A US political commentator has suggested that Donald Trump is causing a stir among Republicans due to the growing unease surrounding the current political landscape.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Trump 100 podcast, Sky News’ US correspondent, Mark Stone, shared his insights on the recently elected president.
He explained how he spoke to a “very senior Republican senator, who is close to Donald Trump”, sharing how he felt “uneasy” with some aspects of what is “going on” around the situation in Ukraine and with countries around Europe.
Delving deeper into the significant ‘shift’ he believes the Republican party has undergone under Trump’s leadership, Mark stated: “Remember the Republican party has had such a dramatic shift over really not very long.
“Remember, it was the party of Reagan, which is a very different party than the party of Trump, even though Trump often tries to model himself on Ronald Reagan.”
However, while speculating that some within the party may be uncomfortable with Trump’s political decisions, Mark suggests that the increasing influence of Elon Musk and his ties with the president might be preventing them from expressing their true feelings.
He stated: “So, I think those traditionalist, atlanticist Republicans are concerned about what is going on, the problem is that they’re not willing to put their head above the parapet and the reason for that perhaps is because so openly, so boldly, so blatantly, people like Elon Musk have said that they will put money towards others to effectively boot them out of the Republican party, make sure they lose their seats in primaries if they are to speak out against Trump. That is the state of things right now.”
These comments from the political commentator come just days after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s landmark first visit to the US since Trump was elected president for the second time.
The meeting, which many expected to conclude with a minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, ended abruptly without any such agreement being signed.
Vice-president JD Vance and Zelenskyy were frequently heard talking over one another during tense exchanges, all broadcast live from the Oval Office.