On July 7th, a warm day in London, Boris Johnson announced he would resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This was the climax of a series of events involving lots of internal turmoil within the Conservative Party. Members of the Government resigned, a no-confidence motion was voted on, and rivalries were formed. Now, the U.K. has Liz Truss, the former Foreign Secretary, as its leader. More importantly, the Conservative Party has a new leader after ousting its problematic preceding prime minister.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Republican Party in the United States is falling short in any removal efforts aimed at booting its insurrectionist, anti-democratic, authoritarian leader from the party’s realm of influence. Donald Trump is currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fulton County District Attorney and is in legal trouble with numerous other persons. If one recalls my article from January 2022, Donald Trump actively participated and encouraged an insurrection against the United States government and democracy, committed numerous immoral acts as president, and served as an icon for racists, homophobes, sexists, and transphobes everywhere.
But no, despite any comments or crimes or actions, the Republican Party refuses to expel Trump. There are numerous factors that must be considered in the unfettered support for the party leader. It is these factors that will both prevent the Republican Party from meeting the needs and demands of a more modern electorate and will endanger American democracy by virtue of the support of an insurrectionist.
First to consider is Trump’s considerable support by grassroots Republicans. Despite drawing the ire of establishment leaders who have seen many a president come and go, Donald Trump secured the broad support of Republicans nationally. Any opposition to the former president is punished severely by fellow Republicans making a public mockery of their coworkers. Voting or speaking out against Trump results in election chances dwindling to the near impossible. The most prominent example of post-criticism rebuke is Liz Cheney.
Liz Cheney is the daughter of Dick Cheney, a former vice president. More importantly, she was the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, that is, until she was removed following her condemnation of the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump’s actions. When running for re-election she lost by a landslide, winning less than 30% of the voters in the Republican primary, losing to a Trump-endorsed candidate. Her outspoken criticism of Donald Trump was the catalyst that caused a woman who some talked about as a future leader of the Republican Party to plummet from party ranks and favor.
Some dare not even run again, fearing the opposition from Republicans aligned with Trump. Adam Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump in the vote following the January 6th insurrection. Later, Nancy Pelosi appointed him to the committee investigating what happened. Kinzinger announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2022.
Several structural and institutional differences yield the improbability of Trump’s removal and the incompatibility between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump’s options for removal. For one, the United States operates as a presidential democracy in which the popular electorate chooses the head-of-government and de facto party leader (not through direct election but rather through the Electoral College). In the United Kingdom, a parliamentary democracy means that elections select legislators and the legislators of the majority party or coalition determine their leader. Because of this system and other constitutional nuances, in the United States, presidents are only removed by both legislative chambers in a voting threshold often requiring bipartisan support. In the United Kingdom, the ruling party or coalition alone determines the Prime Minister and thus public opinion, despite playing a role in the selection of a party leader and the extent to which a party leader can control party policy, does not determine party leadership. Therefore, a leader can be removed from party hierarchy without a large general election or overwhelming opposition from the populace. It is also important to note that a President has never been impeached and removed from office, and it is rare for a president’s own party to support an impeachment vote or their subsequent trial in the United States Senate.
Essentially, the removal of Boris Johnson, an unpopular leader and politician lacking favor within his party, cannot be compared to any attempt at removing Donald Trump and knocking him off the metaphorical pedestal. The large institutional and social differences between the United States and the United Kingdom yield entirely different removal systems and manners of remaining a popular leader with sizable influence over party policy.