Dozens of members of former president George W. Bush’s administration are reportedly leaving the Republican Party over party members’ refusal to distance themselves from former president Donald Trump.
Sources told Reuters as many as 60 former Bush officials plan to announce their departure from the GOP in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising.
At least one former official also blamed the promotion of conspiracy theories by Rep. Marjorie Greene, R-Ga., as a reason for the exit.
“If it continues to be the party of Trump, many of us are not going back,” Rosario Marin, a former U.S. Treasury official, explained. “Unless the Senate convicts him, and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us will not be going back to vote for Republican leaders.”
Jimmy Gurulé, a former Treasury under secretary, argued the Republican Party as he knew it no longer exists.
“I’d call it the cult of Trump,” he said.
Bush White House communications staffer Kristopher Purcell said he expects “the number of defections” to continue growing.
“We have QAnon members of Congress,” Purcell said, referring to Greene. “It’s appalling.”
Other Republican veterans, however, argued that opposition to President Joe Biden is more important that any internal squabbles over Trump.
“We’re having a little bit of a spat right now,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a recent interview.
“But we are going to come together. We have to,” she added. “If we’re fighting each other every day and attacking each other and brandishing party purism, we’re not going to accomplish what we need to to win back the House and take back the Senate, and that’s my priority.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has also reportedly urged members of his conference to stop attacking one another and focus on winning back the House in 2022.
