Biden Is Free to Move Left as the GOP Cracks Up Over Trump
The center-right Republicans that recent Democratic presidents tried to court are too few to matter.
The start of Donald Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial is the latest reminder that although he’s left the White House, the former president hasn’t vacated his role as the dominant figure in the Republican Party—and the most divisive one. Republicans had hoped to spend the Biden era stoking tensions between moderate Democrats like the new president and the rising faction to his left. Instead, it’s the GOP that’s quickly fractured over the question of whether its members should remain in thrall to Trump or seek to move on from him.
As the two Republican factions wrestle for control of their party, Democrats have emerged as the major beneficiaries—especially those on the left.