Former President Donald Trump, 76, is the only declared GOP candidate for 2024, visiting New Hampshire and South Carolina, going through the initial steps to build momentum for his campaign. While other GOP candidates haven’t yet declared, including 44-year-old popular Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 51-year-old former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, they’re both waiting in the wings quietly building a war chest. Trump presents problems for all GOP candidates, largely because of his domestic and foreign policies that inspired a younger generation of GOP politicians, so-called MAGA Republicans, to take a more active role in the party. Whether admitted to or not by Republicans, 80-year-old President Joe Biden has been the biggest motivation for Republicans watching a slow motion train wreck. With the U.S. at war with Russia and near one with China, voters look for change.
Trump has been a disrupter to the GOP since deciding to run for president in 2015, bucking conventional trends especially with the so-called “neo-con” Republican war hawks looking to take on the Russian Federation, China and North Korea. But as voters blamed Trump in 2020 for the Covid-19 crisis and race wars on American streets, the public threw the baby out with the bath water. Many voters didn’t appreciate Trump’s over-arching philosophy of promoting a prosperous economy to rise all boats, all races, all ethnic groups, every hard-working American. Democrat and media propaganda did Trump in 2020, largely due to a convergence of events but also a disgruntled core of Republicans that despised Trump in 2016 and despise him now all for the wrong reasons. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), 57, now leads the anti-Trump crowd in 2024.
Trump’s haters must come to grips with the fact that compared to Biden, Trump’s presidency gave the country prosperity and peace, the two highest aspirations of any political party. No one complained in Trump’s four years about runaway inflation or the prospects of WW III or nuclear war. So when it comes to GOP complainers, they’ve offered no alternative to Trump in 2024, including the younger, less experienced Ron DeSantis. Whether admitted to or not, most of the expected GOP candidates don’t measure up to Trump gravitas in terms of the economy or foreign policy. Trump was hampered in domestic and foreign policy by an envious press, who decided after former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton lost in 2016, to go after Trump on every possible issue. Whether admitted to or not, the press was humiliated after backing a loser in 2016.
Trump’s main problem running for a third time is that he has horrific relations with the U.S. press, committed to sabotaging anything he does. When you consider they sabotaged his foreign policy during his four years in office, it’s really a disgrace. What does the press have now with Biden? A titular only president, letting underlings without much experience, like 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken or 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan Run the show. How’s that working out with the U.S. in a proxy war with the Russian Federation and close to war with Communist China over Taiwan? Whether Trump’s GOP detractors admit it or not, Trump had excellent relations with nuclear-armed U.S. adversaries. Biden and his neophyte underlings have pushed the world closer to WW III or nuclear war. Thank the Democrat-controlled U.S. press for sabotaging Trump’s foreign policy.
Whoever in the GOP runs against Trump in 2024 they won’t run on any track record on the economy or foreign policy. Only Trump has a verifiable record of economic prosperity and peace in his four years in office. Trump’s negatives stem from his brash personality that doesn’t hesitate to hold a mirror up to his detractors. All the anti-Trump crowd in the GOP, how does that help Republican chances in 2024? Trump’s past or current baggage largely stems from a relentless Democrat and media campaign designed to destroy Trump’s credibility. Anti-Trump Republicans should be spending more time confronting the Democrat propaganda machine, touting Biden’s accomplishments leading to WW III or nuclear war. Whether the GOP prefers someone other that Trump, they have to confront their own self-destructive biases that could hand Biden another four years.
Newly hired Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, 51, should put her PR team together to confront vicious Democrat propaganda against Trump and the GOP. When you consider what Democrats did to Trump in 2020, it’s time to turn things around in 2024. McDaniel must spend every working minute telling the American public about Biden’s slow-moving train wreck, destroying the economy and pushing the world to the brink of WW III and nuclear war. Whether Trump wins the GOP nomination or not, the GOP must do a better job at defining the 2024 political narrative, seeking return to prosperity and world peace. Biden’s feeble approach to the economy and foreign policy has left U.S. national security in shambles. Voters need to question where Biden has taken domestic and foreign policy. Only confronting the Democrat narrative can work in 2024.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
