Trump Continues Proving He’s the Greatest Show on Earth – Donald Trump is a masterclass showman. In fact, just as in 2016, Trump’s campaign is proving to be the greatest show on Earth. The question is, will it appeal to voters in a General Election as much as it apparently is appealing to Republican voters in the primary?
Even though I am no on the Trump Train in 2024, as I was in 2016, it is still a marvel to watch Trump counterpunch and pivot. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is, by far, the better candidate to govern. DeSantis, sadly, has proven to be a rather boring campaigner. Many believe that’d make him more appealing in a General Election.
But getting through the primary, when Trump is running circles in the media around all his primary challengers, is going to be tough for the Florida governor.
Trump has spent his entire time in politics bucking conventional wisdom and closely held orthodoxies. Indeed, this made Trump appealing to people like me in 2016, who were looking to shake up the national political scene.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s record does not match his rhetoric.
Nevertheless, after three awful years of Joe Biden’s presidency, many voters are again open to tolerating another Trump run at the White House. Part of that is due to Trump’s showmanship. It is his greatest asset (and equally his greatest vulnerability).
Republicans Deserve a Primary In Which All Top Candidates Debate
As a Republican voter, I am disturbed that the party’s frontrunner continues evading hard questions about the truth of his record as president by skipping the important GOP debates.
As DeSantis has accused Trump, it is obvious that the forty-fifth president takes my—and all the other Republicans—vote for granted.
Trump believes that he is entitled to the White House because it was stolen from him. Irrespective of whether this belief is true, there are real issues from Trump’s time in office that he must account for (other than deflecting blame onto others, as he so often does), and a debate is a great way to address those concerns in real-time.
For the first debate, Trump chose instead to do a softball interview with Tucker Carlson that got a little more than 20 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter, where Tucker broadcasts on since his unfortunate firing from Fox News Channel earlier this year.
With that card having been played for the first debate, many questioned how possibly the greatest show on Earth could compensate for avoiding the second Republican debate, where Trump would risk being torn down by his other Republican primary rivals.
Trump has found his niche.
He’s going to be giving a speech to the United Autoworkers Union (UAW), which is currently striking against the big automakers at the same time. It’s a huge problem for the Democrats, because the Biden Administration, while outwardly claiming to be pro-union, is also protecting the auto companies.
Biden’s Standing Among Working-Class Voters is Weak
The Biden Administration is doing this because they have made a backroom deal with the automakers. In exchange for generous government subsidies and other inducements, the automakers will support Biden’s climate initiatives.
But if Biden presses the automakers too hard on labor issues, the forty-sixth president would risk undermining his signature climate agenda.
Rather than fight his Republican opponents in the GOP Primary, where Trump leads an astounding 41 points, Trump is choosing instead to venture to a Democratic Party stronghold—the UAW rally—where he will do something that no other Republican has done in decades: express solidarity with striking workers.
It’s a massive gamble for Trump, though, because he is risking again giving his Republican opponents chances to differentiate themselves from him on the debate stage, without the forty-fifth president being there to hit back and undermine them.
Trump will likely win over the hearts of many UAW members when it comes time to run in the General Election, should Trump’s polling numbers in the GOP Primary hold firm, and he becomes the GOP nominee. The union workers always appreciate solidarity and Trump is deftly choosing that.
While the GOP candidate needs to start being more pro-union than most Republican candidates are comfortable being, the fact is that any prospective GOP presidential candidate should first focus on winning over Republican voters. They should be unafraid, in the case of Trump especially, to demonstrate why they are worthy of being the Republican nominee—regardless of whatever grievances they have about the previous election or however entitled they may feel.
Donald Trump Always Keep Things Interesting
Yet, Trump’s deft counter-programming will prove to be a news-getter. Maybe it won’t be as impactful as Trump’s interview with Tucker during the first debate. Trump’s opponents in the GOP, however, need to do a much better job of generating headlines to weaken the GOP frontrunner and force him to redirect his energies into taking the primary much more seriously than he presently is.
Otherwise, the GOP will nominate a man who is likely to be convicted of at least some of the 91 felonies he’s currently charged with…and that might even disqualify him under the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Insurrection Clause” from ever holding political office again, giving the election to the Democrats by default.
About the Author
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert occasionally serves as a Subject Matter Expert for various organizations, including the Department of Defense. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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