How do the Republicans get back to power? A billionaire meets in Las Vegas with leading Conservatives and possible presidential candidates on this issue. Trump holds back as much as necessary, but already has his fingers in the game.
Donald Trump says he can no longer use his election campaign slogan from last year. “Keep America Great” doesn’t work: “With all the things that are happening in this country at the moment, America is not right now great. America is under siege. “The audience at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago last week, including some members of Congress and former ministers, cheer and applaud. His slogan needs an update, he must” Make America Great Again, Again ” “You think I’m kidding,” adds Trump, “but I’m not. I do not do that.”
Nothing has been officially announced yet, but the man who kept the world in suspense for four years from the White House has flirted with his return since his defeat by Joe Biden. The ex-president should not apply for the candidacy alone. Influential minds in the conservative universe are already moving their game pieces and weighing up who would be the best choice for the party. Somebody is supposed to drive the Democrats out of the White House after all.
Again and again the target of Trump’s public attacks: Senator and parliamentary group leader Mitch McConnell
(Photo: REUTERS)
At least the medium term is considered. It is true that the congressional elections are initially scheduled for the coming year. They help determine how much power a possible Republican election winner in 2024 would have. The House of Representatives is completely re-elected every two years, but only thirds of the powerful senators. In the Senate, as is the case in US politics, most decisive thumbs for the future are raised or lowered.
Trump is involved in this game on a broad front and throws his name into the ring for others. He is already publicly supporting 14 candidates for the Senate and 11 for the House of Representatives, all of whom will run in 2022. In addition, there are several allies who want to become governors of US states. “It won’t go away,” said Ned Ryun, an ally of Trump, as well as founder and boss of “American Majority”, a conservative training institution for candidates and activists, in “The Hill”: “Get ready for Trump 2024.”
Ex-President and President on par
Why Trump is still behind the mountain with a decision on his own candidacy, this has to do with his advisors and companions, according to the Washington Post. They would have advised against declaring his candidacy in 2024 before the elections next year. They fear that an early announcement could unnecessarily mobilize additional Democratic voters, thereby jeopardizing the chances of success of Republican congressional candidates and thus also majorities for a possible renewed presidency.
That could of course also happen in the presidential election – like in 2020 in the duel with Biden, who was elected mainly because he was not Trump. Its sustained media fire and extreme polarization had tired even the media-hardened US electorate, but at the same time had moved more people to vote than ever before in the history of the United States. Most of them wanted to get rid of him. Now the registered voters are no longer so sure: 45 percent would vote for Trump, 43 percent for Biden and 11 percent for another candidate, according to a poll by Emerson College. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
In their election victory, the Democrats also benefited from Biden’s familiar face and his announcement that without Trump in the White House everything would be the same as before. But the public’s tone has remained harsh, inflation is eating up wages and the pandemic is still ubiquitous. After less than a year of presidency, Biden is no longer very popular. Currently, only 42.8 percent of Americans are satisfied with him, historically speaking, only Trump did worse than him at the same time in a first term in office.
For the Democrats, this is just one of many hair-raising pointers to the possible future. At least since the gubernatorial elections in the states of Virginia and New Jersey two weeks ago, all alarm bells have been ringing in the government and elsewhere. The Republicans have taken control of Virginia, while in New Jersey, where it was hardly believed possible, they came very close to governorship. The elections were a test of sentiment for the 2022 congressional elections. In all of the decisions, the Republicans fared better than forecast.
Strategic meeting in Las Vegas
Of course, there is no reliable list of applicants for the 2024 presidential candidacy that long in advance. But there are clues. For example, from the “30 billion dollar woman” Miriam Adelson, as “Politico” calls the widow of one of the most important Republican supporters. More than half a billion dollars flowed from “Kingmaker” Sheldon Adelson to the Republicans in the past decade. For Trump’s election campaign last year, the largest single donation came from the Las Vegas couple.
Miriam Adelson and Donald Trump in 2018 – the then President awarded her the “Medal of Freedom”.
(Photo: REUTERS)
The casino mogul died in January, after which the 75-year-old widow held back on politics. But Miriam Adelson apparently wants to pick up where she and her husband left off before his death. The billionaire recently met with heads of the Republican Party at her home in Las Vegas. She consulted with Kevin McCarthy, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, and Senator Rick Scott, head of the Senate Campaign Committee. Possible presidential candidates who were with her include: Ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Ex-Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis.
This underscores that Trump doesn’t have to be the best choice for Republicans. The ex-president is loved or hated, there is little in between. In fact, he still claims the election was stolen from him, which electrifies his followers. There are large parts of the US population who would cheer for a new candidacy, who see in Biden and the Democrats the ultimate threat to the American dream and in Trump an opportunity to somehow express their longing for a past that never existed to lend.
Trump is firmly established as a political force and would be much better prepared than in 2016, when he rolled out US policy with an outsider team and limited support. Among other things, he has a think tank with the almost unmistakable name “America First Policy Institute” behind him, as well as the election campaign organization “Save America”, founded last month. According to him, almost a million people have already transferred money to the organization. It supports politicians who “have proven to be fighters of the MAGA movement and of President Trump’s many achievements,” the founders wrote. MAGA stands for Trump’s first slogan, Make America Great Again.
Trump’s claim to leadership remains almost exclusive, even if he repeatedly assures that it is about the party, not about him. With his “for me or against me” principle, he has already divided the Republicans: his supporters and those who quarrel with the ex-president’s style and content. Those who do this in public don’t have much to laugh about. In order to continue to present himself as an outsider despite his far-reaching influence, who is the only option against the “swamp” in Washington, Trump repeatedly attacks the Senate faction leader, Mitch McConnell – the embodied Republican establishment in the capital, which is from the grassroots removed.
But there are also the ten Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted with the Democrats for impeachment proceedings against Trump after the storming of the Capitol. MP Liz Cheney has been removed from her leadership position under pressure from the Trump wing. Adam Kinziger, a moderate Republican, also voted for the trial. The veteran from Illinois does not run again after twelve years and justified this with the extreme polarization in politics: “In order to exist or to survive, you have to belong to the tribe.” Anthony Gonzalez from Ohio also voted for the impeachment and will not run again. “Two gone, eight missing!” Commented Trump.