WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden has predicted that Republicans will have “epiphany” after President Donald Trump loses. Three weeks after the election, there is no sign of that.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, still did not recognize Biden as elected president. And like most Republicans, he didn’t condemn Trump’s unprecedented attempts to overthrow the will of the electorate.
While McConnell listened to Biden’s early cabinet candidates, some ambitious senators are already criticizing the group, which includes Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken and Alejandro Mayorkas for managing homeland security.
The GOP response to the election is an ominous sign that Biden has risen in a new era of unity and bilateralism. Trump’s presence extends even in his defeat, and Republicans continue to be wary of offending his followers. Trump may have to leave office, but he can take with him one of the strongest weapons to shape the party’s behavior: his Twitter account.
On Thanksgiving weekend, during a raging pandemic and economic crisis that Biden is ready to inherit, advanced people want to restore expectations.
“Epiphany doesn’t happen, and for its own sake, it’s time for Biden to shift gears,” said Adam Jentleson, a former Democratic leadership assistant in the Senate. “It was okay, like empty political rhetoric, but if he’s still willing to go in, it’s just a failure for Biden. If he continues to push for the idea of starting a new party-state era, all Republicans need to do is deny him it. cooperation, and will do.the fulfillment of one of its central promises. “
Presidents typically confirm some cabinet candidates on the first day of their Senate term. McConnell’s office did not comment on the question of whether this tradition extends to Biden. Unless Democrats get both Georgian seats on January 5, he will be the first president since 1989 to take office without his party controlling both chambers of Congress.
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted that Biden’s candidates were “corporatists and war fans – and a group of #BigTech sellers”. Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., he called them They graduated from the Ivy League, who have a “strong resume” and will be “polite and regular caretakers on the subject of America’s decline.”
Other conservative senators were pleased that Biden did not elect more liberal candidates.
McConnell is known for keeping his cards close to his vest, reading political winds, and selecting his moments to exercise power. Under President Barack Obama, he showed a willingness to aggressively obstruct, but it proved somewhat easier for administrative staff.
Some Republicans say Trump’s indulgence is about Georgia.
“I don’t really read into McConnell’s silence. I think he’s trying to show some respect for Trump in the hopes of promoting party unity before the runoff in Georgia,” said Alex Conant, a Republican campaign veteran who also worked in the Senate.
“Great, great water cross”
Following last year’s campaign, Biden repeatedly promised the GOP “epiphany” after Trump stepped off his path. He paused the word in the heat of democratic primary races, but returned to it in July and said at a fundraiser that “if we can’t unite the country, we’re dead.”
“With Donald Trump’s departure, fears of retaliation have disappeared,” Biden told donors, according to Bloomberg News. “If we win as much as we can, there will be a great and great water cross, which will happen, as we Catholics say. And they will know whether or not they will accept me if they are just obstructive.
If Republicans win a race in Georgia, they will retain the Senate. If they both lose, the chamber will split 50-50 and elected Vice President Kamala Harris may cast a tie vote to control the Democrats.
Conant said he expects confirmation of qualified candidates in the GOP-led senate, although he noted that the hearings could be controversial. He said the Republican Party has some research on conscience.
“Losing the White House is hard for any party, and there is always a leadership vacuum after that,” Conant said. “While I think a lot of Republicans will be open to working with Biden on bipartisan initiatives, opposition to Democrats’ left-wing policies may be the only thing that really keeps Republicans united.”
Some of the president’s critics don’t expect the party to throw Trumpian’s colors. One is Tim Miller, a GOP veteran who worked to defeat Trump and officially left the party this week.
“Sitting here today watching these Republican holes while the president sits in silence as the president tramples our democracy with warping conspiracies, and he is the first modern president to refuse to hold elections, it is clear that all hopes for reconciliation are nonsense,” Miller wrote.
Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread fraud and “rigged elections” seem to have taken root in his party. In a recent poll in Monmouth, 76 percent of Republicans said they did not trust the 2020 elections were conducted fairly and accurately.
Despite Trump’s defeat, Republicans have outperformed polls, won seats in the House of Representatives, and won a number of competitive senate races. This prevented the kind of blowing election that Biden and Democrats expected to destroy the remnants of Trumpism in his party.
In a Morning Consult / Politico poll conducted this week, 68 percent of GOP voters said Trump is much more connected to them than Republicans in Congress. In a hypothetical 2024 pre-election, 54 percent support Trump, followed by Vice President Mike Pence with 12 percent.
“He is a political phenomenon,” said Jack Kingston, a former representative of the Georgian government. “He knows – in that simplistic World Wrestling Entertainment background and on reality TV – how he can simplify difficult questions, call people and convince them that he’s the one who stands by them.”
