A few weeks ago, Donald Trump published a familiar boast to his social media platform. “The Republican Party has never been so UNITED AS IT IS RIGHT NOW!” the president wrote.
For those who keep up on Trump’s rhetoric, the claim reflected a familiar problem: He often struggles to differentiate what he wants to be true and what he presents as true. In other words, the president wants the GOP to be unified, so he insists the party has reached an unprecedented level of unity.
As a practical matter, this should hardly be the president’s top priority. Party unity is nice, but policy successes and public support matter far more.
But more importantly, it’s hard not to notice just how demonstrably silly the underlying claim is. As 2025 nears its end, the contemporary GOP is many things, but “united” isn’t one of them.
In recent days, Americans have seen evidence of Republican divisions on health care. And mid-decade redistricting. And House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership. And U.S. policy on Russia’s war in Ukraine. And the administration targeting Democratic military veterans in Congress.
Unfortunately for GOP leaders, we can keep going. Republicans are also divided over state-based AI safeguards. And alleged war crimes in the Caribbean. And federal marijuana policy. And U.S. saber-rattling toward Venezuela. And even collective-bargaining rights for federal workers.
Some intraparty fissures are inevitable, especially when a party is in a governing position and competing factions and constituencies within the broader coalition try to exert influence. Complicating matters further is the degree to which the party is failing: Congress isn’t passing bills; the flailing White House is unpopular; and Republicans have spent the year losing elections. It’s far easier for fellow partisans to paper over their differences when things are going well; it’s not nearly as easy when the party’s wheels are falling off. But at the top of the list is an increasingly unavoidable truth that the president appears reluctant to acknowledge: Trump is a failing and unpopular scandal-plagued lame-duck incumbent, who can’t run again, can’t protect his friends from election defeats, and doesn’t even want to govern. The question isn’t whether Republicans are splintering, it’s how much worse the splintering will become amid failed leadership, poor polling and a lack of direction.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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