Member-only story
Trump’s Path to GOP Nomination Clear
Despite what pundits think, former president will be 2024 Republican nominee
By William S. Bike
Pundits have all but crowned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. When they grudgingly admit a DeSantis nomination is not actually a done deal, they start panting over South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley or Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Forget it. Donald Trump will be the GOP standard bearer for the third election in a row.
We already can see what issues Trump is running on through the fundraising appeals he sends to his supporters every day. Trump’s fundraising appeals say: the United States is being invaded at its southern boarder; violent criminals and deadly drugs are pouring into the United States; inflation is too high; there is an alleged assault by Democrats on traditional energy sources; allegations of “mutilating” of children under the guise of gender-affirming care, and; there is rampant spying on the United States by its enemies, including China. Trump in his fundraising missives also constantly returns to calling the mainstream media “Fake News” and Democrats and the left “liars.”
All red meat for the red base.
Trump does not need the full support of the Republican Party, and he certainly does not have it. Many prominent Republicans have come out publicly opposing the idea of Trump getting the nomination, including former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan; some Republican Governors, including Kristi Noem of South Dakota and recent Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; and Senator Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee. In addition, it is well-known that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants Trump nowhere near the nomination.
But they don’t pick the nominee; the voters do in the primary system. The late President Richard Nixon said that Republicans have to run to the right in the Republican primaries and move to the center in the general election, because the voters farthest to the right consistently tend to be the most energized, and vote in Republican primaries when more centrist Republicans may be less interested.
Trump has the far-right voters sewn up; they are his loyalists. So they may be able to get…
