Watch Donald Trump Rise and Fall All Over Again? Conservatives are starting to worry whether a deeply fragmented primary field will play to Donald Trump’s advantage.
And that if Donald Trump wins the GOP primary, he will lose the general election to Joe Biden – again.
“It is a five-alarm fire,” a prominent Republican donor said. “And there is nobody coming to put it out.”
Apparently, Republicans – members, donors, strategists, everyone – are discussing how to prevent Trump from leveraging a split field to his advantage, from winning the nomination, losing the presidency, and ultimately costing the GOP an opportunity to retake the Senate and keep the House.
Koch Brother groups (Americans For Prosperity and Club for Growth), typically a reliable sign of which way the wind is blowing within he GOP, indicated they preferred to throw their resources towards a non-Trump candidate.
Other party insiders feel similarly, that the question of how to stop Trump “is the one they need to find an answer to before too many contenders start piling into the race.”
Donald Trump: GOP’s 2024 Concerns Echo 2016
“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed,” a Republican Senator tweeted. “And we will deserve it.”
The tweet sounds like it could have been fired off this week, but it is from the 2016 primary. (The best part is that the tweet is from Lindsey Graham who has been one of Trump’s biggest sycophants since the day he secured the 2016 nomination.)
The Point is conservatives were having a roughly identical conversation eight years ago, when the GOP primary was packed with everyone from Jeb Bush to Ted Cruz to Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.
The concerns that Trump could not prevail in the general election, were for naught; Trump defeated the perpetually defeatable Hillary Clinton (although he lost the popular vote) while Republicans preserved majorities in the House and Senate.
But conservatives are worried that this time around is different.
Republicans have lost faith in Trump, in his ability to win another presidential election – not after spending three consecutive years whining about the 2020 election (which he lost by seven million votes), nor after his hand-picked candidates were destroyed in the 2022 midterms.
“I don’t think it is fair to call Donald Trump a damaged candidate,” Eric Levine, a top GOP fundraiser, said.
“He is a metastasizing cancer who if he is not stopped is going to destroy the party. Donald Trump is a loser. He is the first president since Hoover to lose the House, the Senate, and the presidency in a single term. Because of him Chuck Schumer is the Leader Schumer, and the progressive agenda is threatening to take over the country. And he is probably the only Republican in the country, if not the only person in the country, who can’t beat Joe Biden.”
Will GOP rally around a Trump alternative?
Several prominent candidates are expected to enter the GOP primary.
Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott, and so on. But except Ron DeSantis, the candidates will have trouble competing against Trump, who retains his base of zealous loyalists.
The candidates are all being advised that they should not linger in the race if their chances of winning dry up – because doing so will play into Trump’s hand.
As one advisor said: “Does Mike Pence really want his legacy to be that he got four percent of the vote and helped elected Donald Trump?”
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Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken.
Curt Raftshol
February 11, 2023 at 10:34 am
One point Mr Kass: Donald Trump beat the pants off of SPODS (steaming pile of dog s**t) in the 2020 election. When Trump wins next year it will be his 3rd win. You seem to think that 2020 wasn’t an utterly corrupt and rigged election.
william Ray alford
February 12, 2023 at 11:21 am
Donald Trump is by no means anybodys’ fool! I am one of his flyover constituents and I will in fact vote for him again, simply because he will try to clean up our so called elected leadership and lawmakers in D.C. thus replacing character and honesty among our elected officials!
Lsi
February 13, 2023 at 6:55 am
Trump beat POS Biden by several million votes in 2020. Every alphabet agency in our government was aligned against him, and he still won.
VJ
February 13, 2023 at 5:20 pm
I would vote for Trump again but he is also up there in age. If Trump does not run I would back DeSantis.
vic knight
February 13, 2023 at 5:31 pm
Harrison what are you scared of??
Toby Aguilar
February 14, 2023 at 1:47 pm
Is about the economy, who wants Biden’s economy? Prices keep going up at the grocery stores, pump, everywhere; and 401k’s, mutual funds keep going down! If Biden gets elected for a second term, it will be a disaster, the majority of the population will become poor, drugs coming from our “open borders” will continue killing our young by the thousands+, and China will do whatever they want with us. YO VOTO POR TRUMP!
Arthur
February 15, 2023 at 5:01 pm
All anyone has to do is ‘fact check’ whichever candidate you want to find out info on. With that said, I would agree that Trump will not win in 2024. I for one am sick with all this political arguing. These people are supposed to be lawmakers for America, and finding better things to be codified for the benefit of the People of the United States. The voters need to elect a new generation of lawmakers that do their jobs for the benefit of the people. All this current bickering is making the world laugh at America. It saddens me.
Robert B.
February 16, 2023 at 9:02 am
The level of delusion in these comments is frightening. Trump did not win the 2020 election. We’re not talking losing by a few thousand votes here. He lost by 7 MILLION. No amount of non-existent election fraud could have made that big a difference.
TJH
February 16, 2023 at 9:21 pm
I smell lots of left-wing liberal rat crap. Trump will win in 2024 Haley for VP. DeSantis after Trumps next 4 years unless its Haley. Kick the crap out of those lousy Dem O Rats ruining America. Biden is pathetic and defiantly should be impeached for dereliction of duty and failure to enforce our laws at the border. DC allowing “illegals” to vote… to go rats. Treason. Marine for Trump USA
Linda
February 23, 2023 at 7:07 pm
LB
February 23,2023
Biden is an insult to the United States! He does not care about the people at all and needs to be impeached and so does Kamala. I would vote for President Trump again! He did more for the US than any other president and has taken more crap off of all the pathetic democrats than he deserved. The reason I would vote for Trump because he has got more sense and toughness about him than any of the others who might be running for President. He will stand up to China, Russia and will not take any bulls—t off of anyone trying to destroy the United States. I wish the people who are against Trump would wake up and stop judging him for being human!
joe
February 28, 2023 at 8:41 pm
Donny is so short on brains! He is a baffoon and has told more lies than anyone on earth. buf·foon
/bəˈfo͞on/
noun
a ridiculous but amusing person; a clown.
“they are simply incompetent buffoons who have no idea what they are doing. This describes dumb ass Trump!
Fellow Republican
May 13, 2023 at 9:37 pm
Where is tRump’s fantastic healthcare plan he guaranteed us he would have on day one if elected in 2016? How about the wall that Mexico was going to pay for 100%? He didn’t even get that wall halfway done. He is right Putin would not have gone to war if he were president. Putin and tRump are buddies and tRump has a big loan to Putin he has to pay back or the Russian Mob will be after him. We need DeSantis. The Orange Man is a total loser and will be throwing his whole family under the bus to try and stay out of prison for being a traitor to the US.
Dianna Lynn Rottner
May 18, 2023 at 9:58 am
Biden as I said for the last year is liar, he has don’t nothing for the American people. I hope they lock himup with his son, Hunter & Jim.I voted for Trump. and I will again. The govern for Floria doesn’t have enough experience. If I see a honest hard working “Business Man” run, I think thats what we need. Like Clint Eastwood said it best. A good business man, that works for the American people.”