It's hard to argue with political analysts' increasingly bleak outlook for the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterm elections. But evidence is mounting that the Republican Party also is in disarray. For all of GOP leaders' gloating about how bad President Joe Biden is faring with his major initiatives, signs of trouble are brewing in the Party of Trump as well.

Former President Donald Trump has driven the party so far to the extremes with his ongoing campaign to promote the big lie of election fraud in the 2020 presidential vote that some, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, are openly pushing back. The result has been some unusually public sniping. McConnell's resistance to full-on support of Trump prompted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to issue a stark warning.

"Elections are about the future," he told Fox News last week. "If you want to be a Republican leader in the House or the Senate, you have to have a working relationship with Donald Trump. Can Sen. McConnell effectively work with the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump? ... I am not going to vote for anybody for leader of the Senate as a Republican unless they can prove to me that they can advocate an 'America First' agenda and have a working relationship with Donald Trump because, if you can't do that, you will fail."

Trump recently labeled McConnell a "loser" for failing to embrace the big lie. Trump also is openly fighting with one of the former president's chief allies, Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has achieved national stature by out-trumping Trump with his hardline resistance to basic pandemic precautions.

Trump was booed at a recent rally for stating that he had received a coronavirus booster vaccination. He has begun criticizing politicians who fail to give him credit for having spearheaded vaccine development in the first place. He called DeSantis "gutless" for refusing to state whether he has been vaccinated. To which DeSantis replied that he regrets having not been more vocal in criticizing Trump's pandemic management and its negative economic impact.

DeSantis runs a state whose voters could determine who wins the next presidential race and seems ready to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024.

Meanwhile, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds is calling on Republicans to accept that Biden won and stop dwelling on the past, prompting Trump to lash out at him. McConnell said he agrees with Rounds.

Polling trends suggest that GOP extremism continues to drive moderates away. The party's support had dropped from a high in February 2020, with 33% of poll respondents saying they identified as Republicans, to 26% in December. The ranks of independents are swelling.

None of this means the job will be any easier for Democrats in the midterms, but the infighting suggests the election won't be any cakewalk for Republicans, either.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Photo credit: Tumisu at Pixabay