如果你对共和党现在是特朗普党有任何怀疑，那就看看南卡罗来纳州、亚利桑那州、内华达州和堪萨斯州吧。
所有四个州都准备取消他们的2020年共和党初选当总统面临提名的三个挑战时，前众议员乔·沃尔什和前州长比尔·韦德和马克·桑福德。
这三人几乎没有机会从特朗普那里获得提名，该党认为，在没有真正理由只做好事的情况下，举行昂贵而繁琐的初选。这也避免了特朗普不必要的尴尬。
而是一篇关于华盛顿邮报，由竞选特朗普提名的三名共和党人联合撰写，对这一说法提出质疑。
他们写道:“总统总是给自己的政党下定义，而今天共和党在一个抛弃了共和党基本原则的连续自我推销者的领导下，走错了路。”。“毫无疑问，特朗普团队最近的耻辱是努力消除2020年对总统政治权力的任何威胁...这对共和党意味着什么？如果一个政党只代表连任，那它就毫无意义。”
共和党全国委员会官员表示，他们在取消选举的决定中没有扮演任何角色，特朗普政府告诉政治科，他们支持取消选举，但与此无关。尽管如此，这并没有阻止特朗普的潜在对手向媒体提出他们的请求。
周一早上，沃尔什加入美国有线电视新闻网，抱怨他认为的被操纵的系统。
“这位总统似乎每天都在攻击我们的民主，但我们必须义愤填膺。我总是想掐自己一下，提醒自己这里不是俄罗斯。我不住在俄罗斯。我拒绝住在俄罗斯。我们不能就这样取消这个国家的选举，”他说。“唐纳德·特朗普就是这么做的。他实际上是在取消选举，很容易生特朗普的气，但我们已经习惯了特朗普。他是一个未来的独裁者。他希望这里是俄罗斯。我不得不告诉你，我对共和党感到失望，因为共和党与总统串通一气，而且还真的取消了选举。”
在现任党主席入主白宫的几年里，各州取消初选并非史无前例。2012年巴拉克·奥巴马总统竞选第二个任期时，亚利桑那州没有举行民主党初选，1996年比尔·克林顿总统竞选时，亚利桑那州也没有举行民主党初选。南卡罗来纳州没有在1984年罗纳德·里根总统竞选时举行初选，也没有在2004年乔治·布什第二次竞选时举行初选。
TRUMP'S REPUBLICAN CHALLENGERS ANGRY THAT FOUR STATES CANCEL GOP PRIMARIES
If you had any doubt that the Republican party is now the Trump party, look no further than South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas.
All four states are preparing to cancel their 2020 Republican primary elections as the president faces three challengers to the nomination, former Representative Joe Walsh and former Governors Bill Weld and Mark Sanford.
The three have little to no chance of nabbing the nomination from Trump, and the party argues that holding expensive and cumbersome primary elections when there is no real reason to is just good business. It also prevents unnecessary embarrassment for Trump.
But an opinion piece for the Washington Post, written jointly by the three Republicans running for the nomination against Trump, challenges that assertion.
"A president always defines his or her party, and today the Republican Party has taken a wrong turn, led by a serial self-promoter who has abandoned the bedrock principles of the GOP," they wrote. "No surprise, then, that the latest disgrace, courtesy of Team Trump, is an effort to eliminate any threats to the president's political power in 2020...What does this say about the Republican Party? If a party stands for nothing but reelection, it indeed stands for nothing."
Republican National Committee officials say they didn't play any role in the decision to cancel the elections, and the Trump administration told Politico that they supported the cancellations but had nothing to do with them. Still, that hasn't stopped Trump's would-be opponents from taking their pleas to the media.