The chattering class has long been predicting, and enhancing, division between moderate and progressive Democrats. Top Democrats characteristically oblige, infuriating rank and file Democrats by lying down, playing dead, and inviting the media and Republicans to stomp on them.

However, at least for now, any real or imagined rift between moderate and progressive Democrats resembles a lovefest compared to serious GOP intra-party squabbling.

There is absolutely nothing disgraceful or dishonorable about losing a presidential election. But with his post-election behavior Donald Trump has made himself into a real loser. 

It was bad enough through his short sightedness and incompetence failing to get on top of the pandemic, leaving the economy and the nation in disarray. He made it worse by denying the election results and failing to cooperate in the peaceful transition of power. But it was his role — whether incitement or merely “marginal” — in the Capitol invasion that led to his second impeachment

After his vote to acquit, Senate Majority Leader turned Minority Leader McConnell, immediately blasted Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the attack, adding that the mob was “fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth.” Trump responded with, “Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.”

Given McConnell’s early soft-peddling of Trump’s refusal to accept election results, and McConnell’s own early reluctance to refer to Biden as “President Elect,” it does not take a cynic to believe that the real reason for McConnell’s fury is his unceremonious demotion from Majority Leader to Minority leader, for which he holds Trump directly responsible, blaming him for the unexpected historic election of those two Democratic Senators from Georgia.  

Furthermore, he believes Trump to be bad for the future of the party, thereby inhibiting McConnell’s eventual return to Senate Majority Leader. McConnell already got what he wanted from Trump, namely three Supreme Court appointees and scores of young, conservative Federal judges who will be there for a lifetime. He no longer needs Trump—better for McConnell and the Party to be rid of him.

But not so fast. Trump is still immensely popular among Republicans throughout the country. And Trump’s enabler in chief, Senator Lindsey Graham, loves Trump, insisting that “This MAGA movement needs to continue.”

McConnell is faced with the dilemma of trying to diminish Trump’s looming presence over the party, while not alienating Trump supporters in the congress, and Trump voters throughout the country on which many congressional Republicans depend — or at least so they believe.

The powerful, cunning, Machiavellian McConnell has maneuvered his way through more difficult mazes than this. If he doesn’t like the rules, he just manages to change them. And in contrast to Trump, McConnell is willing to play the long game.

If there is a moment for Democrats to savor in this Republican brouhaha, it’s the role of Wisconsin’s Senator Johnson who resides on his own island of ignorance. This Wisconsin amateur with his “astute powers of observation” informs us that “This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me.” After all, he adds, “few rioters had firearms.” 

Johnson observed only “a few” rioters with firearms, so apparently it wasn’t all that bad. Never mind that some rioters were carrying zip ties, and gallows had been already constructed on the Capitol grounds. Well ok, these weren’t literally “firearms,” so in Johnson’s eyes, we shouldn’t be so upset. Relax, like with the pandemic, just forget it.

But the senator with his powers of observation couldn’t leave it there. Johnson went on to blast McConnell on the Senate floor — his (McConnell’s) “scathing speech did not reflect the majority of our conference,” adding that he “didn’t particularly like what McConnell did.” As if the powerful McConnell cared what the junior senator liked.

The spectacle of a buffoon who couldn’t lead a platoon of scouts to the latrine lecturing the powerful and controlling McConnell would be the stuff of a great “Saturday Night Live” skit.

But the question remains; will Trump’s continued popularity among local Republicans continue to dominate GOP politics? Who knows, but even though it’s still Trump’s Party, there are cautionary notes.

Another influential Republican, Karl Rove, cautions that in suggesting that Senate Republicans oust Mr. McConnell, “Mr. Trump is setting himself up for defeat.”

A former corporate PAC director observes “I think McConnell wins with the legitimate GOP donors. And he wins in the long run.”

A recent NY Times article featuring Wisconsin’s Fond du Lac County, birth place of the GOP, is instructive. The County Chair had urged his Republicans to forget Trump, and move on to a future that would expand GOP membership. For that, he was ditched by longtime friends and excoriated by his local Republicans. He considered giving up his chairmanship. “Who needs this — losing friends and getting trashed by my own Republicans?”

But he hung in there and over time the acrimony diminished. He offered to give up his Chair. But whaddaya know — with the caucus election, he was unanimously reelected. When it came time to do the work, Trump supporters were all talk. The Chair’s friends returned.     

Former Missouri Senator, Claire McCaskell, reminds us that majorities are won at the margin. Expand the base. Even if Trump’s base digs in and becomes even more hard core, while traditional Main Street Republicans become disaffected and leave the Party, this bodes ill for Republicans.

Biden currently enjoys remarkable national favorability ratings, far higher than Trump at his peak. If Republicans just consider that to be “fake news,” it’s at their own peril. 

But with tough choices ahead to move his agenda, Biden’s high ratings likely won’t last. And if Democrats just rely on Republicans to continue squabbling, it is at their peril. 

It’s in the interest of ambitious Republican presidential wannabees to have Trump get out of their way.  But Trump is all about retribution, and it’s still his GOP. His supporters are a force to be reckoned with.  But so is the cagey McConnell, even as GOP squabbling continues.

— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.