Reports suggest that President Trump has abandoned the idea of creating a new political party, and that he will instead focus for the next two years on helping Republicans win back the House and Senate.

The notion of Trump abandoning the GOP and creating a ‘Patriot Party’ was floated last week with a report in the Wall Street Journal noting that aides had suggested Trump was considering the idea.

The idea was provided more credence with Trump’s comments during his farewell speech, as he announced that “the movement we started is just beginning,” and that he would be “back in some form”.

However, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told reporters that “The President has made clear his goal is to win back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022.”

“There’s nothing that’s actively being planned regarding an effort outside of that, but it’s completely up to Republican Senators if this is something that becomes more serious,” Miller added.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman has also noted that several sources have confirmed Trump has been ‘talked out’ of the idea, because he no longer believes he’s under serious threat of impeachment:

Trump has started to believe there are fewer votes to convict than there would have been if the vote had been held almost immediately after Jan. 6, the people familiar with his thinking said.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 24, 2021

While many expressed excitement at the idea of a ‘Patriot Party’, others noted that it would dilute the Democrats’ opposition and that leftists are actually in favour of the idea because they believe it will strengthen their hold on Congress.

Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul has described the impeachment effort against Trump as a ‘farce’, saying that it should be ‘dismissed’ before weeks of time and resources are wasted on it.

In an op-ed Paul wrote “The Constitution says two things about impeachment — it is a tool to remove the office holder, and it must be presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.”

“If Justice Roberts is not presiding over this, then it is not impeachment. This charade will be nothing more than bitter partisanship and political theater,” Paul urged.

The Senator also noted that the entire case hinges on proving that Trump incited violence by calling for supporters to ‘fight’ for their country.

“If we are to blame politicians for the most violent acts of their craziest supporters, then many of my colleagues would face some pretty harsh charges themselves. I’ve been shot at, assaulted and harassed by supporters of the left, including some who directly said the words of politicians moved them to this violence,” Paul declared.

“I was there at the ball field when a deranged Bernie Sanders supporter almost killed Steve Scalise and seriously wounded several others,” Paul continued, adding “At the time, Democrats were arguing that the GOP plan for health care was “you get sick, then they let you die.” Is it any wonder an insane left-wing gunman took that rhetoric to heart and concluded: “If the GOP is going to let me die then maybe I’ll just kill them first”?”

Paul continued, “I am more than willing to work with Democrats to find common ground on protecting civil liberties or ending some of our many foreign military interventions, but no unity or common ground will be found while Democrats continue to fight the last election. This so-called impeachment is a farce and should be dismissed before it is even allowed to begin.”