--- title: No, Trumpism Isn’t Over. Look at What Happened in Arizona description: In Arizona this weekend, public censures against GOP members said plenty about how hard it is going to be for critics to exorcise Donald Trump from the party. canonical: https://time.com/5933278/arizona-republican-party-trump/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-01-25T19:09:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:09:24.835Z article:section: Politics og:title: No, Trumpism Isn’t Over. Look at What Happened in Arizona og:description: In Arizona this weekend, public censures against GOP members said plenty about how hard it is going to be for critics to exorcise Donald Trump from the party. og:url: https://time.com/5933278/arizona-republican-party-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10d79fd246acb497/698a16a7e76ad253bd63891e/trump-gop-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Kelli Ward, chair of the Arizona Republican party, speaks onstage at a protest in Phoenix, Jan. 6, 2021. (Adriana Zehbrauskas/The New York Times) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: No, Trumpism Isn’t Over. Look at What Happened in Arizona twitter:description: In Arizona this weekend, public censures against GOP members said plenty about how hard it is going to be for critics to exorcise Donald Trump from the party. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10d79fd246acb497/698a16a7e76ad253bd63891e/trump-gop-arizona.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # No, Trumpism Isn’t Over. Look at What Just Happened in Arizona > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Pine looks back at the various covers featuring Donald Trump, from his first appearance in 1989 to the end of his presidency._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 25, 2021 7:09 PM UTC  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jan 25, 2021 7:09 PM UTC _This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37910b58de73cf3f2b89adc123fac024f0478c72f91010ae9d01f08f46c616068cab3e74726837cd2cce70dac3796e46c2b4) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday._ They carried zero real-world weight. But in Arizona this weekend, the public [censures](https://www.wsj.com/articles/arizona-gop-censures-cindy-mccain-doug-ducey-re-elects-kelli-ward-as-chair-11611453988) against the incumbent Republican Governor, a former Republican Senator and the widow of a second Republican Senator at the state’s GOP’s convention said plenty about just how hard it is going to be for his critics to exorcise Donald Trump from the party. The sins of Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the wife of the party’s 2008 presidential nominee? Being insufficiently supportive of Trump’s failed re-election bid and his false claims after Nov. 3 that he actually won. It didn’t matter that Ducey actually was a Trump supporter during the campaign and was in frequent contact with the White House; he fell out of favor when he didn’t do everything Trump thought he could to save him. There had to be a price. Trump may be gone, but his spiteful brand of politics still pervades the rank-and-file party activists. Crossing Trump still means trouble, and it’s not immediately clear how long that will last. As long as Trump’s popularity with a certain set of voters holds, he can continue to wield power from the exile of Mar a Lago. Trump is out of official office, but his power over the GOP — and his threat of forming a third party — will do nothing to help Republicans hold seats in 2022 or reclaim the White House two years after that. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, the mainstay of conservatiave opinion in his country, [summarized](https://www.wsj.com/articles/arizona-republican-meltdown-11611526063) the fall-out thusly: “Sensible parties that lose elections try to reunite in opposition even while they debate policy differences and examine why they lost. They don’t excommunicate people who could help rebuild a majority.” Meanwhile, the Arizona GOP also re-elected chairwoman Kelli Ward, a combative figure in Phoenix and a national loyalist to All Things Trump. In what is believed to be Trump’s first post-White House foray into politics, he recorded a video message that she played during the event at Phoenix’s Dream City Church as she kept the crowd riled up against the elites, the insiders and the grifters. Trump’s quick return signals that he plans to make good on his promises to back his pals and exact revenge from perceived enemies, including the ten House Republicans who voted for his second impeachment. The Ward message was a warning for any of the Republicans in the Senate who may be tempted to follow suit in the upcoming trial. It’s no coincidence that earlier today, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio [announced](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/25/rob-portman-republican-ohio-senator-wont-run-re-election-2022/6696235002/) he won’t be [seeking](https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/01/sen-rob-portman-announces-he-wont-seek-re-election.html) a third term in 2022, citing “partisan gridlock.” The [alumnus](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/25/who-rob-portman-worked-two-bush-presidents-then-became-senator/6696598002/) of the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations has decided to call this his last term and opens the door for what will be another Trump-tinted primary battle for the soul of the Republican Party. It’s a friction already playing out in Arizona and Ohio, but don’t expect it to stop there any time soon, especially if Trump figures out how to [return](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/business/media/trump-facebook-oversight-board.html) to social media. Across the map, Republicans are privately worried about holding their seats in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Missouri — all of which are on the ballots in 2022. To be sure, Arizona has its own brand of conservative politics. It’s the land of Barry Goldwater and John McCain. In 2010, the Tea Party recruited a talk-radio host and former Congressman as a primary opponent to McCain. They came up short, but in 2014 forced the state GOP to [censure](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/26/mccain-gop-arizona-censure/4909683/) McCain. Months later, he [purged](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/john-mccain-arizona-tea-party-113849) the state party of troublemakers ahead of what would be his final re-election bid in 2016\. Even then, conservatives [attempted](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/04/02/john-mccain-senate-election-jd-hayworth-tea-party-immigration/828006001/) to deny McCain that role, mounting a campaign from Ward herself. McCain, of course, prevailed — but those close to him also recognized just how much of a threat the hardcore, no-compromise wing of the party rising in Arizona could be on the Right. Ward would return in 2018 to run for Senate again. She was more polished than the 2016 race, as I [observed](https://time.com/5368846/donald-trump-arizona-primary/) watching her campaign on the ground. But she didn’t get the primary win that time, either. A year later, she was [still](https://time.com/5379600/donald-trump-john-mccain-arizona-senate/) campaigning as an antagonist to the McCain clan and won the state party chairmanship as a pro-Trump loyalist heading into his re-election year. And while the Right was fired up, it was the middle that spelled trouble for Republicans in last year’s presidential race. Arizona is home to what is essentially America’s largest suburb in Maricopa County, a vast area that is larger than four states and more populous than 23 of them. If ever you want to understand what’s happening in the ‘burbs, Maricopa County is where political strategists look for that focus group on steroids. Joe Biden’s [win](https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/arizona/) in Maricopa County by 0.3 percentage points — and his narrow victories in other suburban counties with like-minded voters who just wanted the Trump era to end — put him over the top. Arizona Republicans have now lost three Senate races in a row as they embraced Trumpism. Ducey, a successful businessman who co-founded Cold Stone Creamery before selling it in 2007, was seen by the party as a solid contender to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022\. Ducey is in his second term as Governor and can’t run for a third. But, after meeting with Mitch McConnell in Washington last week, he has said he’s not interested. Judging from how his own party is treating him, it is likely that Ducey is telling the truth. He and Portman — and maybe others who will hang up their badges in coming weeks — can compare notes on how the party isn’t shedding its Trump-era tone but is losing contenders who could rebuild. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/politics?source=dc%5Farticle) ## Transcript I happened been on their cover like 14 or 15 times. I think we have the all time record in the history of Time magazine. Donald Trump has always had a fascination with time. He first landed on the cover on January 16th, 1989, 28 years before his inauguration, since before his election. Trump has regularly campaigned to be named Time's Person of the Year using rallies and his Twitter feed to comment on Time's choices. They should have picked me for the Person of the Year, but they didn't know. They said. And perhaps most notably, fake time travelers were designed to hang in his golf course clubhouses. Time has a long history of featuring presidents on the cover, and Trump has been no exception. Eight of the top ten people to appear most often on Time's cover are U.S. presidents. Trump finished his term with 35 covers, the fourth most of any president behind Richard Nixon's 55 covers. Ronald Reagan with 46 and Bill Clinton with 40. Rounding out the top ten are George W Bush with 32. Barack Obama 31. Jimmy Carter 27. Jesus 22. And Hillary Clinton and George H.W. Bush tied at 21. We first introduced candidate Trump to Time's readers in August of 2015, when photographer Martin Schaller and Time editor at large Paul Moakley brought a live bald eagle to the Trump Tower in New York City for a portrait. This symbol of democracy was particularly animated during the photo and video session, even angrily nipping at the president's hand during the 2016 campaign. We produced seven covers featuring Trump and created an original visual language for this president with the artwork of artist Adele Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who worked as Time's international art director in the 1990s as a strong, simple, graphic style that immediately grabbed worldwide recognition with the meltdown cover, a reflection of his slumping campaign following the Republican National Convention. Two months later, in response to the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, Rodriguez followed with an updated image with the headline Total Meltdown. Of course, TIME reports many different topics, and the visual approaches on the cover reinforces that variety. We have presented President Trump as a frenetic Twitter user, crumbling at the Washington Monument, a punching bag, a graphic wrecking ball, an angry character with his hair on fire, a cross between himself and Vladimir Putin, a king looking into a cover, a slingshot holding fighter, dueling with Nancy Pelosi, a happy president, whistling under an umbrella in the rain, and a man who has painted himself into a corner. We've also photographed Trump for multiple covers, including a White House tour for our May 22nd, 2017 cover and an Oval Office conversation in the summer of 2019 on Trump's plan to keep the White House. My favorite time cover of Trump is nothing to See Here from February 27, 2017. I believe the strongest time covers leave space for a variety of perspectives for this cover. If you're an opponent of President Trump, you look at the cover and you see all the chaos that this man has created. And if you're a supporter of the president, you look at it and say, even among all the chaos in Washington, look how resolute he is sitting behind that desk. That is a great place for a time cover to be. That image was created by longtime Time collaborator Tim O'Brien, who has painted more covers in the past 30 years than any other artist. It was the first of what would become a series of four paintings from O'Brien depicting Trump in a growing storm within the Oval Office. Our Trump covers have certainly not been without debate. An image we created of Trump staring down at a young immigrant girl for our Welcome to America cover sparked controversy. During the campaign, Trump frequently used the cover, proclaiming how Trump won as a selling point on the campaign trail. On numerous occasions, the president also tweeted out a fake time cover animation of how Trumpism outlasts Trump. A cover from October 22nd, 2018. But for most of the past year, the president's image on the cover took a backseat to front line workers. Racial injustice, protests and the rising COVID numbers. And even though the image of Trump wasn't physically shown on two recent covers, his influence was still present. While Trump's presidency has come to a close, it's certainly possible that we haven't seen the last of him. On the cover of Time. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5933278/arizona-republican-party-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5933278/arizona-republican-party-trump/"},"headline":"No, Trumpism Isn’t Over. 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