WASHINGTON — The GOP is now acting like a party in search of itself with less than three months before U.S. elections that once favored Republicans to retake both chambers of Congress and set them up for 2024.
Should the party fumble, as polls increasingly suggest, August will have been a pivotal month. It began with the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s Florida home and the party’s bellicose defense of the former president that belied its pro-law enforcement image. The weaknesses of Senate candidates Trump personally picked became glaring as the cycle moves from the primary season, where the focus is on a small number of party-faithful voters, to the general election, which requires a broader appeal to a varied electorate.
There are also two high-profile Republicans uncomfortably dominating the spotlight and who put the party’s schisms in full view. One is Liz Cheney, who led the Jan. 6 hearings into Trump’s role inciting a mob to attack the Capitol only to lose the nomination for a third term in a landslide to a pro-Trump candidate. The other is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, gaining momentum as an alternative to the former president, who embodies some of his pugnacity without the baggage.
