Dozens of former Republican party members are in the process of establishing a new centre-right political party.

They do so because they see that the Republicans do not want to take action against former President Donald Trump, in whom they see an extremist who threatens the survival of the party. They tell that to the Reuters news agency.

Promoters include former Republican politicians, Ronald Reagan’s Republican government employees, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump, ex-Republican ambassadors and party strategists.

More than 120 of them held an online meeting last Friday to discuss the split-off. The new movement must operate based on “principled conservatism”. This includes adherence to the constitution and the rule of law – ideas that, according to those involved, have been sent to the trash by Trump.

The participants in the conversation said they were particularly appalled that more than half of the Republicans in Congress, 8 senators and 139 members in the United States House of Representatives voted just hours after the siege of the Capitol to block Biden’s election victory.

Former Republican Evan McMullin, who played a prominent role in the House of Representatives in the past, is one of the initiators: “Large sections of the Republican Party are radicalizing and threatening American democracy. The party must refocus on truth, reason and its traditional ideals.”