Joe Battenfeld: President Trump and MAGA purging 'RINOs' from party

Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald on Apr 3, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are quickly ridding themselves of “RINOs” – dumping the party rejects to face the music from voters or encourage them to join the Democratic Party instead.

The term “RINO” – Republican In Name Only and typified by Mitt Romney — is now a dirty word in conservative circles as Trump moves to purge the disloyal lawmakers and elected officials from the party ranks. RINO Republicans are leaving or being kicked out of office, becoming extinct.

Donald Trump Jr. has declared war on RINOs, saying the true Republican Party is now fully MAGA and warning that RINOs could move to defeat his father in the mid-term elections.

“The Democrat Party wants to do whatever they possibly can to shut this movement down, not just the Democrats, the RINOs,” Trump Jr. declared at the Turning Point USA convention.

In Texas, MAGA supporters and Trump celebrated after RINO Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost his primary battle to conservative state Rep. Steve Toth by a double digit margin.

“Bye, Bye RINO Dan!” conservative commentator Evan Kilgore said.

Crenshaw enraged Trump by accepting Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory and calling some Republicans “Grifters” and “Performance Artists.”

Trump lately has also lashed out at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for distancing herself from MAGA and supporting a Democratic petition to push the Justice Department to release all the Epstein files.

“Lightweight Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green grass turns brown when it begins to ROT) betrayed the entire Republican Party when she turned Left, performed poorly on the pathetic View, and became the RINO that we all know she always was,” Trump posted.

In Indiana, Trump has lashed out at two state senators and Gov. Mike Braun for failing to pass a redistricting map favorable to Republicans and voting with Democrats on a new map.

“Very disappointed in Indiana state Senate Republicans, led by RINO Senators Rod Bray and Greg Goode, for not wanting to redistrict their State, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats,” Trump posted last November.

Trump then vowed to challenge the RINO Republicans in primaries and endorse their opponents.

The pattern repeated itself in Oklahoma, where Trump went after Gov. Kevin Stitt, calling him a RINO after Stitt announced he would not hold the annual National Governors Association meeting at the White House because it excluded Democratic governors.

Stitt also angered Trump by endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 primaries.

And in Colorado, Trump pulled his endorsement for RINO U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd because Hurd joined Democrats and voted against his tariff plan on Canada.

“He is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America,” Trump posted.

The president instead endorsed Hurd’s primary opponent, Hope Scheppelman.

“Unlike RINO Jeff Hurd, HOPE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Utah senator, is the prototype RINO –the only Republican senator to vote to impeach Trump.

The Bay State is a particular RINO stronghold. Two-term Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker earned the RINO label from conservative critics, while Baker-style Republicans – more moderate and Democratic than Republican – continue to seek and hold offices in the state.

Trump blasted Baker in 2020 for supporting mail-in voting, saying “RINO Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts is unsuccessfully trying to defend Mail in Ballots, when there is fraud being found all over the place. Just look at some of the recent races, or the Trump Ballots in Pennsylvania that were thrown into the garbage. Wrong Charlie!”

GOP Chair Amy Carnevale has carefully tried to distance the party from MAGA, without much success. Democrats hold every statewide office and have a stranglehold on the Legislature. Trump is still the dominant leader in Massachusetts Republican politics, with just 9% of the state’s voters identifying as GOP.