Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak Sunday in Orlando, Florida, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in what is likely his first bid since leaving office to generate national headlines and offer himself as the Republican Party's only hope to take back the White House in 2024. Trump is eager to attack those who had the guts to call him out for his instigating role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. But among his gutless enablers on Sunday will be Trumpian lapdog Sen. Josh Hawley and his Texas counterpart, Sen. Ted Cruz.

On Wednesday, a reporter asked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming if they believe Trump should have been invited to speak at the conference. McCarthy replied first: "Yes, he should."

Cheney replied: "I don't think he should be playing a role in the future of the party." With that, McCarthy ended the session with reporters. That's today's GOP in nutshell — badly fractured and potentially broken beyond repair over these questions: Is Trump the future of the Republican Party? Or does he deserve to be shunned so the party can regain credibility and rise anew?

Most Republican base voters say Trump still defines the party, which is exactly why politicians like McCarthy go to such extraordinary, even irrational lengths to curry Trump's favor. Get on his wrong side, and he still may have the power to erect major obstacles to his GOP critics' reelection.

Trump's ability to communicate with his base dried up after he lost the White House bully pulpit and major social media platforms like Twitter shut down his accounts. But Sunday's CPAC event unquestionably will put Trump back in the headlines and at the center of controversy — which is exactly where he wants to be.

The GOP remains the Party of Trump, which effectively sends a message to millions of moderate, anti-Trump Republicans that they are no longer welcome under the GOP tent. A split seems almost inevitable as dissenters like Cheney are censured by their state parties and the party makes clear it has no tolerance for free thinkers.

With the exception of a rare few, brave individuals who still value their self-respect, no one dares state what is obvious to the rest of the world: Trump is political poison.

The New York Times, after analyzing January voting records, found that nearly 140,000 Republicans left the Republican Party in 25 states. These aren't Republicans who kept their party affiliation but voted for Joe Biden on Nov. 3. They're people who can no longer tolerate association with a party that embraces Trump as its leader.

Many moderate, principled, traditional or pro-democracy conservatives are searching for a new political home because the big-tent Republican Party has officially converted itself into a circus sideshow.

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