Why don’t sane Republicans in Congress just switch to Independents?

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I first had to check if this is possible, and it is. If a Republican in Congress doesn’t want to tow the Trump line or be any part of the resulting mess that is that party, then why not just switch to an Independent? The current belief is that any Republican that isn’t Trumpist will get primaried and replaced with a nutter. I’m not saying switching to Independent will cleverly avoid that. They can still get replaced by a nutter, but why not go out fighting based on your own ideals and merits instead of just being near faceless party upheaval cannon fodder?

 

[Edd]

Simple power consolidation, I reckon. Suppose Cruz and Graham are every bit the spineless fucks they appear to be, perhaps the worst of the lot. Every other GOP rep is a version of that to some extent, setting aside Greene, Hawley and a few others as 100% balls out wackers McCrackers.

 

[Alli]

I first had to check if this is possible, and it is. If a Republican in Congress doesn’t want to tow the Trump line or be any part of the resulting mess that is that party, then why not just switch to an Independent? The current belief is that any Republican that isn’t Trumpist will get primaried and replaced with a nutter. I’m not saying switching to Independent will cleverly avoid that. They can still get replaced by a nutter, but why not go out fighting based on your own ideals and merits instead of just being near faceless party upheaval cannon fodder?

Because they’d rather be spineless toadies in power than moral idealists.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Because they’d rather be spineless toadies in power than moral idealists.

Um, yes.

Yes, actually, that about sums it up.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I think there’s more to it than that. People who’ve left the GQP to run as independents tend to lose their election bids, even though they’re the exact same person they were when they had an R behind their name.

We are so polarized that some people just can’t see voting for anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican.