The year before an actual presidential election year is almost as important as the election year itself. Would-be candidates are deciding whether to throw their hat in the ring, PACS are being formed, money raised, and the general look of a party primary is taking shape. While there will be many things that will be different for Republicans from 2016 and definitely 2020, 2024 already has one big thing in common with those past presidential election years: Former President Donald Trump is out in front of all other declared candidates — and as a former president, he has a record. Granted, it is very early, and a lot can happen before November 2024. Democrats are coming at Trump with all sorts of legal challenges, and throwing them at any wall they think will be sticky enough. But while GOP candidates are making the case to voters as to why they should be the next president, are they really making a case as to why Donald Trump does not deserve a second term?
This doesn't mean Trump will be the GOP nominee in 2024.
It, as with other recent polls, does demonstrate why the other Republican candidates are too scared to criticize Trump, even as he possibly faces multiple indictments. https://t.co/N0IjphqkhE
— SpideyTerry (@SpideyTerry) March 22, 2023
Trump’s nicknames for his opponents are, in some ways, half the fun of a Trump campaign. Who can forget “low energy” Jeb Bush, “little Marco” Rubio, and perhaps the best one of all (and still used today): “crooked” Hillary Clinton. So far, among declared candidates Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Asa Hutchinson, no clear taunting nicknames have emerged. Even though he has not made any announcements, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has on several occasions been referred to as Ron “DeSanctimonious.”
Early criticism has come in veiled form. Never Back Down is a GOP super PAC supporting DeSantis. Apparently, Never Back Down’s main beef with Donald Trump, is that he is too mean to DeSantis.
DeSantis Super PAC "Never Back Down" launched it's first ad with over $3.5m behind it 🔽🔽🔽 pic.twitter.com/RiGLExcBOS
— Adam Wise (@DAdamWise) April 17, 2023
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who has formed a presidential exploratory committee, was recently asked why Republican voters might reject Trump this time around. His response:
One of the things I’m hearing a lot on the Faith in America Tour is that they’re concerned about the most important issues in their lives is what’s driving their decisions. And one of the most important issues in their lives is the economic reality that President Biden seems to have figured out a blueprint for how to ruin America.
Nikki Haley has been the only declared GOP candidate that has dipped a toe in the water of Trump criticism. During a recent campaign stop in Iowa, she took a veiled swipe at Trump saying, “You’re not gonna see me come in and do a rally and leave.” And in a recent interview, Haley went one step further, saying, “We have to move forward. We can’t deal with the drama that’s following him. We can’t deal with the baggage.”
Donald Trump’s fellow GOP candidates do have a problem. They are free to go after Trump on his legal issues or statements he has made in the past. But voters may have another take. Trump’s poll numbers jumped from 43.8 percent prior to Trump announcing the indictment was coming to 44.4 percent after the indictment announcement, to 56.2 percent after the actual indictment. If other candidates want to make an issue of tweets or other past statements, that could come off to voters as the candidates themselves not wanting to move forward.
But the biggest hurdle other Republican candidates may have when it comes to any criticism of Donald Trump is that Trump is a unique candidate. He is a former President and therefore has a track record — a good one. Candidates are certainly free to criticize Trump’s pre-COVID economy, energy independence, secure southern border, and a very strong presence abroad, but voters could have a long memory. There is the fact that Obamacare was not done away with, or that the border wall was not completed, but this is a narrow window.
Make no mistake, though — at some point, the criticism of Donald Trump will begin, and someone else will get a catchy new nickname.
The Reagan rule (never speak ill of a fellow Republican) was completely thrown out the window in 2016, but the 2024 crop of GOP Presidential candidates still think it applies. Until somebody goes all in on attacking Trump PERSONALLY, they’re all just ceding the 2024 nomination…
— Brian Paterson ⚫️⚪️ (@ashenthorn) April 14, 2023
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