Many Republicans who oppose former President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign admit there is little they can do to stop him from claiming the GOP nomination.
The acknowledgment of Trump’s likely victory is demoralizing for his GOP political opponents, who spent millions to defeat him in critical primary states. Yet state polling shows Trump leading GOP candidates by huge margins:
- Iowa: Trump leads DeSantis by 37 points
- New Hampshire: Trump leads Haley by 14 points
- South Carolina: Trump leads Haley by 31 points
“Trump defies all political gravity and rules and consistently has, both nationally as well as in the state of Iowa,” Doug Gross, a Republican operative who plans to caucus for Haley, told Politico. “And that’s why he’s in the position he’s in because he has such a strong base following and a strong brand and knows how to play the fiddle.”
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign announced it would hold two rallies in Iowa, the first GOP primary state. Some GOP Trump critics say that due to Trump’s massive lead in the Hawkeye State, he can allocate time and energy elsewhere, while his opponents appear to be stuck in the “suck-cost fallacy.”
“Why would he do anything different? It’s risking upsetting his strategy, the work he has done in nothing but going up and consolidating his strength,” said Jeff Timmer, a senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and the former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.
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Timmer added that Trump dominates the news cycle even though he did not attend one debate. “Let DeSantis and Nikki Haley debate on CNN. OK, great. I’m gonna go on Fox and have my town hall and preempt everything — suck all the air out of it,” he told Politico.
Dave Carney, a veteran New Hampshire-based GOP strategist, echoed both Gross and Timmer and praised Trump for running a “much more disciplined and focused campaign than the other two times.”
“He has a great organization that’s finally getting noticed,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s not playing prevent defense, but being smart with your candidates’ resources. I don’t think anybody on New Year’s weekend in Iowa cared much about anything other than Michigan losing [in the College Football Playoffs]. He doesn’t need to do that. He’s not behind.”
Assuming the former president wins the nomination, Trump told Breitbart News he hopes to face Biden in 2020 rematch, though he “can’t believe he’s going to be the nominee.”
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart News“He’s a cheater. He’s a scoundrel. He’s a bad guy,” Trump said. “But in his life, he’s always been able to convince people he’s this really nice guy.”
“When you compare him today to 15 or 20 years ago, he’s a different kind of a guy. The guy can’t talk. The guy can’t put two sentences together,” Trump continued. “So I do think this: I cannot believe he’s going to be the nominee. I hope he is. But I can’t believe he’s going to be the nominee.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on “X” @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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