More than 100 former Republican officials threatened to create a new political party if the Republican Party remains with former President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
The letter, titled “A Call For American Renewal,” was expected to be released Thursday. Beyond discussing the creation of a third party, the letter will go after Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, according to Reuters.
The group first threatened to create a new political party in February in the wake of the Capitol Riot and Trump’s second impeachment, Reuters noted. One of the groups organizers, former Chief of Staff in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Miles Taylor, said, “The Republican Party is broken. It’s time for a resistance of the ‘rationals’ against the ‘radicals.’”
Enough is enough.
We’re going to announce a “resistance of the rationals” against the radicals in the GOP.
Next Thursday. Watch this space.
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) May 8, 2021
In 2018, Taylor wrote an anonymous opinion for The New York Times titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” and the Times said the author was a “senior official in the Trump administration.” Taylor remained anonymous under the title until he came forward in October 2020, and the Times subsequently received backlash for making Taylor seem higher up than he actually was. (RELATED: Miles Taylor Bragged About Donating Most Of His ‘Anonymous’ Book Royalties — But We Have No Idea How Much Money He Actually Kept)
Other former Republican officials that backed Taylor’s group included a number of former President George W. Bush appointees, such as former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and former Bush Transportation Secretary Mary Peters among them, Reuters reported.
Former Republican House members such as Charlie Dent, Barbara Comstock, Reid Ribble and Mickey Edwards, are also backers of the group seeking to force the GOP to buck Trump, according to Reuters.
The letter’s signatories will also include other former ambassadors and governors.
Trump spokesperson Jason Miller gave an impassioned defense on Trumps behalf, telling Reuters, “These losers left the Republican Party when they voted for Joe Biden.”