Republican leaders are holding closed-door meetings to question Trump's power over the party, report says

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Republican leaders are holding closed-door meetings to question Trump's power over the party, report says
Former President Donald Trump speaking at a "Save America" rally.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
  • Discontent with Trump is growing among some Republican leaders, The Washington Post reported.
  • According to The Post, senior Republicans are questioning Trump's hold over the party in meetings.
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Top Republicans are increasingly questioning former President Donald Trump's hold over the party in closed-door meetings, The Washington Post reported.

They have been discussing his influence and fixation on what The Post described as "personal grievances."

The report cited more than a dozen Republican leaders across the country — including Trump advisors — many of whom spoke with the publication anonymously because of concerns about retribution from Trump.

The report comes amid growing signs of divergence between Trump and some Republican leaders ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Trump has remained fixated on his baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and he has endorsed candidates who've backed that claim.

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But some Republicans want to distance the party from the election-fraud narrative and focus on issues that they hope will draw votes from Republican-leaning independents, such as inflation or COVID-19 restrictions in schools.

According to the Post report, Trump has reacted with fury and yelled at advisors who counseled him not to fixate on the 2020 election.

"People aren't necessarily seeing his messaging as much. They just say he's not on Twitter, they don't really know what he's doing," a senior Republican told The Post. "A lot of people now say to me: 'He did great things, he was a great president, but it's time for something new.'"

Trump has long portrayed himself as the scourge of Republican elites and recently spoken out against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has blamed Trump for the Capitol riot.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that McConnell was quietly waging a campaign to recruit candidates who would stand up to Trump.

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Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesman, told The Post that Trump had remade the party and that candidates he'd endorsed who could "successfully articulate his agenda" would win in November.

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