The patriarch of US conservatives urged his followers on Sunday to halt their financial support of the Republican Party and start an independent movement, creating a major political shift that could result in heavy losses for the US ruling party in upcoming elections.
Richard Viguerie, who was instrumental in cementing the winning coalitions behind Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George W Bush in 2000, declared that conservatives were "downright fed up" with both the president and congressional Republicans and should strike out on their own.