Republican Party Will Suffer A ‘Wipeout’ In November, Says GOP Strategist

In an interview with MSNBC broadcast on Saturday, longtime GOP strategist Rick Tyler discussed the Republican Party’s electoral prospects, Raw Story reported.

Speaking with anchor Ali Velshi, Tyler explained that he voted in Democratic primaries, saying that he plans on supporting former Vice President Joe Biden over President Donald Trump.

Tyler said that he was “reluctant” to watch Biden’s speech at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week, but noted that watching it just strengthened his resolve to vote against Trump.

Biden formally accepted the presidential nomination on Thursday night. During his speech, he drew a contrast between himself and Trump, slamming the president for mishandling the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden also said that the U.S. is facing four major crises, climate change, racial injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession caused by the virus, arguing that politicians must rise to the occasion.

Tyler went on to describe Trump as an “existential threat to American democracy,” predicting that Biden will win the 2020 presidential election.

He said that he expects the Republican Party to suffer a “wipeout,” similar to the one that followed the Watergate scandal in 1974.

The strategist also suggested that such an outcome would be good for the Republican Party, because it would force conservatives to reject Trump and everything he stands for.

“I think the party’s going to suffer a ’74 Watergate wipeout. I think that’s necessary. I think the Republican Party has to reject Trumpism and everything that he has embraced.”

“It’s going to take a long time … to recover and regain its conservative philosophy, or any philosophy at all for that matter,” Tyler continued.

He advised Democrats to stay a moderate, centrist party instead of moving left and adopting more progressive policies.

“If they go too far to the left, they will be rejected again and we’ll be in that constant battle. I’d like to see us return to policy arguments and not this partisan division that is practiced by our president,” the Republican operative concluded.

Democrats, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, are strong favorites to gain control of the Senate, according to an analysis from CNN‘s Harry Enten.

Earlier this month, Enten wrote that Democrats have a 70 percent chance to win at least three seats in the upper chamber and more than a 60 percent chance to win at least four seats.

The Republican Party, he wrote, is in danger of losing in the states of North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Georgia.