They’re not split down the middle. That was part of the point of the impeachment, to remind them that they have a common enemy. The GOP is probably very much more split, because of the Tea Party, they really spawned a new guys vs old squad mentality. But once all the Tea Party guys got reelected they became old squad, hence why Cruz got killed in the primaries.
The only “help” the GOP will give the Dems, IS RIGHT NOW giving the Dems, is the same protection they give themselves. They have deliberately constructed a system at all levels of government that undercuts any 3rd party’s ability to participate in the government. Any independent that gets elected, assuming they can navigate the hurtles that the parties have built into that process, will quickly find themselves shut out of committees until they pick a party to “caucus” with. If you’re not in committees you can’t get cosponsors, which means you can’t propose legislation, which means you’re marking time. There’s a reason so much of the public believes we have a two party system. We DIDN’T, but the dems and GOP, both upstarts that replaced previous parties, have made it so we do now. All of the rules of Congress, and the state legislatures, were built by these 2 parties to shut out competition. And that’s how it’s going to stay.
Gallup has Trump now at 94% GOP support, there is no division in the rank and file. Yes, the old guard is still there (and that’s the only split), but they’ll get pushed aside, assuming that Trump wins in November.
If you think the Dems are unified, I’ve got a bridge...
Then when they got intimidated by leftists, they changed the name of it to the Freedom Caucus.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/20/house-freedom-caucus-what-is-it-and-whos-in-it/
From the link:
Amid all the coverage of House Republicans’ unruly efforts to select a speaker who can command broad support from their fractious ranks, one name keeps coming up: the House Freedom Caucus. But what, exactly, is the House Freedom Caucus?
Pew Research Center has confirmed the identities of 36 Freedom Caucus members through representatives’ public statements, their comments to the media or their offices’ direct responses. A handful of other House members who reportedly belong to the group could not be confirmed.
Ideologically speaking, they’re among the most conservative of House Republicans, though not all are on the rightmost end of the spectrum.
Freedom Caucus members also have spent decidedly less time in the House. Of the 36 identified members, 26 (72%) were first elected in 2010 or later, compared with 54% of other House Republicans.*******
Right around the time the Tea Party movement was prominate in politice.
I've been to over 200 tea party events and traveled with the now defunct Tea Party Express, which got ruined by internal politics.
Some people wanted too much power, which was anathema to what the Movement was all about.
A few people did all they could to stop Free Republic from having a voice.
Even here at FR there are some of those types.
One guy got me stopped from addressing the crowd of over a million in the fall of the first year.
It would have been a good opportunity to have 1M people hear about FR.
Some people want glory and will stop others from being heard even if it is/was not in FR's best interest.