Republicans ask Trump to postpone campaign until 2024

After the Republican Party was given the expectation of a “red wave”, Trump encountered the first limit. The disappointing results of the Republican Party on Tuesday raised questions about Trump’s appeal and the future of the party that fully supports him. In this way, Trump seems to have found the brakes on his future plans, and the election also gave new impetus to his main rival in the party, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Some allies have called on Trump to delay announcing the results, which were scheduled for next week, saying the Republican focus should be on Georgia, where Trump-backed football star Herschel Walker will push for the re-election of Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock. A runoff election could determine control of the Senate.

“I would recommend you wait until after the Georgia runoffs before you contact him,” said Jason Miller, a former Trump adviser who spent a night with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“Georgia should be the focus of every Republican in the country right now,” he said.

Trump sought to use the midterm elections as a chance to flex his political muscle after losing the White House in 2020. He endorsed more than 330 candidates, some of whom lacked experience, in the electoral race. He was ecstatic about his big win. But many of his positions, including echoing allegations of election fraud in 2020 and hard-line views on abortion, were out of step with the political mainstream.

Although he had some big wins on Tuesday, notably in Ohio, where he was elected to the Senate, Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance won easily with Trump’s support. In North Carolina, Rep. Ted Budd, one of Trump’s top choices, filled a vacant Republican-held Senate seat.

But Trump lost some more important votes overnight, particularly in Pennsylvania, where Dr. Mehmet Oz, who narrowly won the Senate primary with Trump’s support, lost to Democrat John Fetterman. Trump-backed candidates also lost gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland and lost a Senate race in New Hampshire, though Trump seemed pleased with the latter and criticized Republican Dan Bolduc for trying to soften his position by conceding to alleged election fraud that Trump fabricated in 2020.

The night’s biggest Republican victory came in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis won reelection, solidifying his status as a rising star in the national GOP while also mulling his own run in 2024. Former leader.

Trump’s setback
While Republicans still appear to be well-positioned to flip the House and eventually take the Senate, those who thought the frustration of record inflation combined with the election of President Joe Biden would bring a quick win for the GOP were mistaken. That was not the case with the “red tide.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a longtime Trump friend and adviser turned critic who is considering a 2024 presidential run, said the Republican Party “has to make a fundamental choice.”

“We lost on the 18th. We lost on the 20th. We lost the Georgia election on the 21st. And now, on the 22nd, we will lose the net governorship, we will not get the number of House seats that we expected, and we may not win the Senate despite the president’s 40% labor approval rating,” he affirmed.

Christie said, “There is only one person to blame for this, and that’s Donald Trump.”

Trump, meanwhile, publicly insisted he was pleased with the outcome.

“While yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal perspective it was a great victory: 219 to 16. Who could have done better?” he wrote on his “truth social network” Wednesday afternoon.

But David Urban, a former Trump adviser and Republican strategist, said the Trump brand would be damaged no matter what the former president says.

Now some worry that if Trump makes the announcement as planned next week, it could pave the way for Republicans to repeat the same mistake in Georgia in 2021.

Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former press secretary who now works for Fox News, suggested on her show that Trump should hold off on announcing his candidacy until after the Georgia Senate runoffs.

Future candidate DeSantis
DeSantis emerged as the clear winner of the night. In addition to winning by a wide margin, he also won Miami-Dade, a Democratic stronghold, and he did not receive Trump’s endorsement. (Though Trump told reporters he voted for the governor just days after calling him “Ron DeSantis.”)

“DeSantis has strong electoral momentum,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant. “Trump has been a weak candidate for a long time, but it’s not clear who the replacement is… This is the first time Trump actually has a strong opponent within the party.”

Even some Democrats acknowledge DeSantis’ strength.

Jose Parra, a Miami Democratic strategist, said Trump’s rivals are “in good shape” for the 2024 election after stronger-than-expected performances across the state, especially in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

Biden said in a speech at the White House on Wednesday that he was “intent” to run again. But he noted that the emerging competition between Trump and DeSantis was “interesting,” saying it would be “fun to see them go head to head.”

Trump Futures
Trumpism, as a manifestation of right-wing “populism”, has penetrated deeply into the hearts of the people, although it has not gone beyond its core. But at its core, this extreme right is a powerful political and social force, not an accidental phenomenon, which stems from the profound political and social polarization that has become a sign of the times and is expressed in a distorted way in the so-called “culture wars”. Among Republican voters, nearly 70% believe that Trump is the winner of the 2020 presidential election and that the Biden administration is therefore illegitimate. The most extreme part of this voter base is the one that tried to take over the Capitol on January 6, 2021, under the political leadership of the president himself, who tried to prevent Congress from confirming the election results.

DeSantis is a moderate Trumpist. He won with a tough “law and order” speech. He promised to defeat the “woke”, that is, the “progressives”. He defines himself as a “defender of life”, but unlike other Republican states, Florida does not completely abolish abortion rights, but limits abortion to 15 weeks. Some analysts highlight DeSantis’ high proportion of Latino voters as a symptom. However, at first glance, this does not seem to be a universal phenomenon. In Florida, the most right-wing Latino voters are mainly concentrated in Cuban and Venezuelan exiles. Although this is a warning sign.

The result makes DeSantis a strong alternative to Trump in the Republican presidential primary. The result is a relief to the US imperialist establishment, which is already worried about the possibility of Trump returning to the White House in 2024. Especially since the White House has regained leadership over European allies due to its role in the war in Ukraine and because of the dispute with China.

(Excerpt from Daily Left)