Associated Press
Early leaders don’t always go on to win their party’s nomination, but a growing sense of Donald Trump’s inevitability is raising alarms among some Republicans desperate for the party to move on. Some described a sense of panic — or “DEFCON 1,” as one put it — as they scramble to try to derail Trump and change the trajectory of the race. But there’s no clear plan or strategy on how to do that and Trump’s detractors aren’t rallying around a single alternative candidate yet.
“They’re very concerned,” former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said of fellow Republican leaders who share his view that renominating Trump would be a disaster for the party next November. “People expected us to have made more progress than we have at this point. Polling finds Trump routinely besting his closest rival by 20 to 30 points or more.”
Meanwhile, anti-Trump Republicans have yet to coalesce around an alternative, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has struggled to build momentum, leaving many still waiting to see whether another viable alternative might emerge from the pack. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has drawn growing attention.
Several groups that oppose Trump’s candidacy have begun to spend big money on efforts to weaken his support, even if they have yet to rally around another candidate. Win It Back PAC, a new independent super PAC with ties to the conservative Club For Growth Action, invested $3.6 million this month on a new ad that features a purported Trump supporter who has grown tired of the former president’s antics.
The conservative Americans for Prosperity Action, which is part of the network founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, has also sought to undermine Trump through door knocking and phone calls. The group says it has found in conversations with voters that Trump’s support is softer than most assume and that even those who identify as Trump supporters are concerned about his electability in a general election and open to an alternative.
Not everyone, however, agrees with the anti-Trump strategy. Former GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who has been running focus groups in Iowa, warned such messaging “makes it more likely that Trump wins because it turns him into a victim.”
As his rivals spent Friday in Iowa at the Family Leadership Summit, Trump was heading to Florida, where he will have the stage largely to himself at the annual Turning Point Action conference, a gathering of thousands of young conservatives.
While DeSantis has had a years-long relationship with organizer Charlie Kirk and had been been featured at last year’s event alongside Trump and received a warm welcome from the crowd, DeSantis turned down the group’s invitation, citing a scheduling conflict.
7 comments
Jay Smif
July 15, 2023 at 12:19 pm
Ride that “Trump train” all the way to hell with him, sucker conservatives.
RonBeGone
July 15, 2023 at 1:10 pm
Frankly I’m not sure we could have asked for a better final chapter for the modern Republican Party. They are set to go down in flames in 2024, mostly by their own actions.
Most of us out here are not amused with their culture wars. We realize that the ‘50s really weren’t all that Great. We see the abundance of this nation and its people. We know that abundance can benefit everyone and that Zero-Sum thinking must no longer be tolerated as it is destroying our potential.
Let this be the end. Live and let live.
Dont Say FLA
July 15, 2023 at 1:19 pm
I am with ya but I am concerned that after Trump loses, they GOP will go on about how it wasn’t the GOP platform of “We’ll save you from the super scary others,” but that it was Trump personally and maybe even Trump’s J6.
I’d say that I’d prefer Rhonda lose to Biden, but GOP will say it was Rhonda’s (lack of) personality, not the GOP platform.
We need the GOP to admit their “fear other Americans” platform is losing nonsense.
Rick Scott could probably achieve that with a loss to Biden, except they GOP will just say, behind half-closed doors, Rick Scott lost to Biden because of his skin color. If Haley loses to Biden, that’ll be, according to the GOP, again behind their half-closed doors, because she belongs barefoot in the kitchen.
It’s hard to admit when one is wrong, and the GOP is in the position of needing to admit they’re wrong. I suspect their strategy is to finger point at each candidate that loses until such time, they hope, that the voters come around to the GOP way of thinking, “fear other Americans,” and someday that platform will win. I hope the GOP is wrong about that. We Americans don’t need to live in fear of each other.
Denial runs very very deep in today’s GOP.
RonBeGone
July 15, 2023 at 1:40 pm
I’m not sure that will ever happen as fear of “the other” is a feature built upon the scarcity mentality of the modern conservative. “There just isn’t enough for everyone, so the other will just have to do with less.” This goes along with the myths of “bootstraps” and “hard work” that they seem to truly believe.
Fickleness about personal nature of the candidates also appears to be a feature for them as far as I can remember. They want candidates who “aren’t boring”, but then blame them for not winning. Frankly most of us are tired of hearing about the president. DC is supposed to be filled with nerdy, slightly boring, policy wonks who get things done. We should not be thinking about it on a daily basis, much less constantly.
The group will never admit they have a problem. The individuals who have done so in an effort to save the party have been ostracized and ejected. There will be no return to normalcy.
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July 15, 2023 at 1:32 pm
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My Take
July 15, 2023 at 2:37 pm
ANY GOP defeat will be of some considerable benefit though.
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