in her home state by more than 30 points.
“It’s not rocket science,” the former president’s frequent pollster, Jim McLaughlin, explained. “Voters moved on from the Bushes, McCain and Romney, but they want more Trump.”
Republicans on Capitol Hill are paying close attention as Mr. Trump’s unwavering popularity with GOP voters is spreading to the critical independent vote and even attracting young people and minorities.
“His influence has always been incredible. But it’s even strengthened — look at his polling numbers,” Sen. Steve Daines, Montana Republican and head of the Senate GOP fundraising arm, said. “They’re strengthening well beyond Republican primary voters. Independent voters are swinging back.”
Mr. Trump held sway over the GOP this week when he helped sink bipartisan legislation that tethered together money for U.S. border security and billions in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
In a post on his Truth Social media site, Mr. Trump lambasted the bill as “a great gift to the Democrats and a Death Wish for the Republican Party.” He was particularly critical of linking the border funding with foreign aid.
Most Republicans in Congress sided with Mr. Trump.
The bipartisan border deal was assailed by Senate and House Republicans forcing Mr. McConnell and its Republican architect — Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma — to ditch the agreement.
Democrats — and Ms. Haley — are seeking to turn Mr. Trump’s sway over the GOP into a liability.
Ms. Haley said the former president will drag the GOP down into the “chaos” that follows him as he battles dozens of criminal charges and other legal entanglements that could sideline him in a courtroom during the critical months before the general election.
Ms. Haley blamed him for killing the bipartisan border security bill and for causing an “implosion” at the RNC, which has struggled to raise money in this election cycle.
Ms. McDaniel, in an internal memo issued to RNC members Wednesday, said her fate won’t be decided on “until after South Carolina, when we may have our eventual nominee.”
Democrats ridiculed the GOP after they narrowly lost a vote to impeach embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who the GOP blamed for the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border.
“MAGA GOP tried sabotaging border security by impeaching the guy in charge — just because Trump told them to do it,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, said. “What an embarrassment. They are a party of failed followers. Democrats are a party of leaders.”
Mr. Rollins, who previously ran an organization that aimed to draft Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to launch his unsuccessful bid for the nomination, said Mr. Trump brings plenty of problems to the party along with his outsized influence.
Lack of enthusiasm for Mr. Trump among some Republicans may be behind a significant drop in campaign donations to the RNC, which reported its worst fundraising numbers in a decade.
Mr. Trump’s looming criminal convictions could do more than sideline him from the campaign trail. They threaten to turn off voters or lead them to stay home in November, some polls show.
The list of liabilities would likely sideline any other GOP candidate for president — but not Mr. Trump.
“He’s the anti-establishment candidate. He’s the bigger-than-life candidate. He’s running against a very, very feeble president. I think that’s Trump’s strength,” Mr. Rollins said. “The future of the party? There’s no future until he’s gone.”
• Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.