NB: The actual opinion editorial (op-ed) mentioned below is at
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/opinion/2022-house-senate-trump.html
but behind a paywall. If anyone on this list has access to the above
op-ed, posting the actual text would be useful for a deeper
understanding of what these right-wing, now centrist, Republicans are
proposing. I refer to these persons as right-wing for at least four
reasons: theocrats who want to re-impose government control over the
female reproductive system (but not the male) -- note that I state
government, not adherence to a religion, etc., that demands such
voluntary control from the adherents, typically to be rewarded for such
adherence post-expiration; lack of understanding of the extreme and
growing wealth inequality in the USA; unwillingness to address
anthropogenic global warming and related environmental issues; and lack
of understanding of racism, and in particular anti-black racism by
whites and others, as well as the exploitation and confiscation of
traditional lands of Native Americans. However, these persons are not
Trumpite nazi klan extremists, and thus today are "centrists".
https://news.yahoo.com/gop-officials-urging-republican-voters-030445813.html
Some GOP officials are urging Republican voters to back Democrats in
2022 to save the party from 'pro-Trump extremists'
Cheryl Teh
Mon, October 11, 2021, 8:04 PM
Donald Trump speaks in front of an RNC sign and many American flags.
Two Republicans are urging the GOP base to vote for Democrats, arguing
that "rational Republicans are losing the GOP civil war." (AP Photo/Evan
Vucci)
Two Republicans are urging voters to ensure "rational Republicans"
don't lose the "GOP civil war."
They are the Trump official turned critic Miles Taylor and former
Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.
In a Monday op-ed article they said electing "moderate Democrats"
was necessary in the short term.
Two GOP officials have urged Republicans in some cases to vote
Democratic in the 2022 midterm elections as one of several ways to
bolster the party from candidates they described as "pro-Trump extremists."
Miles Taylor, a Trump-era Department of Homeland Security chief of
staff, and Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New
Jersey, wrote a New York Times op-ed article that ran Monday. Taylor is
best known for anonymously writing a 2018 op-ed article in The Times
describing a "resistance" of Trump administration officials working to
tamper what he called the former president's "worst inclinations."
Together, Taylor and Whitman asked that the GOP's base consider
supporting Democrats so "conservative pragmatists" could retake control
of the party.
"Rational Republicans are losing the party civil war," they wrote. "And
the only near-term way to battle pro-Trump extremists is for all of us
to team up on key races and overarching political goals with our
longtime political opponents: the Democrats."
They added: "It's a strategy that has worked. Mr. Trump lost re-election
in large part because Republicans nationwide defected, with seven
percent who voted for him in 2016 flipping to support Joe Biden, a
margin big enough to have made some difference in key swing states."
The two argued that this move was necessary because the Republican
leadership had "turned belief in conspiracy theories and lies about
stolen elections into a litmus test for membership and running for
office." Taylor and Whitman also renewed a threat for them and more than
100 other former GOP officials to try to start a new center-right party
if Trump-backed candidates continued to win Republican primaries.
"The best hope for the rational remnants of the Republican Party is for
us to form an alliance with Democrats to defend American institutions,
defeat far-right candidates, and elect honorable representatives next
year - including a strong contingent of moderate Democrats," Taylor and
Whitman wrote.
Their strategy would involve GOP voters supporting Democrats like Rep.
Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona in what they called "difficult races" likely
to feature Trump-supported Republicans. They also advocated defending
what they called a "small nucleus of courageous Republicans" such as
Reps. Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Peter Meijer.
Kinzinger, for one, said in September that he thought the GOP shouldn't
win a majority in the House if it were "pushing division and pushing
lies." Cheney also said in September that she was not ready to cede the
GOP to the "voices of extremism," adding that many Republicans in the
House and the Senate had cheered her on privately in her fight against
Trump.
The Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.