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The Republican Party has taken "a bad turn" under Donald Trump, according to three GOP contenders to the president, and is heading toward the path of totalitarianism as states cancel the primaries to try to give Trump an unhindered path toward nomination in 2020.
In a Washington Post column, Mark Sanford, Joe Walsh and Bill Weld noted that "leading Democratic candidates are still engaged in fierce debate, caucus and primary competition to give their constituents a chance to select the best candidate" .
They asked, "Do Republicans really want to be the party with a nomination process that looks more like Russia or China than our American tradition?"
Sanford, former congressman and governor of South Carolina, and Walsh, a member of the Illinois Tea Party, now radio host, recently joined Weld, former Massachusetts governor, with the goal of proposing a Republican alternative to Trump.
Pending court challenges, they will not be able to do so in Arizona, Nevada, Kansas and South Carolina, who have canceled their nominating contest.
"A president always sets his party," wrote the three men, "and today the Republican party has taken a bad turn, led by a serial self-promoter who has abandoned the GOP's fundamental principles.
"In the Trump era, personal responsibility, fiscal consolidation and the rule of law were surpassed by a preference to alienate our allies while embracing terrorists and dictators, attacking the free press and opponent of ordinary Americans.
"It is not surprising then that the latest disgrace, offered by Team Trump, is an effort to eliminate any threat to the president's political power in 2020".
Republican presidents have been damaged by major challenges before. In 1992, paleo-conservative Pat Buchanan opposed George HW Bush before the president lost the White House to Bill Clinton. But no president in office has been denied the appointment of his party since Chester A Arthur in 1884.
Current challengers are unlikely to hinder or even slightly damage Trump. He treated them with his usual disdain, exaggerating its popularity (though very high) among Republicans, which earned him the usual nickname – "the three mates" – and the weaknesses of his opponents.
While he was Governor of South Carolina, Sanford said he was absent from the state because he was traveling the Appalachian Trail. In fact, he was in Argentina and was conducting an extramarital affair.
Walsh, who took office in the Tea Party wave in 2010 but lost it in 2012, apologized for expressing racist views about Barack Obama.
Weld, a relatively liberal Republican, was governor of Massachusetts between 1991 and 1997, never held any national office, and was running for the position of vice-presidential candidate, Gary Johnson, in 2016, winning just over 3% of the votes cast.
Nevertheless, the three men continue to advance.
In March, Weld told the Guardian: "Do not forget, George HW Bush's figures were 91% in December 1991 and look what happened to him."
For the Post, Walsh and Sanford wrote: "Under this president, the sense of truth has been challenged like never before. Under this president, the federal deficit has exceeded one billion dollars.
"As Republicans, do we consider all this inevitable? Should we leave it up to the Democrats to defend the principles and values that each Republican would have agreed a few years ago to the foundations of our party?
They concluded, "In the United States, citizens choose their leaders. The main nomination process is the only opportunity for Republicans to be heard in deciding who will represent our party. Let these voices be heard. "
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