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The great GOP migration has begun
The midterms promise a reality check — and growing defections from disastrous MAGA orthodoxy.
(Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, is a former U.S. senator and representative. He served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2022 to 2024.)
In politics, migrations rarely happen all at once. They start quietly — one or two members of a herd moving toward safer ground while the rest pretend not to notice. But once the wind really changes, the movement becomes unmistakable. I believe that a migration has begun within the Republican Party.
The first signs are visible. A few Republican members of Congress — some of them proud standard-bearers of the MAGA movement — have begun to distance themselves from President Donald Trump. Senators are resisting his dangerous push to end the filibuster. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has taken a stand against the president’s tariffs. Outspoken Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent break with the President Trump on several issues may not last, but even a temporary defection signals to others that it can be done. It gives cover to those who have privately questioned the direction of the party but have been unwilling to say so aloud.
Is Flake reading too much into the current circumstances (maybe it’s just his wishful thinking) or does he have it right - that the recent election results and some pushback from a few Republicans signal the beginning of the end of MAGA/Trump’s reign over the GOP?
The great GOP migration has begun
The midterms promise a reality check — and growing defections from disastrous MAGA orthodoxy.
(Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, is a former U.S. senator and representative. He served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2022 to 2024.)
In politics, migrations rarely happen all at once. They start quietly — one or two members of a herd moving toward safer ground while the rest pretend not to notice. But once the wind really changes, the movement becomes unmistakable. I believe that a migration has begun within the Republican Party.
The first signs are visible. A few Republican members of Congress — some of them proud standard-bearers of the MAGA movement — have begun to distance themselves from President Donald Trump. Senators are resisting his dangerous push to end the filibuster. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has taken a stand against the president’s tariffs. Outspoken Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent break with the President Trump on several issues may not last, but even a temporary defection signals to others that it can be done. It gives cover to those who have privately questioned the direction of the party but have been unwilling to say so aloud.
Is Flake reading too much into the current circumstances (maybe it’s just his wishful thinking) or does he have it right - that the recent election results and some pushback from a few Republicans signal the beginning of the end of MAGA/Trump’s reign over the GOP?
