Trump 'an expression' of years-long fight within GOP

President Trump at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Aug. 22, 2017 (Video screenshot)

WASHINGTON – There's perhaps no better illustration of the divide between "country class" and "ruling class" Republicans than the enthusiastic response to President Trump at his rally in Phoenix after a week of battering inside the Beltway.

In an interview with "Hardball with Chris Matthews," Chris Buskirk, author of "American Greatness: How Conservatism Inc. Missed the 2016 Election & What the D.C. Establishment Needs to Learn," discussed the fracture in the Republican Party.

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"This fight has been going for a long time," Buskirk observed. "Donald Trump didn't start it; he's an expression of a fight that's been going on inside the GOP for at least 10 or 15 years."

The fight is summed up in the question: "What is the heart and soul of the party?"

Buskirk noted the crowd at Trump's speech in Phoenix on Tuesday night was "very enthusiastic."

"The idea that a Mitch McConnell or a John McCain or a Jeff Flake would get that kind of a crowd is just unthinkable," Buskirk said.

"You pit these two sides together and say 'which is it going to be? Is it going to be the voters and the president? Or is it going to be the neoconservatives and the incumbent Republicans in the House?" he asked.

Buskirk believes House Republicans are focused on limiting Trump's power rather than enacting a legislative agenda.

"The Republican Congress needs to accomplish something for voters," Buskirk said.

Instead, Republicans such as Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., are focus on legislation that has no tangible benefits for Republican voters.

For example, Tillis is writing a bill that would prevent Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired, an issue that Buskirk thinks is a waste of time.

"We don't have a budget, we haven't repealed Obamacare, we haven't done anything about the debt ceiling, we haven't done anything about tax reform," Buskirk said. "This is what [Senator Tillis] wants to be known for?"

He said Republicans "need to do something that is not a Washington, D.C.-centered policy, and instead do something that will address the kitchen table issues that people actually vote on," Buskirk concluded.

Watch the full interview: