We recently reported that multiple GOPers are trying to tip-toe around disgraced ex-president Donald Trump as we inch closer and closer to the next presidential election and potential Republican White House hopefuls try to navigate how they will replace Trump as the face of their party. Now, a new report from Vanity Fair reveals that potential GOP presidential candidates are “racing to the bottom” in their efforts to win over Trump’s rabid MAGA base of supporters in the event that Donald opts to not even run again in 2024.
However, according to the Vanity Fair report, many Republicans are finding themselves fearful that, even if Trump opts out of a third stab at the White House, he may very well still attempt to sabotage the party’s primaries because he “looks at every decision through the prism of self-interest.”
Vanity Fair reports, “What benefits him—financially, emotionally, politically—may actually damage Republican electoral chances,” going on to add that the disgraced former guy is every bit as fueled by revenge as he is a legitimate desire to get back into the White House.
“The nightmare scenario for Republicans is that Trump doesn’t run and sabotages the Republican nominee to punish Mitch McConnell and other party leaders for not endorsing his big lie,” the report claims. “It’s happened before. Trump told people he wanted Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to lose the 2021 Georgia special election so that Democrats would control the Senate.”
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One Trump insider told the popular magazine, “Trump thought he’d be much more influential if McConnell was in the minority.”
Trump has, of course, denied such reporting and has even gone so far as to lay the blame for the GOP’s senatorial defeat in Georgia at the feet of KY Senator and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. However, longtime Trump confidants have reportedly claimed that, at the end of the day, the washed-up reality TV “star” turned president wouldn’t be able to tolerate seeing anyone in the White House but himself.
“He’s got zero interest in having any heir. It’s always been about him,” one insider revealed.
Trump 2016 campaign veteran Michael Caputo said that if Donald does decide to run again it will be a “metaphysical impossibility that anybody, even a senator named Jesus H. Christ, could beat.”
As we’re well aware by now, if Trump does opt out of the upcoming 2024 presidential race, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has already been pegged as the GOP’s golden boy frontrunner. But Vanity Fair reports that DeSantis faces some challenges of his own, stemming from but not limited to his “abrasive personality” and his “fraught relationship with Trump.”
“Trump f*cking hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” one Trump insider reportedly revealed.
This sets the stage for a wildly unprecedented situation, in which potential candidates would essentially have to hide the fact that they’re running for the presidency at all. However, at the end of the day, it seems the “knives are out” amongst them and if Trump should opt out of a third White House run, the 2024 GOP primary could end up being “2016 on steroids” — featuring as many as 25-30 candidates with the possibility of the likes of Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson or the GOP’s biggest embarrassment, Georgia Senator Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Caputo, however, feels that a Trump 2024 run is “more likely than not” — which appears to be the general consensus among Republicans.
One prominent GOP strategist put it this way: “What does Trump have to lose by running? His business sucks. He’s doing tours with Bill O’Reilly.”
You can read the full report from Vanity Fair here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
