What GOP infighting in South Carolina can (and can't) tell us about 2024

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – If you want to learn more about Republican infighting influenced by former President Donald Trump, look to Horry County, S.C. But if you're looking to find the answer with the Horry County GOP, the first question you must ask is "Which one?"

Click the link to horrycountyrepublicanparty.org and you're greeted with a rippling American flag, a countdown to Saturday's GOP presidential primary and a list of early voting sites in the fast-growing conservative stronghold in the northeast corner of the state.

Choose horrycountyrepublicanparty.com, and a defiant elephant logo encircled by "The Independent Republic of Horry County" tops a page touting the next "Trump Tuesday" event, links to party leadership and, further down the page a link to a site that aims to help "understand the battle for our party."

Both vocally claim to be the duly elected Republican county party for Horry (the "h" is silent) residents, both are led by unquestionably conservative chairmen and both represent a boiling point in the conflict that has come from Trump's quest to remake the GOP in his image.

But ahead of this weekend's primary - where Trump is expected to win over former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley - and in a state that will comfortably vote Republican up and down the ballot in November, how much does this party politics squabble influence the 2024 presidential race?

First: the conflict.

'They are going through extraordinary lengths to silence us'

Roger Slagle – the onetime chair of the official Horry GOP and now leader of the copycat group – decried the South Carolina Republican Party and its leader, Drew McKissick while speaking to the nearby York County GOP last year.

"I mean, what we have is we have a political