Former GOP senator says Republicans must form new party or be Trump hostages

Former Republican Senator William Cohen accused GOP members of complying with President Donald Trump’s wishes to overturn the election result and warned that they would be held hostage at his whim when he left office.

Cohen, who was a GOP U.S. Senator for Maine between 1979 and 1997, targeted GOP lawmakers who indulged in Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud, and said the division between Republicans was so strong that ‘she should form a new party.

Describing Trump as a “ringleader” who can “crack his whip and all the elephants jump in the chairs,” Cohen said Republicans who support Trump’s rejection of the election result are building up problems for the party at the time. to come up.

“He’s going to continue to break the whip whether he’s in power or not,” Cohen told CNN Thursday.

“He’s always going to raise the bar, he can’t be satisfied. There is nothing in him. There is no moral core and so they are going to be extorted or bribed in order to avoid a primary in 2022 or 2024. “

Cohen, who also served as Defense Secretary under former Democratic President Bill Clinton, was particularly critical of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who pledged to reject Electoral College votes for president-elect Joe Biden on January 6.

Illinois GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger said more than 100 Republicans could also challenge Congress’ certification of the result.

“Senator Hawley wants to be the first to say ‘I am the new Trump’,” Cohen said.

“I think it is just a shame that the Senator is doing this and that the Senators who are lining up to support Senator Hawley have to understand – they are going to have to keep doing it over and over again, every time the ring master cracks. . the whip.”

“For Trump it’s pathological, for those who stand up to support him, it’s evil and I don’t think it’s fiendishly smart.

“I think they will find out that they will be hostages for the rest of their time in the Senate and into the future if they are only there to appease the Trumpsters.”

In November, Cohen denounced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comment that there would be a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration” as undemocratic.

Cohen now believed it was incumbent on Republican senators such as Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) to defend the future of the GOP because “I think he there is a real division. “

“I think there is a real split there and I don’t know how [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will take care of it in the future, but maybe it’s time for a new party, ”Cohen told Jim Acosta.

“Whoever respects the rule of law, respects a balanced budget of opportunities, fiscal responsibility but also faithful to the people of this country who vote to elect them,” he added.

The graph below by Statista shows the budgets spent in this century’s US elections.