Donald Trump is again grabbing global headlines as he hits the campaign
trail for his next big venture. Ever since he officially announced his bid to
recapture the seat in the Oval Office in 2024, he has been exerting all efforts
to generate massive momentum for his campaign.
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But this time, things do not seem to be conforming to his calculations.
The political landscape is much different from 2016 and 2020. Being a typical
populist leader, Trump is overlooking his lacunas and is not trying to unlearn
the damaging traits of his egoistic personality.
His incessant dramas and excessive bullying have started pushing away
his supporters. A kind of “Trump fatigue” is gradually swathing his traditional
support bases. The man has always tried to use controversies to remain in the
limelight, but the same tactics seem to backfiring this time around.
Is the Trump brand enough?
There is no doubt that Trump is a very powerful brand, and it will be
difficult for Republicans to find a better replacement – in terms of brand
recognition at home as well as globally. All the potential contenders among
Republicans for the presidential nomination, including Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence,
and Nikki Haley, are no match to the brand power of Trump. The same is the case
with the Democratic camp, where voices are being raised to revisit the list of
the presidential nominees after President Biden’s untimely controversy over
classified documents.
Trump’s arrogance and egotism, once considered to be hallmark of his popularity, have now turned into baggage for the Republican Party
Will Trump be able to elbow out his opponents to win the Republican
nomination? It is quite tricky to come up with an answer. Yes, some recent
surveys show that Trump is leading the race at the moment. But these surveys
are being questioned by his opponents, who allege that data was technically
massaged to show Trump in the lead.
Without going into the mechanics of these surveys, some Republicans are
quite unhappy with the disappointing performance of the party in the mid-term
polls. They are not ready to forget the fact that the Trump factor miserably
failed to bolster the Republican party in November — the majority of candidates
endorsed by the former president failed to win a place in congress.
Skepticism about the credibility of Trump as a catalyst for the revival
of Republican fortunes is creeping into the ranks and files of a party that is
desperate to retake the presidency — and congress. His detractors within the
party assert that Trump has gradually lost his reliability as an “electable”
commodity.
Despite his fabulous name recognition, Trump’s arrogance and egotism,
once considered to be hallmark of his popularity, have now turned into baggage
for the Republican Party.
We must not forget that Trump is neither a career politician nor a
chronic Republican. He did not climb the ladder of leadership from the
grassroots level within the party. He was an outsider, and he is still an
outsider. He hijacked the party through his populist theme and presented
himself as a messiah who would transform the outlook of the party.
We must not forget that Trump is neither a career politician nor a chronic Republican… He was an outsider, and he is still an outsider.
But nothing of the sort happened. His politics of instability and
collision have left the party wounded and directionless. And the old guards
within the caucus of the Republican Party are sensing that he will not be able
to maintain his relevance on through the 2024 elections.
Real rivals
Trump has started his recent campaign in New Hampshire and South
Carolina to gather support to become the official GOP nominee, but he is discovering
significant sourness in the air, unlike in 2020.
This time, his list of intra-party rivals is getting longer — DeSantis, Pence, Pompeo, Haley and emerging faces like Youngkin are
nurturing White House ambitions of their own.
There is a clear tug of war between the pro-Trump camp and the advocates
of new names. And both sides are unwilling to relent.
Trump, a formidable crowd-puller, is certainly the most well-established
brand to give a tough fight to the Democratic candidate — be it Biden or
someone else — in the 2024 presidential duel. In his first direct speech to
Republican activists in New Hampshire on Saturday, Trump displayed his typical
over-confident aggression by dismissing any threat to his re-nomination as: “I
don’t think we have competition this time, to be honest. We are so far ahead in
the polls.”
If Trump fails to outcompete his rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, there is every likelihood that a large group of die-hard Trumpers may disrupt the whole process
This is certainly a very exaggerated claim, and a familiar tactic to
demoralize rivals, but it is not likely to work anymore with more confident figures
such as DeSantis and others.
But, at the same time, pressure is mounting on the party elders to bring
forward someone younger and more aligned with the political ideology of the
GOP. The problem for this strategy is that, if Trump fails to outcompete his
rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, there is every likelihood that a large
group of die-hard Trumpers may disrupt the whole process — a repetition of the
“stolen elections” mantra, but this time within the party.
This would be certainly a dreadful scenario for the supporters of the
GOP.
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