The Five Republicans Who Could Challenge Trump In 2024
Former President Trump has hinted repeatedly that hes weighing another bid for the White House in 2024.
And while hes made clear that, if he does so, the nomination should be his for the taking, he could still face some competition. A number of Republicans have begun maneuvering toward presidential campaigns of their own, some more overtly than others.
Of course, theres a political risk that comes with challenging Trump. But that doesnt appear to be deterring some prospective candidates.
Here are the five Republicans who could challenge Trump for the partys 2024 presidential nod.
Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has brushed off suggestions that he will mount a presidential campaign in 2024, saying that his No. 1 priority is winning a second term in the governors mansion.
But he also hasnt explicitly ruled out the possibility, and unlike several other prospective GOP presidential contenders, he hasnt committed to forgoing a White House bid if Trump launches a comeback campaign.
And with his clout among Republicans on the rise, its possible that, if DeSantis ultimately decides to run in 2024, he may not be deterred by the former president.
Early polling shows him as the heavy favorite for the Republican presidential nomination if Trump doesnt run again. There are even a few recent surveys that show him topping Trump in a hypothetical primary match-up.
Mike Pence
Mike Pompeo
Larry Hogan
Ted Cruz
Trumps Future: Nine Possibilities
As former President Donald Trumps second impeachment trial begins, it shines a light on a new reality: although its been nearly 100 days since Trump lost his re-election he is not going away, at least in the short term. What will become of Trump? Here are nine possible outcomes for Trumps futurethe first four possibilities keep him in the middle of national politics in the latter five, he would more likely fade away.
1. Leading the Trumpublican faction of the GOP
Over the course of four years as president, Trump masterfully consolidated Republican voters into a cult of personality. His hardcore supporters were willing to believe anything that left his lips, regardless of evidence to the contrary. They were willing to put their own lives at risk as he huddled them together at rallies and mocked those taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They were willing to commit insurrection against their own government, all in his name and to support his lies about election malfeasance.
That non-trivial group of Republican and Republican-leaning voters is not going away, and they remain loyal not to the party but to Donald Trump. It remains to be seen exactly how large this group is, how much power they will wield in Republican primaries and whether a non-Trumpublican candidate can consolidate the remainder of the party.
2. Uniting MAGA to form a third party
Political Career Of Donald Trump
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Donald Trump was the 45th President of the United States from January 2017 through 2021 he is the only American president to have never held political office or served in the military prior to his presidency. Trump has officially been a presidential candidate three times, in 2000, 2016, and 2020 he also “unofficially” campaigned in 2012 and mulled a run in 2004. He won the 2016 general election through the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million votes, the greatest losing margin in the popular vote of any U.S. president he was elected the 45th president of the United States on November 8, 2016, and inaugurated on January 20, 2017. He sought reelection in the 2020 United States presidential election, but lost by 7 million votes to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He is the only president to have been impeached twice, or to be impeached for incitement of insurrection against the United States and he is generally regarded by historians as one of the worst presidents of all time. Among the American public, Trumps average 41 percent approval rating was the lowest of any president since Gallup began polling, and he left office with a 34 percent approval rating and 62 percent disapproval rating in his final polls.
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Donald Trump Is Skeptical Of Climate Change And Opposes Investment In Green Policies
Rounding out his Republican image, Trump is famously skeptical of climate change, a stance that likely appeals to his primary base. According to the Pew Research Center, only one in 10 self-identified conservative Republicans believe in human-induced climate change. The same study also found that Republicans are much less likely to support investment in alternative energy sources.
Trump is a vocal climate change denier on Twitter, calling the scientifically backed theory a “total hoax.” He has previously tweeted his support for fracking and has also opposed renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Instead of focusing on renewable sources of energy, Trump has, in the past, suggested that the US steal oil fields from countries in the Middle East as “spoils” of war.
Trump has a personal investment in the issue of wind turbines, which he has called an “environmental & aesthetic disaster.” Earlier this June, he lost a case against the Scottish government, which he accused of illegally licensing an experimental wind farm to be built near his golf resort in Aberdeenshire. Apparently, Trump feared the wind turbines would detract from his gold courses and, therefore, his profits. Previously, Trump tried and failed to block another wind farm from being built on the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. Despite the loss, Trump’s organization issued a statement maintaining his opposition to the “destructive proliferation of wind turbines” around the world.
Gop Testimony At Jan 6 Panel Exposes A Party Torn Between Truth And Trump
A Democratic-run committee relies on Republican witnesses to build the case against the former president in searing detail.
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As the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has built its public case that Donald J. Trump was at the center of an attempted coup, the panel has relied heavily on a seemingly unlikely stream of witnesses: Mr. Trumps own advisers, his fellow Republicans and even his own family.
Those closest to Mr. Trump have been deposed, portrayed or shown dismissing the former presidents false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. And yet the fight to thwart the will of the people continued unabated.
The powerful testimony from a parade of Republicans, in four tightly produced hearings, has exposed in searing and consequential detail how divided the party has become between the faction that accepts the reality of the 2020 election and the many more who still cling to Mr. Trumps anti-democratic falsehoods about a stolen election.
If any Republicans were watching it, there is really no way they could defend a position that President Trump won the election based on the evidence presented so far, said Mick Mulvaney, a former acting White House chief of staff to Mr. Trump.
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Rep Liz Cheney Faces Off Against Trump
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., defended her work on the Jan. 6 Committee and her criticism of former President Donald Trump in a debate Thursday against her Republican primary challengers, including Trump’s pick to unseat her.
Cheney faces a handful of challengers in Wyoming’s August primary, but Trump-endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman is the biggest threat to unseat the three-term incumbent.
Trump has set a target on Cheneys back as he tries to establish absolute fealty to him within the Republican party.
Cheney has been among the few Republicans to openly defy Trump. She was one of 10 Republicans who voted for his impeachment after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and she serves as vice chair of the committee investigating the attack.
Who is Liz Cheney?: House Republicans’ No. 3, daughter of a VP, Trump critic
The debate, broadcast by Wyoming PBS, largely focused on Cheney’s position on the House Jan. 6 committee and Trumps claims of election fraud.
Hageman tiptoed around Trumps baseless claims of fraud but has openly cast doubt on the 2020 election, saying there were serious questions about the election.
She cited the 2000 Mules film discredited by independent fact-checkers that alleges Democrats illegally stuffed ballot boxes to rig the election. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who authorized the Department of Justice to investigate voter fraud, said he was unimpressed with the film.
Aware of Trumps backing, Cheney singled out Hagemans endorsement.
At Least 15 Potential 2024 Candidates Are Traveling The Country Huddling With Donors Or Testing Out Messages Even If Trump Runs
One day last month, Mike Pence secretly huddled with some of Michigans top donors, including the kingmaking DeVos family, as he pitched his vision for the Republican Party before flying to Georgia to campaign against former president Donald Trumps choice for governor.
Tom Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, has developed a long PowerPoint presentation about how previous candidacies for president failed and has shown it to donors and others during meetings on how he would run a successful campaign.
Advisers and allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, have discussed the margins for his 2022 reelection that would help put him in position to run for president in 2024 aiming to beat the three percentage point margin that separated Trump and President Biden in the state in 2020.
With months to go before the midterm elections, the shadow campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination is well underway, with at least 15 potential candidates traveling the country, drawing up plans, huddling with donors or testing out messages at various levels of preparation. The quadrennial circus described by more than 20 people with direct knowledge who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private machinations has kicked into gear despite the public hints from Trump that he too plans to join the scrum a third time.
DeSantis has been picking up support in far-flung places, besting Trump in a recent straw poll at a conservative gathering in Colorado.
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Which Republican President Inspired The Teddy Bear
Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican U.S. president from 1901 to 1909, inspired the teddy bear when he refused to shoot a tied-up bear on a hunting trip. The story reached toy maker Morris Michtom, who decided to make stuffed bears as a dedication to Roosevelt. The name comes from Roosevelts nickname, Teddy.
Republican Party, byname Grand Old Party , in the United States, one of the two major political parties, the other being the Democratic Party. During the 19th century the Republican Party stood against the extension of slavery to the countrys new territories and, ultimately, for slaverys complete abolition. During the 20th and 21st centuries the party came to be associated with laissez-fairecapitalism, low taxes, and conservative social policies. The party acquired the acronym GOP, widely understood as Grand Old Party, in the 1870s. The partys official logo, the elephant, is derived from a cartoon by Thomas Nast and also dates from the 1870s.
Former Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo
In the month of June, Pompeo tweeted the word pipehitter 18 times, and his political action committee CAVPAC short for Champion American Values PAC tweeted pipehitter another 16 times. Be a pipehitter, read one. All of us need to be Pipehitters. If youre a Pipehitter like us, join the team. What the heck is a pipehitter, though?
The word refers to members of special forces, though it has other slang definitions not suitable for a family news website, which inspired mockery online and from Stephen Colbert. According to Pompeo, though, a pipehitter is basically a Pompeo super fan. Facebook ads run by CAVPAC in Pompeos home state of Kansas and the four early primary/caucus states define pipehitter as someone who is unapologetically American, someone who fights for our future, someone who never gives an inch, someone who is dedicated to stand against the radical Lefts agenda.
In non-pipehitter news, a recent joint investigation by The New York Times and ProPublica found Pompeo has been the subject of Chinese propaganda campaign that included coordinated videos of Uyghurs calling Pompeos accusations of Chinese human rights abuses false. In January, the State Department declared that the Chinese Communist Party was committing genocide against Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, and Pompeo called it the stain of the century.
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A Political Gamble For The Future Of The Republican Party
Now, the congresswoman faces the fight of her life at the upcoming primary election to decide the Republican candidate for this year’s midterms.
Her main challenger, Harriet Hageman, a former political adviser to Cheney and family ally, has refused to concede Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
And crucially, she has the endorsement and financial backing of Donald Trump.
The primary race is not decided, but in standing up and speaking out against the party, Cheney has no doubt taken a personal gamble, according to Dr Smith.
Wyoming has been described as the “Trumpiest state in the nation”, with 70 per cent of voters choosing to re-elect him in 2020. Voters in the district are outraged by Cheney’s criticism of Trump’s election claims.
“She would have in the full knowledge that this could result in her excommunication from the Republican Party, or even her losing her seat in Congress,” US historian at RMIT University Emma Shortis said.
Dr Smith agrees, noting that a lot of Republicans have been operating in the post-Trump era on “pure political survival instincts”, and Cheney’s path could prove to be fatal.
“Even if they felt that their lives were threatened by Trump’s actions during January 6, they’re still not prepared to oppose him, because of how the Republican base will respond,” he said.
” knows that her political career could well be over as a result of this, but she’s prepared to do it.
“So that might be career that Liz Cheney has in mind after Congress.”
Former Ambassador To The United Nations Nikki Haley
Haley has changed her tone when it comes to Trump. After saying he let us down and lost any sort of political viability he was going to have following Jan. 6, Haley is, at least publicly, a fan again. During her remarks at the Iowa Republican Party dinner on June 24, Haley praised Trump and told a story about him asking if he should call Kim Jong Un little rocket man during his speech at the U.N. Haley said she cautioned him to treat the audience like church instead of a rally, but he went ahead and used the term.
Haley even sounded kind of Trumpian during her speech, telling Republicans they were too nice. We have to be tough about how we fight, she said. We keep getting steamrolled and then whine and complain about it. The days of being nice should be over.
She also didnt shy away from her gender, opening the speech by saying, America needs more strong conservative women leaders and less of Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris, and praising female Iowa Republicans like U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and Gov. Kim Reynolds. I wear heels, Haley said. Its not for a fashion statement. I use it for kicking. But I always kick with a smile.
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