Ipsos took a poll for Reuters about a week ago and found that "62% of Republicans said they had little or no interest in joining a conservative political party run by former Republican leaders who have been critical of Donald Trump. Meanwhile, 7 in 10 said they would be somewhat or very interested in hearing what Trump thinks about current events. These results are indicative of the influence that Trump continues to hold over the Republican party and why House Republicans felt that Liz Cheney, who was outwardly critical of Trump, needed to be removed. But not all Republicans agree with this; 61% agreed that the Republican party is stronger when it embraces both supporters and critics of Trump."
A CBS poll of Republican voters by YouGov shows that 80% of them agree with the decision to remove Liz Cheney, a third of them agreeing because it shows that disloyalty will be punished. And to the vast majority of Republicans loyalty, CBS reports, "means they specifically want the party to follow more of the Trump's examples across a range of items, including economics, issues of race and immigration, how to treat the media, using power and leadership, generally." Just a third of them agree that Biden was legitimately elected.
And almost half of them think that for their party to win in the future, changing the voting rules on the state level is the way to go, rather than by winning with the strength of better policies and ideas. This has always been the nature of conservatism.
Anyway, maybe there's a portion of the 20% of Republicans-- plus independents who regularly vote Republican-- who could be persuaded to "become"-- as in self-identify as-- Democrats (or at least Democratic voters). They may find Trump, fascism, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, liars, treason, Q-Anon, etc beyond the pale. Maybe some won't appreciate that Republican governors-- in Utah, South Dakota, Ohio, Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, Montana, South Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, Florida, Vermont and Alaska-- have decided to prematurely cut back on unemployment benefits to starve working class families back into work that they might not feel is safe.
The problem here is that Republicans are conservative and an influx of conservatives will kill a nearly moribund and pointless Democratic Party even faster than it's already dying. On Sunday, Jennifer Rubin penned a column urging anti-Trump Republicans to start identifying with centrist-- meaning conservative-- Democrats. She noted that "the singular aim for pro-democracy Americans [is] making sure the MAGA forces do not control any branch of government or either house of Congress. Whatever furthers that aim is good. That includes exposing McCarthy as a pathetic puppet; revealing how unfit Republicans are to hold office (which may include exposing any role any elected Republicans played in the Jan. 6 assault); defeating any MAGA presidential contender (the original cult leader or any facsimile); starting a conservative third party (so long as it would drain votes from MAGA Republicans); and highlighting 'sick' behavior from Republicans, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put it, as they deny the Jan. 6 insurrection."
She concluded that "disaffected Republicans, ex-Republicans and Republicans who voted for President Biden can use their money, voices and votes to bolster centrist Democrats. Think Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE), Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) or Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). Each of these lawmakers is strong on national security, incrementalist on health-care reform, an ardent opponent of voter suppression (but pragmatists on what can pass), a supporter of infrastructure (but concerned with how to pay for it), pro-trade, pro-legal immigration and clear-eyed on border security. If Republicans cannot be trusted with government, then it is in the interest of the country for the Democratic Party to govern smartly and retain appeal beyond its core base. Some have called them Biden Republicans or Red Dog Democrats. These are the people who recognize that, for better or worse, politics is a binary choice in America. And they know who’s the real threat to democracy."
I guess there's a silver lining to conservative Republicans flooding into the Democratic Party to support anti-progressive shitbags like Coons and Spanberger. It would hasten the inevitable split between progressives and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. I checked the Progressive Punch scores of the 4 Democrats Rubin was urging her readers to back:
Amy Klobuchar- B
Chris Coons- F
Abigail Spanberger- F
Mikie Sherrill- F
So maybe a 3-party system-- a Trumpist/fascist party, a centist-careerist moosh made up of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party + refugees from the Trumpist GOP and then a real progressive party. Sounds workable. Want to help? Support progressive candidate, like these men and women running for Congress now.