- Republicans have been publicly criticizing Trump after the party's performance in the midterms.
- GOP strategists are mixed on whether the party will actually move on Trump.
Republicans have been publicly souring on former President Donald Trump after candidates he endorsed underperformed in the midterm elections, but whether that drumbeat grows loud enough to drive him out as the party's leader remains uncertain.
"There's an old Frank Sinatra song where he says, 'I've heard that song before.' — We've heard this song before," Doug Heye, a veteran GOP strategist, told Insider on Thursday. "What we don't know is: what is that second verse going to be, and are Republicans going to actually stick to it?"
In important races, Trump backed dozens of Republican candidates who embraced his politics and leaned into his baseless claims about the 2020 election. While they found success in their primaries, many of the candidates failed to capture the widespread support that's needed to win a general election. To name a few: Trump acolytes running for governor in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan lost. Also in Pennsylvania, Republican Mehmet Oz, endorsed by Trump, lost a Senate seat that the party had targeted to secure a majority. In the House, hopes of a red wave were crushed.
"The results of Tuesday and a lot of these key races is what happens when you let someone like Donald Trump completely take over the Republican party," Gunner Ramer, political director of the anti-Trump group Republican Accountability Project, told Insider. "His types of candidates completely repel swing voters, and it's not going to be helpful if you want to put together a winning coalition come time for a general election."
The disappointing outcome has prompted calls to abandon Trump. A slew of elected officials, strategists, media figures and even a newly elected lawmaker blamed the former president for the party's shortcomings and losses.
"I would like to see the party move forward," Republican Rep.-elect Michael Lawler of New York told CNN on Thursday. "I think any time you are focused on the future, you can't so much go to the past."
But some aren't holding their breath that the party will actually let go of Trump, given his strong base.
"The party's just so terrified that if Trump is pushed out in any sort of way, he will take his base of core supporters and splinter them from the Republican party," a former House Republican leadership aide told Insider. "And the Republican party's just not in a position to make that bargain."
History also offers reason to be skeptical. The blast-Trump-then-backtrack game has happened countless times before, from when he first made controversial comments on the 2016 campaign trail to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot: Republicans criticize him, but then quickly forgive and embrace him again.
"You had a president that incited an attack on the Capitol building to try to overturn an election. It's very difficult to think of something more egregious that a sitting president could do," that aide said. "But the party's still refused to break from him because they were terrified of losing his supporters."
Still, some Republicans are holding out hope that this time might be different, pointing to Gov. Ron DeSantis' sweeping victory in Florida as evidence that there are other viable members to lead the party.
"I think we can, as a party, probably move forward with fresh blood," said Josh Novotney, a Republican strategist who has worked for retiring Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. "My gut is, here, that this is definitely a wake-up call for some that were still supportive of [Trump], and others that were just quiet on the issue will probably be more vocal saying, 'it's time to move on.'"
Current frustrations over Trump also don't mean much unless the chorus continues, and at all levels — local, state, and national, strategists say.
"We are at a beginning point and we don't know if that continues or not," Heye said.