Influential Republicans threaten to form new party

Dozens of Republicans are planning to call for reforms amid escalating divisions within their party and are threatening to form a separate group if GOP members do not break away from former President Trump. 

The more than 100 former Republican officials are expected to release their demands in a letter on Thursday titled “A Call For American Renewal,” according to plans shared with Reuters and later reported by NBC News. 

The letter states that Republicans must “either reimagine a party dedicated to our founding ideals or else hasten the creation of such an alternative,” according to NBC News.

It also includes 13 principles that signatories hope for the GOP to adopt, though details have not yet been released. 

One of the organizers of the effort is Miles Taylor, the former Trump administration official who last year revealed that he penned the initially anonymous 2018 New York Times op-ed titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.”

“The Republican Party is broken. It’s time for a resistance of the ‘rationals’ against the ‘radicals,'” Taylor told Reuters, referring to those in the party who still faithfully align themselves with Trump. 

Taylor also told NBC News that the letter is “one last chance” for the GOP “to get its act together and moderate” but added, “We’re not going to hold our breath.” 

“We’re ready to get out there and fight against the radical elements in the party to try to excise those elements from within the GOP and our national politics and to try to invest in the deeper pro-democracy bench,” he said. 

Reuters noted that among the signatories on the letter are former Republican Govs. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, as well as former President George W. Bush’s Transportation secretary, Mary Peters, and former GOP Reps. Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble and Mickey Edwards.

The effort comes as House Republicans are expected to vote Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) out of her position as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference on Wednesday and replace her with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a staunch Trump ally. 

Republicans have pushed back on Cheney due to her vow to continue condemning Trump’s unproven election claims after she was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.