The Republican Party will investigate the disappointing results in the November midterm elections. With a faltering economy, inflation, and an unpopular president, the Republicans would win big. But despite the fact that the party won a majority in the House of Representatives The expected “red wave” did not materialize.

The result reveals a rift between hardline Trump supporters and traditional Republicans. Knives are already being sharpened in swing states, where every vote could be decisive in the 2024 presidential election.

Michigan is one of those states. This year the Republicans lost there on all fronts. Democrats won both houses of state government for the first time in 40 years. Painful for Republicans, but certainly painful for former President Donald Trump who supported many of the candidates. The question now is whether Trump was the cause of the loss.

As a newcomer in 2016, Trump managed to win Michigan by a slim majority. On the eve of the election, he campaigned in Grand Rapids, Michigan’s furniture capital. Rob Verhoelen, the GOP chairman in that district, was still behind him onstage at the time: “A lot of people here had the feeling that we were being looked down upon by politicians. Trump was able to connect with us and explain that voice from the people.”

The names of many of the candidates in this region refer to Dutch ancestors. Few of them succeeded in the midterm elections. Veheulen: “One reason is that there is an abortion right bill on the ballot. That has led to a high turnout among Democrats. Another reason is that there is a huge split within the party between Trump supporters and traditional conservatives.”

That dichotomy became apparent when traditional conservative donors withheld funds from Trump-backed candidates who still claim the 2020 election was stolen. As a result, these candidates had very little money to campaign properly.

Many Trumpian Republicans have won internal primaries over traditional Republicans, but have lost General elections of the Democratic opponents. The disappointing results did not prevent Donald Trump from appearing less than a week after the midterm elections to nominate for the 2024 presidential election.

Prominent party members in Michigan are speaking out now, because they fear losing the next election with the former president in the lead. In a leaked memo, popular party star Paul Cordes blamed his party for losing the election. According to him, the party has focused too much on specialized topics. “There was more propaganda about transgender people than about inflation that moderate voters should have taken advantage of,” Cordes wrote.

Jeff Timmer, the former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, believes Trump’s role could fragment the party. He defected from the party when Trump joined. “The party continues to support extreme politics, such as the anti-abortion stance. They continue to do the same thing hoping for different results. I think that is the definition of insanity.”

According to Timer, Trump revealed the true nature of the party. “It became an ‘us against them’, xenophobic, racist, male-dominated party, an essentially Christian party. Instead of the secular American politics we’ve always had.”

Where Trump initially succeeded in hooking hard-working Americans, that is no longer the case, Timmer says. “The Republican Party still thinks they are the silent majority with their ideas, despite evidence that is no longer the case. Republicans have lost the election three times in a row with Trump at the helm.”

However, Trump will not simply disappear from the scene, Temmer believes, and is now a leading member of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project movement. “I don’t think anyone is more powerful than Trump, but if he doesn’t become the presidential candidate, he will burn his party down. It’s in his character.”

If Trump later decides to run for office — non-partisan — it could mean the downfall of the Republican Party, Verhoelen fears. Because tens of millions of Americans consider themselves among Trump’s hard core. If Trump leaves and takes his voters with him, it is not healthy for the party.”

Timmer sees this scenario as an opportunity. “The Republican Party must be razed to the ground. Only then can something new rise from the ashes. We must create a more moderate alternative.”