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By all accounts, former President Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican Party nomination, should he seek it a third time. But since he left the White House, conservative talkers and even longtime MAGA loyalists have been calling for someone more authentically conservative and less scandal-prone.
Shortly after the the FBI uncovered a trove of classified intelligence that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago, a trio of top conservative commentators argued that it was time for the party to move on from the former president, that he had already gotten them what they wanted and, above all, would be a liability in a general election.
“There is a reason Democrats are eager to keep Trump at the center of the conversation: half of independents say Trump is a major factor in their vote, and they’re breaking 4-1 for the Democrats. Republicans shouldn’t play that game. If they do, they’re cruising for a bruising,” wrote conservative influencer in a much-cited Twitter thread posted at the end of August.
“I mean, the country, I think, is so exhausted. They’re exhausted by the battle, the constant battle, that they may believe that, well, it’s time to turn the page if we can get someone who has all Trump’s policies who’s not Trump,” said Laura Ingraham, one of Fox News’ top hosts, in a recent podcast with radio host Lisa Boothe. Longtime conservative pundit Ann Coulter echoed that sentiment a few weeks later.
Even one of the country’s most famous conspiracy theorists, and an on-and-off-again Trump supporter, Alex Jones, said he was decamping for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — though he quickly backed off that claim a few days later.
The chatter can be easily written off as cable talkers and social media influencers making wild claims to garner attention, and a flat-out rebellion of the right against Trump seems highly unlikely.
But cracks in the coalition that helped carry him to the White House in 2016 have been showing ever since the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump's lightly attended departure from Washington.
Republican megadonors have been hosting confabs headlined by potential competitors to Trump in 2024. Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican operative, launched an effort to recruit DeSantis to run for president — something DeSantis’s camp has distanced itself from.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, written off as a pariah in MAGA world for not supporting Trump’s attempt to overthrow his 2020 election loss, continues to headline soirees for influential conservative groups and recently hosted a donor retreat in Utah, according to a New York Times report.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-is...will-conservatives-support-him-090039560.html
Shortly after the the FBI uncovered a trove of classified intelligence that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago, a trio of top conservative commentators argued that it was time for the party to move on from the former president, that he had already gotten them what they wanted and, above all, would be a liability in a general election.
“There is a reason Democrats are eager to keep Trump at the center of the conversation: half of independents say Trump is a major factor in their vote, and they’re breaking 4-1 for the Democrats. Republicans shouldn’t play that game. If they do, they’re cruising for a bruising,” wrote conservative influencer in a much-cited Twitter thread posted at the end of August.
“I mean, the country, I think, is so exhausted. They’re exhausted by the battle, the constant battle, that they may believe that, well, it’s time to turn the page if we can get someone who has all Trump’s policies who’s not Trump,” said Laura Ingraham, one of Fox News’ top hosts, in a recent podcast with radio host Lisa Boothe. Longtime conservative pundit Ann Coulter echoed that sentiment a few weeks later.
Even one of the country’s most famous conspiracy theorists, and an on-and-off-again Trump supporter, Alex Jones, said he was decamping for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — though he quickly backed off that claim a few days later.
The chatter can be easily written off as cable talkers and social media influencers making wild claims to garner attention, and a flat-out rebellion of the right against Trump seems highly unlikely.
But cracks in the coalition that helped carry him to the White House in 2016 have been showing ever since the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump's lightly attended departure from Washington.
Republican megadonors have been hosting confabs headlined by potential competitors to Trump in 2024. Ed Rollins, a longtime Republican operative, launched an effort to recruit DeSantis to run for president — something DeSantis’s camp has distanced itself from.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, written off as a pariah in MAGA world for not supporting Trump’s attempt to overthrow his 2020 election loss, continues to headline soirees for influential conservative groups and recently hosted a donor retreat in Utah, according to a New York Times report.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-is...will-conservatives-support-him-090039560.html