Trump’s rivals are already lining up

What just a few months ago seemed like the exclusive territory of Donald Trump has begun to open up quickly as many notables in the Republican Party consider launching a 2024 presidential bid. According to the mogul’s political status and influence in the party As they fade, many of his former allies and senior officials are urging to support a different White House challenger and avoid risking further defeat.

The season is off and a number of potential challengers for the Republican presidential nomination are weighing with their families this Christmas break the pros and cons of running a highly competitive eighteen-month national campaign. After a lackluster start to his own campaign, which has not generated the public attention he expected, Trump seems increasingly doomed to oblivion among his colleagues, who openly blame him for heavy setbacks in the past midterm elections in autumn.

A campaign with the appearance of a ‘ghost’ whose lack of basic elements such as staff, offices, advisors, donors, and even a logo and website, cast doubt on its seriousness and even its viability. As if that were not enough, scandals and ties to extremists, not to mention the increasingly real possibility that he could be indicted for state crimes, have turned Trump into practically radioactive political material.

The stream of formidable legal troubles looming over him, from his role in the Capitol storming to the secret documents found in his home, raises the possibility that the tycoon may need to spend the next two years primarily defending himself, rather than defending himself. to win voters for the Republicans. For this reason, the field of political ambitions has opened up rapidly.

His notable hypothetical rivals include former members of the Trump administration, such as his former ambassador to the UN and his spy chief. You also have to include a number of leaders with their own political power bases, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 44, who is widely considered the successor to Trumpism and is leading the polls as the frontrunner.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, 63, has long offered signs of wanting to lead a race, but appears to have curbed his expectations and has said he will make the decision with his family over the Christmas break. Other possible contenders are the former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, 50, or the outgoing Republican governor of Maryland and a fierce critic of Trump, Larry Hogan, 66, who has indicated that he does not feel under any pressure to make a decision. .

For his part, the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, 58, has already openly announced his intentions. His team has communicated with campaign staff deployed in the first states where Republicans hold primaries to study the feasibility of running. If he sees chances of victory, Pompeo will formalize his candidacy in the first quarter of 2023.

consultations with donors

The governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has also established consultations with his donors to determine their financing capacity for the marathon presidential nomination process. According to Hutchinson, Trump’s premature declaration of running for the White House on November 15 has “expedited timelines for everyone.”

Most of the Republican candidates that are presented will have to clarify their past and present connections with Trump, in case they exist, and define a new agenda for the party, until now very marked by the guidelines of the magnate. Such a task would be particularly arduous for former Vice President Pence, whose life was endangered by Trump during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol over his refusal to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Until then, Pence was his loyal man and played an important role in attracting conservative evangelicals, key to Trump’s electoral base. As he has considered running for the White House, his attitude toward the tycoon has become more openly hostile. In a recent interview with ABC News, Pence called Trump “reckless” for some of his initiatives on the fateful January 6, 2021 and publicly acknowledged for the first time the danger he put himself, his family and everyone else in. members of the Capitol.