With 2024 well underway, it seems like former President Donald Trump is having some trouble getting folks to come to his first big political event, taking place in South Carolina.
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Well, are we shocked? Nope. Setting that as the location is a problem when Nikki Haley seems set to run for president.
While I don’t think Haley has any chance of winning, she can surely create some problems for him in the coming days by making the headlines look bad for Donald Trump, as if he can’t get top GOP officials in the Palmetto state to attend the function.
Donald Trump: The Magic Is Fading
But that is just the start of problems for Donald Trump these days.
Look at Donald Trump from this lens: he won a historic victory in 2016 but has lost every election ever since.
His brand of smashmouth politics might work well in some circles, but it seems the American people and even Donald Trump supporters past and present have evolved tastes and want to see a rebrand or some evolution in the man himself.
I think many in the GOP and GOP-leaning voters are looking for Donald Trump’s ideas but not his crazy antics and endless amount of personal problems that take away from the message.
They like his populist policies but don’t want the baggage of Trump and what he brings to the table.
This, in fact, could be Donald Trump’s fatal flaw: the GOP I think, can have Trumpism without Donald Trump himself.
That only means one thing. Donald Trump is going to have to find a way to evolve, learn and grow as a candidate if he is going to win the GOP nomination in 2024.
Can he do that? Can Trump somehow become a lighter version of himself? Could he still have that no-BS style that so many Americans are attracted to but not act crazy or associate with those who look crazy?
Honestly, I am not so sure.
Trump seems like the sort of person that he tacks left when everyone else tells him to tack right. He beats to his own drum and takes his own advice.
As I have said on numerous occasions, Trump’s biggest problems are that he does not seem to want to evolve as a candidate or a politician or tone down the rhetoric.
That big mouth of his gets him in trouble time and time again. His mistakes always seem self-created.
And while the media might love it – heck, you can get every media outlet on earth that covers Donald Trump wants his candidacy to last as long as possible – that does not mean he will win GOP voters’ hearts and minds.
Bottomline: someone needs to tell Donald Trump that the magic of his win in 2016 won’t work in 2024.
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About the author: Harry J. Kazianis (@Grecianformula) serves as President and CEO of Rogue States Project, a bipartisan national security think tank. He has held senior positions at the Center for the National Interest, the Heritage Foundation, the Potomac Foundation, and many other think tanks and academic institutions focused on defense issues. He served on the Russia task force for U.S. Presidential Candidate Senator Ted Cruz and in a similar task force in the John Hay Initiative. His ideas have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNN, CNBC, and many other outlets across the political spectrum. He holds a graduate degree in International Relations from Harvard University and is the author of The Tao of A2/AD, a study of Chinese military modernization. Kazianis also has a background in defense journalism, having served as Editor-In-Chief at The Diplomat and Executive Editor for the National Interest.
