Donald Trump 'is not disappearing by any means', according to Mitt Romney
Credit: Steve Helber/AP
US 2020 election
Donald Trump will remain a "900lb gorilla" in the Republican Party and there will be no renunciation of his political ideology after he ceases to be president, according to senior party figures.
Mitt Romney, one of Mr Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, accepted that the president’s worldview would have "an enormous impact on our party going forward".
Powerful party mandarins have been poring over results from Congressional races last week which showed that Republicans fared significantly better than expected, particularly where local candidates allied themselves with "Trumpism".
Mr Romney said: "I believe the great majority of people who voted for Donald Trump want to make sure that his principles and his policies are pursued. So he’s not disappearing by any means. He’s the 900lb gorilla when it comes to the Republican party.
"The presidential race was more a matter of a referendum on a person. And when it came to policy we did pretty well. Republicans overall did better than Democrats in this election."
Unlike when Mr Romney, as the Republican presidential nominee, lost to Barack Obama in 2012, there will be no soul-searching inquest into what went wrong this time.
Mr Trump secured 71 million votes, more than any Republican nominee in history – over 10 million more than Mr Romney, and expanded significantly from four years ago.
How election day played out
The party remained in control of the Senate, pending two run-offs in Georgia in January, despite widespread predictions that it would fall to the Democrats.
Republicans were celebrating gaining seats in the House of Representatives, putting the Democrat Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on the back foot.
Some Democrats compared their own anaemic showing in House races to a "dumpster fire," while moderates and left-wingers hurled allegations at each other over who was to blame.
Republicans also fared well in elections to state legislatures, meaning they will control much of the next redistricting process set to take place.
They will be able to draw the boundary maps favourably for Congressional and local elections taking place over the next 10 years, including many in the states of Texas, North Carolina and Florida. Republicans said they were now in a position to "secure a decade of power across the country".
Democrats involved in races at the local level said Mr Trump had proved a "buoy" rather than an "anchor" for their Republican opponents.
As the political complexion of state legislatures crystalised – for example, Democrats failed in their bid to gain control of the Texas House of Representatives – it became apparent that there had been no widespread rejection of "Trumpism" by Republicans.
Across the nation, Republican voters backed the policies on offer but criticised the president’s often aggressive personality, his tendency to disparage people and his constant use of Twitter.
Mike Murphy, a former Republican strategist, said: "It’s clear there was more voter frustration with Trump than with the ideology of the Republican Party. Clearly, the presidential race was operating in its own world from the congressional race."
Results from some counties where Mr Trump lost narrowly to Mr Biden showed that congressional candidates he backed finished slightly ahead of their Democrat opponents.
"This defied everyone’s expectations," said Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to Barack Obama. "Everyone said if Joe Biden wins, Democrats win the Senate. If Trump wins, Republicans win the Senate. That’s not what happened. Clearly, there was an undertow."
The remaining influence of Mr Trump’s ideology over the party was made clear as all potential candidates for the 2024 nomination avoided criticising him. Instead, they thanked him and offered sometimes qualified public backing for his desire to pursue legal options over the recounting of votes.
Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said the party’s message under Mr Trump of economic liberty even during the Covid pandemic won over many voters.
He said: "People don’t want taxes, they don’t want to be locked down. They want freedom and liberty. And they don’t want to see their communities burned to the ground."
But while many of those voters turned out in droves to back their local Republican candidates, some did not also tick the box for Mr Trump.
Elaine Luria, a Democrat congresswoman who held her seat in Virginia, said Republicans had "unprecedented turnout". She added: "Trump was not able to capitalise on that turnout himself because his actions and rhetoric over the last four years made him unpalatable to the majority of Americans."
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