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The Republican Party is perceived as being in disarray by many high-profile pundits, some of whom believe that the GOP needs to leave former President Donald Trump behind if it wants to regain power in Washington, D.C. An April 9 analysis by Jonathan Martin and Nicholas Fandos of The New York Times had this headline: “How a Defeated Trump Is Making a Muddle of the GOP.” Martin and Fando wrote that GOP leaders were confused over what their party stood for and called Trump’s continued influence over issues trumpeted by Republicans a “bizarre turn of events.”
But with or without Trump’s help or influence, it won’t be “bizarre” at all for the GOP to surge in 2022, for two strong reasons.
WASHINGTON After four years of being relentlessly targeted by a Republican president who worked overtime to bait, punish and marginalize California and everything it represents, the state is suddenly center stage again in Washington’s policy arena.
California is emerging as the de facto poli
President Trump tried to marginalize California. He failed. Now, with Joe Biden and Democrats taking power, no state is more influential in setting a policy agenda.