Donald Trump Just Keeps Self-Destructing, and Almost Half of Republicans Don’t Want Trump 2024 According to a Poll: As a businessman, former President Donald Trump wasn’t someone who took “no” for an answer.
There have also been allegations from a number of women that he didn’t take “no” when it came to his sexual advances.
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Moreover, Donald Trump has repeatedly failed to take the blame for his actions – and that included his initial handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the January 6, 2021, Capital insurrection.
“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump stated about the former issue.
At the same time, he has continued to deflect any blame for the riot, even after a House Committee’s investigation found that the former president helped incite the mob that stormed the Capitol building.
Does the GOP Really Want Donald Trump?
This is baggage that the Republican Party doesn’t need, as the 2024 presidential primary season is now just a year away.
President Joe Biden remains unpopular with a majority of Americans, who also feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.
That would suggest that Biden could be easily defeated by the right candidate next year.
However, the Republican establishment clearly believes that Trump isn’t that right candidate. In a rematch, Biden could prevail. He may not be the unifier that he paints himself as – repeatedly stating there are no red states or blue states, while still touting his ability to rebuild the blue wall that resulted in his 2020 victory. Yet, Biden can unify his base, and more importantly moderate voters enough to ensure Trump can’t win.
Moreover, even last summer, polls showed that nearly half of Republicans don’t want Trump to run again.
Several prominent Republicans have already spoken out about a Trump 2024 run, including former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
Even former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as a mouthpiece for Trump, doesn’t want to see him run, calling him “wholly unfit for office and a clear and present danger to democracy.”
The party has moved on, and whether Trump has “gotten the memo” doesn’t matter. It would appear he doesn’t care. He won’t take “no” for an answer. Trump has already entered the race, and could even mount a third-party run if he fails to secure the Republican nomination.
No Real Challenger
Part of the Republican strategy is not to present a crowded field. This explains why more Republicans have jumped into the race – and currently, only Trump has officially announced his intention to run for the GOP nomination next year. Trump secured victory in 2016 via a “divide and conquer” strategy, but the Republican Party can be blamed too.
At one point, more than 20 candidates were heading into the primaries, and that made it hard for anyone to break out early.
Trump picked them off and won the nomination. As Politico.com reported, “Trump seems to recognize how the prospect of a crowded field would help him, keeping quiet even as some of his former closest aides consider their own campaigns, and training his fire instead on Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who is leading him in some polls.”
Yet, Politico.com also noted that the big donors don’t seem so eager to back Trump. They may not back his rivals at this point, but Trump’s fundraising is falling short. The GOP strategy of waiting could be risky. Candidates need to get some momentum by the fall – as name recognition is crucial in the early primaries.
For now, it seems that the GOP could be united in defeating Trump before it turns its attention to Biden.
Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
