The fundraising rift could prove detrimental to Republicans, who are seeking to flip both the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
Trump blasted McConnell this week after the Senate GOP leader said Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 riot. Trump vowed to back primary opponents who are more aligned with his base, setting up a battle over the future of the Republican party.
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Many Republican donors are avoiding taking sides publicly for now, but strategists see signs of things to come in 2022 and 2024.
“I think as long as Republicans are out there talking about our own primaries and not talking about [President] Biden and Democratic policies, we’re losing,” a longtime GOP donor said. “Dem money’s going to flow; I think the worry will be some of the GOP money will sit on the sidelines, even the big establishment money, until Republicans get their act together.”
After Trump was acquitted in the Senate last week, McConnell took to the floor and blasted the former president as “practically and morally responsible for the deadly riot during which Trump supporters attempted to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election.
Trump took aim at McConnell following the Senate impeachment trial, releasing a scathing statement that claimed that, “Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He also called on Republicans to elect new candidates who would carry on his legacy.
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Trump allies have also vowed to take aim at lawmakers and candidates that don’t align with their ideology.
Gosar said it was and Sen. Ted Cruz
Republicans supportive of the move then stood to applaud Gosar.
One lawmaker from each chamber must agree to object to a given state in order to trigger up to two hours of debate and a vote.
Watch Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) object to the vote in his home state.
He s met with applause from the GOP. pic.twitter.com/8ldw0RU6AR The Recount (@therecount) January 6, 2021
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The GOP is also expected to object to other state tallies as Congress records electoral votes, including Pennsylvania and Georgia. House Republicans are also pushing to object to the results from Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, but it s not clear yet if a senator will back a challenge to those swing states.
“I’m furious,” one GOP lawmaker told The Hill.
“I think there is some concern growing not recognizing the historic nature of what happened to our democracy on Wednesday. And just doubling down on the hard-right type of message during that moment was troublesome,” another member said.
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More than five GOP lawmakers who spoke to The Hill said that with the exception of House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney
Cheney, the highest-ranking GOP woman in the House, is so far the only member of leadership to directly denounce President Trump
“We just had a violent mob assault the Capitol in an attempt to prevent those from carrying out our Constitutional duty. There is no question that the President formed the mob, the President incited the mob, the President addressed the mob. He lit the flame,” she tweeted.