'I don’t think there is a Republican Party': Former GOP governor trashes 'cult' of Trump

Former New Jersey Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, in a Sunday interview with MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart, insisted the Republican Party, as she has known it, no longer exists.

"Governor, in this Washington Post op-ed, [Robert Kagan] writes this," Capehart said. "'As perilous as it is for Republicans to say a negative word about Trump today, it will be impossible once he has sewed up the nomination.

“The party will be in full general election mode, all to the presidential campaign. There will be no more infighting, only outfighting. In short, a tsunami of Trump support from all directions.'"

Capehart asked, "Governor, as a former Republican office holder, does Kagan's warning ring true?"

Whitman replied, "Yes, it does, absolutely. … Let me just say, I don't think there is a Republican Party, there is a cult around Donald Trump.

“They didn't adopt a platform in 2020, which meant that they didn't set out what they stood for. It was whatever Donald Trump tells us we should stand for today, that's what we'll stand for.

“So it's not a party as we have known it. Believe what he says. He says what he's going to do. Believe him. He will tear down the very guardrails of our democracy — the rule of law the respect for the constitution.

“I mean that's going to go with him because he said he's going to do it. And no one should question that. He means what he says."