GOP is being ‘eaten alive’ by Trump, election experts warn

Florida Republican strategist Gianno Caldwell says 'unquestionable majority of party is with him'

The question of whether former president Trump would lose his clout within the Republican Party has been quickly answered by the number of GOP power brokers visiting Mr Trump at his new permanent home in Mar-A-Lago.

Florida Republican strategist Gianno Caldwell told The Palm Beach Post that it was "unquestionable" that "the majority of the party is with him".

Mr Trump showed his lasting influence over the party when a small part of the spring donor retreat was moved to Mar-A-Lago from a hotel in the area, as reported by The Washington Post.

A dinner speech will be given by Mr Trump at his private club as he's in the middle of a feud with the party over the use of his name and likeness in fundraising efforts.

Lawyers for Mr Trump sent out cease and desist letters to the RNC, NRCC and NRSC as Mr Trump was furious that his name and likeness was being used to help Republicans who voted to impeach him, according to Politico.

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Mr Trump has been asking his supporters to donate to his Save America PAC instead of the Republican Party.

The RNC denied Mr Trump's demand but agreed to not use his name and likeness without his permission, The Palm Beach Post writes.

Mr Caldwell told the paper: "The party is fractured, so it's going to be very difficult to unite the party in a way which is cohesive for legitimate forward movement."

A CPAC straw poll found that 97 per cent of conference attendees approved of Mr Trump’s job performance as president, but only 55 per cent had him as their favourite candidate for 2024.

Mr Caldwell said that some of Mr Trump's statements "were despicable and something a president should never say". He also said that many conservatives at least in private think that Mr Trump is responsible for the Capitol riot that took place on 6 January.

He added that many conservatives feel under pressure at the moment because of media coverage and social media bans.

He said: "Conservatives are legitimately getting beat up everywhere. This is a really, really rough place to be because there is also a lack of leadership in the GOP right now."

Former Obama presidential campaign adviser Spencer Critchley told The Palm Beach Post that "the Republican Party is being eaten alive from within” by Mr Trump, adding: "He is doing all this stuff that only serves his own impulsive interest of the moment and the Republican Party seems helpless to do anything but go along with it, even though he is attacking one of the things they presumably care most about, their ability to raise money."

Palm Beach political consultant Blair Brandt called Mr Trump "the presumptive frontrunner for 2024 at this time," and told The Palm Beach Postthat he's the "de facto ideological leader of the party".

He added that a lot of people visit Mr Trump now while he has "downtime" before his "availability" shrinks. A visit to southern Florida is an effective winter vacation for many Republicans according to Mr Brandt, as other donors with a lot of money also live in Palm Beach.

Mr Brandt said: "If Trump was living in Macon, Georgia, you would be going there to see him, but here, people are not just meeting with him but also donors who typically participate at the six-figure level and above."

Speaking about Mr Trump’s influence within the GOP, Mr Brandt said: "The working-class voters are really the base right now and they are still waving Trump flags."

The Independent has reached out to President Trump's Save America PAC for comment.