Capitol riot leaves NC Republicans concerned about the party’s future

Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a longtime Republican figure in the state, says he plans to leave the GOP.

His remark came 24 hours after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing the evacuations of lawmakers who were working to certify the election of President-elect Joe Biden.

Moments before, President Donald Trump had told protesters to march to the Capitol and “if you don’t fight like hell you won’t have a country anymore.”

Four rioters and a Capitol Police officer died.

“I obviously have friends in the Republican Party, but it became the ‘Party of Trump,’ not the Republican Party,” Orr told The News & Observer. “It is this cult of loyalty that has completely ruined the Republican Party, and I see no redemption for this party any time soon.”

The N.C. GOP and some of its members put out statements Wednesday evening denouncing the actions on Capitol Hill.

“Regardless of the outcome of this — or any — election, violence, looting, and vandalism are never an appropriate response,” the state Republican Party tweeted. “There is no justification for the actions taking place at the Capitol. The @NCGOP strongly condemns the actions of those who have resorted to these actions.”

N.C. Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley tweeted: “The actions of these violent protestors is completely unjustified and unacceptable. There is no rationale to excuse this assault on the foundations of our Democracy.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr blamed Trump for the Capitol riots after “promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point.”

Brent Woodcox, senior policy adviser for the N.C. General Assembly, tweeted that he was disheartened to see people post that “all Republicans are to blame.” Woodcox has been critical of the president since the beginning and said he risked his career and reputation to “oppose this nonsense.”

“I am not to blame,” Woodcox tweeted. “But that type of hyperpartisan attitude has fanned the flames.”

Unlike Woodcox, Orr, one of the original “Never Trumpers,” does blame the Republican Party. In an interview, he said no Republican on the federal level has had the ‘backbone’ to say that what was happening before Wednesday was ridiculous.

“You know, we can’t tolerate this kind of behavior from the president of the United States,” Orr said. “They’re afraid to say it because he might tweet something bad about them.”

Capitol reaction

Former N.C. state Rep. Chuck McGrady called it “disturbing” that Trump seemed to have incited the riot and then disappeared while bipartisan members of Congress tried to defuse the situation.

“And when he finally did say something, he didn’t say so much of anything,” McGrady said.

Orr said it was wrong for Trump to undermine a peaceful transfer of power. He cited U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s noting that the last time the Capitol was invaded was by the British during the War of 1812.

“That put it in historical perspective,” Orr said. “But the frightening thing was, you had the people attacking the Capitol urged on and cheered on by Donald Trump and his minions.”

Dislike of the president

Orr is a U.S. Army veteran, has held three judicial offices and has unsuccessfully run for governor.

He vocalized his concerns about Trump soon after the real estate developer and reality TV star announced his run for president.

“He didn’t seem qualified to me to be the president of the United States, and then he said one offensive thing after another,” Orr said.

Shortly before the 2016 Republican National Convention, Orr told The N&O that Trump was “a danger to our country.” His comment was published as Orr traveled to Cleveland to serve as a delegate for former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who faced off with Trump in the Republican primary.

Orr said an email from the state Republican Party told him to say he had made a mistake about Trump or lose his credentials.

“I was booted out of the Republican National Convention in 2016 because I wouldn’t support Trump,” Orr said.

That’s when Orr’s time as a “Never Trumper” began.

But he said what secured his disdain of the president was comments the president made about the late Sen. John McCain.

“I was totally offended by that disrespectful comment about Sen. McCain and his services and experiences as a POW,” Orr said. “You know, that sort of was, shall we say, a critical point in confirming that I would never support him.”

Never Trump

Woodcox is sometimes labeled as a “Never Trumper” but said he doesn’t understand what that term means.

He is a Republican but registered as unaffiliated because North Carolina allows unaffiliated voters to vote in either primary.

Trump lacks character and has a low opinion of America’s institution and the foundations of democracy, Woodcox said.

“You could say what happened yesterday was somewhat an inevitable outcome of his presidency as he stoked, based on lies, people who believe that the government itself was under attack and been stolen out from under him and that it was the end of America itself,” he said.

Woodcox said he doesn’t even think Trump believes what he tells Americans and called his actions “demagoguery.”

“The president was acting way out of our political norms, and it resulted in the Capitol being ransacked by an angry mob,” Woodcox said. “Typically Republicans have stood against such things and have said that lawful and peaceful protests should occur and that violence and mob activity shouldn’t happen.”

Woodcox said those beliefs are what made Wednesday’s riot so hard for Republicans to watch.

Being a Republican

All three men said Republican values drew them to the party in the first place. At least two are now uncertain they’ll stay.

Both Orr and McGrady said their family lineage is deeply rooted in the party.

When Orr joined the Court of Appeals in 1986 he became the first Republican to serve in a statewide judgeship since 1896. He said he was proud to be part of a party that believed in good government and modern conservative principles.

McGrady said his family ties helped lead him to the GOP. But he also considers himself a fiscal conservative and said the legislature’s majority party’s values line up with his, except on the environment.

Woodcox also considers himself a constitutional conservative who is drawn to the founding fathers and what they’ve created in the U.S. government.

“The American experiment is exceptional in the history of the world,” Woodcox said. “It’s worth defending. It’s worth conserving, and America is the one place where you can be a conservative and still be on the side of liberty, and our institutions are worth conserving and stand for liberty.”

Where does the party go from here?

Orr said the party is “irredeemable.”

The former justice hasn’t changed his registration yet but said he is deciding whether to become unaffiliated, walk away from conservatives and help the Democratic Party, or help form a new party.

Those now discussing a new party want it to have a center-center right focus, he said, focused on the principles of good governance and election and redistricting reform.

McGrady confirmed he too has been asked about joining a new party but said his involvement in those discussions is more limited than Orr’s.

He remains a Republican but said that could change. He does not blame the party for what happened Wednesday, he said, just as he did not blame Democrats for the riots over the summer.

“I mean these things are happening on both sides of the political spectrum,” McGrady said. “It is a bipartisan problem.”

But he is still coming to terms with what happened Wednesday.

“These are not the conservatives that I know and worked with, the people who formed a mob and took over the Capitol yesterday,” he said. “I mean that’s just not right.”

McGrady said there will be a battle in the Republican Party between Trump supporters and everyone else.

“There are things that have been traditionally Republican policy positions that in the past three to four years have been turned on their head,” he said. “It’s getting much harder to justify staying a Republican, and now that I’m not in public office it probably doesn’t matter.”

McGrady and Orr both said they want stronger Republican denouncements about Wednesday’s riot, while Woodcox said he wants to see Republicans focus on the country’s future.

Under Trump, Republicans have “lost everything” in four years, including the presidency, the House and the Senate, Woodcox said.

“A political movement cannot continue to sustain losses and continue to exist,” he said. “Political movements have to win to be relevant and have a seat in government.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Capitol riot leaves NC Republicans concerned about the party’s future."