US riots: 'He's on his own' - Republicans ditch Donald Trump

President Donald Trump is more politically isolated than at any other point in his turbulent administration. Photo / AP

US President Donald Trump's steadfast grip on Republicans in Washington is beginning to crumble, leaving him more politically isolated than at any other point in his turbulent administration.

After riling up a crowd that later staged a violent siege of the US Capitol, Trump appears to have lost some of his strongest allies, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Two Cabinet members and at least a half dozen aides have resigned. A handful of congressional Republicans are openly considering whether to join a renewed push for impeachment.

One GOP senator who has split with Trump in the past called on him to resign and questioned whether she would stay in the party.

"I want him out," Senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, told The Anchorage Daily News. "He has caused enough damage."

The insurrection on the heels of a bruising election loss in Georgia that cost the GOP control of the Senate accomplished what other low points in Trump's presidency did not: force Republicans to fundamentally reassess their relationship with a leader who has long abandoned tradition and decorum.

The result could reshape the party, threatening the influence that Trump craves while creating a divide between those in Washington and activists in swaths of the country where the president is especially popular.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Donald Trump's staunchest supporters, turned on him after Thursday's unrest. Photo / AP

"At this point, I won't defend him any more," said Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary for George W Bush and a GOP strategist who voted for Trump. "I won't defend him for stirring the pot that incited the mob. He's on his own."

When the week began, Trump was without question the most dominant political force in Republican politics and a 2024 kingmaker, if not the GOP's next presidential nominee himself. Today, there is a growing sense that he is forever tarnished — and may be forced from office before his term expires in 12 days.

Absent a resignation, calls for a second impeachment on Capitol Hill grew louder today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would proceed with impeachment proceedings unless Trump leaves office "imminently and willingly".

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, left: "I want [Trump] out. He has caused enough damage." Photo / AP

President-elect Joe Biden isn't putting his weight behind the effort yet, suggesting there's not enough time between now and his January 20 inauguration to pursue impeachment or any other constitutional remedy.

"I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th and getting our agenda moving as quickly as we can," Biden told reporters.

Trump still has supporters, especially among the many rank-and-file Republican voters and conservative activists beyond Washington.

Members of the National Guard arrive to secure the area outside the US Capitol. Photo / AP

Yesterday, there was loud applause and shouts of "We love you!" when Trump phoned into a breakfast meeting of the Republican National Committee in Florida.

"The vast majority of the committee is in full denial," said Republican National Committee member Bill Palatucci, of New Jersey, who attended the breakfast. "They're willing to condemn the violence, but without any reference to the president's role in any of it."

The president insists he did nothing wrong. He continues to tell aides, privately at least, that the election was stolen from him.

A Marine stands outside the entrance to the West Wing of the White House, signifying that President Donald Trump is in the Oval Office. Photo / AP

Republican officials in critical battleground states, his recently departed attorney general and a series of judges — including those appointed by Trump — have rejected those claims as meritless.

Trump had to be convinced to record the video released yesterday in which he finally condemned the rioters and acknowledged his November defeat for the first time, while initially pushing back at the prospect of speaking negatively of "my people".

He ultimately agreed to record the video after White House counsel Pat Cipollone warned he could face legal jeopardy for inciting the riot.

Others, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and his daughter Ivanka Trump, urged Trump to send out a message that might quell the talk of his forcible ouster from office, either by impeachment or constitutional procedures outlined in the 25th Amendment.

And while Trump acknowledged in the video a new administration would take over on January 20, he also said today he would not attend Biden's inauguration. That makes Trump the first outgoing president since Andrew Johnson 152 years ago to skip the swearing-in of his successor.

President Donald Trump at a rally in Washington DC before a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Photo / AP

Trump has no plans to disappear from the political debate once he leaves office, according to aides who believe he remains wildly popular among the Republican rank-and-file.

Lest there be any doubt, Trump's false claims about voter fraud in his November loss resonated with hundreds of thousands of Republican voters in Georgia's Senate runoff elections this week.

About seven in 10 agreed with his false assertion that Biden was not the legitimately elected president, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3700 voters.

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021

Leading Republican pollster Frank Luntz has had extensive conversations with grassroots voters and Republican officials about Trump's standing since the siege.

"The professionals are running away from a sinking ship, but his own supporters have not abandoned him, and they actually want him to fight on," Luntz said. "He's become the voice of God for tens of millions of people, and they will follow him to the ends of the earth and off the cliff."

And because of the voters' continued loyalty, elected officials in deep red areas must remain loyal to the outgoing president as well, even if his own Cabinet does not. In the hours after this week's riot, 147 Republicans in Congress still voted to reject Biden's victory, including eight senators.

The dramatic split in the party is reflected within the divergent paths adopted by the early slate of 2024 Republican presidential prospects.

Senators Josh Hawley, of Missouri, and Ted Cruz, of Texas, embraced Trump's calls to reject Biden's victory before and after the mob attack. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton resisted Trump's wishes, drawing an angry tweet from the President earlier in the week.

Such attacks didn't carry as much weight at the end of the week as they once did given Trump's weakened political state. Yesterday, Cotton chastised Republican colleagues like Hawley and Cruz, who had given voters "false hope" that Trump's November loss could be overturned.

Nikki Haley, who served as the US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, tried to toe the line as she condemned Trump's actions this week during a closed-door meeting with the Republican National Committee.

She lauded some of Trump's accomplishments but predicted that, "His actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history."

Meanwhile, there is no clear path for the Republican Party without Trump. Speaking to reporters today, even Biden raised concerns about the health of the GOP.

"We need a Republican Party," Biden said, noting that he spoke with Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a leading Trump critic. "We need an opposition that's principled and strong."

Utah Senator Mitt Romney. President-elect Joe Biden says he spoke to Romney about the need for a strong Republican Party in the wake of the Capitol riots. Photo / AP

Meanwhile, Trump has been plotting ways to retain his political clout once he moves from the White House to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, later in the month.

Believing his supporters will stick with him no matter what, he has continued to discuss encouraging primary challenges against Republicans who haven't been sufficiently loyal to him. And he has hinted publicly and privately that he will likely challenge Biden in a 2024 rematch.

Doug Deason, a Texas-based donor who served on the Trump campaign's finance committee, said this week's events had done nothing to shake his confidence in the Republican president.

"He has been the best president in my lifetime, including Reagan," Deason said.