Trump 2024: Running Against the Biggest Loser
The GOP establishment continues to make all the same mistakes when it comes to the former President
Last night, Donald Trump announced his third presidential campaign in seven years.
Much like in 2015, he did so at a moment of great weakness. The failure of the former President’s handpicked candidates sparked a roiling debate about his future as the chosen standard bearer for his party. A number of prominent MAGA supporters refused to endorse him, encouraged him to delay his announcement, and openly touted other potential candidates like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Even the Murdochs are using their media properties to flog Trump.
As Politico wrote about the mood on Capitol Hill:
The former president, who fostered a culture of fierce loyalty among Hill Republicans despite a scandal-plagued administration, is now increasingly viewed as a political liability after the latest midterm cycle. A raft of top Republicans is urging him to put off his presidential announcement until after the Georgia Senate runoff next month, with several longtime allies declining to immediately bless him as they focus on GOP leadership elections or figuring out what went wrong last Tuesday.
Republicans moving away from Trump and looking for alternatives? I could hardly blame you for feeling like it’s “Deja vu all over again.” We have been here before — so many times. When Trump called immigrants rapists at his announcement; the release of the Access Hollywood tape; when he sided with Nazis; when he sided with Putin; and, of course, after January 6th. It always ends the same way. The Republicans come crawling back, MAGA hats in hand.
Will this time be different?
As you know, I am not in the prediction business (for painfully obvious reasons), but the early evidence suggests that the Republican Party is making the exact mistakes they made in 2016 and after January 6th.
