Anti-MAGA Republicans urged to form 'GOP in exile' to overthrow Trump from outside party

There is a single course of action for the many Republicans vehemently opposed to Donald Trump and MAGA but unable to consider a vote for the Democratic Party, two experts wrote for the New York Times Monday.

They need to build a GOP in exile.

Constitutional expert Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner, who served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and the governments of both Bushes, wrote if Trump wins, Republicans who oppose him need to learn from Charles De Gaulle’s Free France government that operated from London after the nation fell to the Germans in World War II.

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Among the exiled party member, they wrote could be outspoken anti-Trump Republicans including Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney and her father Dick Cheney.

Behind them would be a legion of voters, including the one-fifth of the 2024 primary electorate that backed Nikki Haley.

“The list of high-ranking officials who worked for Mr. Trump and have implied or outright stated that they can’t support their former boss under any circumstances has grown to an astonishing length,” the experts wrote.

“The list of prominent Republican figures who did not serve Mr. Trump and regard him as unacceptable is equally impressive. … There remains deep pockets of resistance to him in the ranks.”

They added, “The Republican Party is thoroughly MAGA and will be for the foreseeable future, and there is a small but influential number of Republicans who are deeply opposed to what their party has become but not prepared to shed their political identity and join the Democrats. For this group, one viable course remains: create a Republican Party in exile, a counterestablishment dedicated to recapturing the party from the outside.”

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This opposition, they wrote, would bring invaluable inside knowledge of how the Republican Party works which could be vital to bringing down the Trump administration. It would work to unite the opposition and it would build a government that’s ready to step in and fill the void.

“Not least important, they show the world that they are committed to the fight and will not accept the legitimacy or inevitability of the current regime,” Rauch and Wehner wrote.

They described an exiled party — or “Free Republicans” as they call it — as being a network of politicians, consultants, voters and donors with its own structure that aims to keep the non-MAGA Republican Party alive.

“With its paths blocked inside the party, it can still bring formidable people, resources and ideas to the task of defeating MAGA from the outside, as an exiled party,” the pair wrote.

“ … Free Republicans must set their sights on overthrowing MAGA, not influencing it, partnering with it, bargaining with it, coexisting with it or waiting it out.”

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