Republicans Are Rallying Around Trump Following The Fbi Raid Thats Good News For Biden
WASHINGTON The Republican Partys post-FBI-raid rally around former President Donald Trump could provide an inadvertent boost to another politician: President Joe Biden.
Biden wouldnt dare touch the politics of a criminal investigation, according to White House officials and party operatives. But at a time when most Democrats want a different nominee in 2024, the GOPs elevation of Trump plays into the current presidents hands.
The more Democrats see Trump, the more they view Biden as their best bet for 2024, said Democratic lawmakers and operatives across the partys ideological spectrum. One added that recent events have increased the likelihood that the president announces a re-election bid this year.
As Trumps stock rises in the Republican Party, so does Bidens with Democrats, said Brad Howard, a lobbyist and former aide to members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition in the House. If President Trump is still a factor, that is a continued benefit for President Biden and his case for renomination.
The prospect of a heavyweight fight helps both Biden and Trump, added a prominent House progressive who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid upsetting liberals who arent thrilled with Biden. The Republican response to the FBI search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago home all but assures them both the nomination, the lawmaker said.
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On top of that, Trump’s allies argue that he is likely to see Republican voters rally around him after this month’s unprecedented FBI search at Mar-a-Lago — and that pressure from people like Cheney could even backfire.
“The heavy-handed raid on Mar-a-Lago left anti-Trump Republicans with no hope at all to wrest control of the party from the president. Their playbook just closed,” said Michael Caputo, a former Trump administration official.
“If there was a lesson to be learned from 2016, it was, especially on the Republican side, that the voters were not going to be told by the elites who they were going to nominate,” added a former Trump campaign official. “It’s that kind of campaign against the elites, to saying, ‘No, we will decide who we nominate and who we vote for, and it doesn’t matter what the elites or the dynasties tell us.'”
And even if Trump were not to be elected back into the White House, his influence endures.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has stayed away from claiming the 2020 election was fraudulent but has adopted the same culture war battles as Trump — is seen by many as a favorite in a 2024 GOP primary without Trump. Another potential heavyweight could be Trump’s estranged vice president, Mike Pence, who has both broken with Trump over Jan. 6 and repeatedly touted their work together.
“Obviously, DeSantis might be the next president of the United States,” said Jolly, the former representative, “and I’ve now been out of office six years.”
What Is Happening To The Republicans
In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.
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But, for all the anxiety among Republican leaders, Goldwater prevailed, securing the nomination at the Partys convention, in San Francisco. In his speech to the delegates, he made no pretense of his ideological intent. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, he said. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Goldwaters crusade failed in November of 1964, when the incumbent, Lyndon Johnson, who had become President a year earlier, after Kennedys assassination, won in a landslide: four hundred and eighty-six to fifty-two votes in the Electoral College. Nevertheless, Goldwaters ascent was a harbinger of the future shape of the Republican Party. He represented an emerging nexus between white conservatives in the West and in the South, where five states voted for him over Johnson.
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In 10 Republicans Say Trump Should Be 2024 Gop Nominee: Survey
Approximately 6 in 10 Republican respondents in a new poll said that former President Trump should be the GOP nominee in the 2024 election.
The USA Today-Ipsos survey found that 59 percent of Republican respondents favor Trump, who has said he has made up his mind about running again, while 41 percent believe that another candidate should represent the GOP.
When asked to list the former presidents positive traits, Trumps willingness to use all tools at his disposal to get things done was cited by the most Republican respondents 90 percent.
Eighty-two percent of Republican respondents also said they believe that Trump can win a reelection bid in 2024, pollsters noted.
The poll comes after a redacted affidavit used to convince a judge to approve this months FBI search of Trumps Florida residence was released on Friday. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
The USA Today-Ipsos poll of 2,345 respondents was conducted from Aug. 18 to Aug. 22. Its margin of error is 4.2 percentage points.
Do Republicans Agree With Trumps Demand For A Do
By all appearances, Donald Trump is looking ahead to 2024 and gearing up for yet another Republican presidential campaign. Whats more interesting, however, is his apparent belief that he might not have to wait that long to return to the White House. HuffPost highlighted the former presidents latest pitch:
If anyone needed more evidence of Donald Trumps mind-bending view of reality, on Monday he demanded to be declared president nearly two years after the election he decisively lost. But he was also open to another option. In a minimal alternative solution, someone must immediately launch a do-over election, he said in a message on Truth Social.
Yes, nearly 22 months after losing by a fairly wide margin, Trump turned to his Twitter-like platform again yesterday to complain incoherently about the FBI and Hunter Bidens laptop. The Republican concluded his missive, Declare the rightful winner or, and this would be the minimal solution, declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised and have a new Election, immediately!
That was shortly before noon. In the middle of the night according to the timestamp, 1:46 a.m. eastern Trump returned to the subject. After more incoherent FBI/laptop whining, the former president again wrote, Declare the rightful winner, or hold a new Election, NOW!
For reasons unknown, hes apparently become fixated on this anew.
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Americans Not Only Divided But Baffled By What Motivates Their Opponents
By Eric Plutzer and Michael Berkman
As it became clear that Democrats would win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, pundits immediately began explaining the Blue Wave. Some said it was rooted in concerns that President Trump was leading the nation into dangerous territory others pointed to alarm about health care, or compassion for citizens of color and refugees. But Republican voters were having none of this, according to a recent Penn State Mood of the Nation Poll.
The nationally representative poll of 1,000 citizens included 307 voters who cast votes for Republican Congressional candidates in the midterm elections. We asked them, In your opinion, how many citizens voting for the Democrats did so because they sincerely believe that the Democratic party is best for the country?
The Real Reason Trump Is Not A Republican
John C. Danforth was a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri from 1976 to 1995.
Many have said that President Trump isnt a Republican. They are correct, but for a reason more fundamental than those usually given. Some focus on Trumps differences from mainstream GOP policies, but the party is broad enough to embrace different views, and Trump agrees with most Republicans on many issues. Others point to the insults he regularly directs at party members and leaders, but Trump is not the first to promote self above party. The fundamental reason Trump isnt a Republican is far bigger than words or policies. He stands in opposition to the founding principle of our party that of a united country.
We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, and our founding principle is our commitment to holding the nation together. This brought us into being just before the Civil War. The first resolution of the platform at the partys first national convention states in part that the union of the States must and shall be preserved. The issue then was whether we were one nation called the United States or an assortment of sovereign states, each free to go its own way. Lincoln believed that we were one nation, and he led us in a war to preserve the Union.
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What To Watch For
Whether Trump announces a 2024 run earlier than expected. He told aides in early July he was anxious to launch a bid by the end of the month to take advantage of Bidens falling poll numbers, according to reports. According to CNN, that urge grew even stronger after Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified to the January 6 committee about Trumps behavior on January 6, including that he lunged at a Secret Service agent who wouldnt take him to the Capitol.
What Can The Not
The GOP minority opposed to the ex-president has attention — and challenges.
The anti-Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party is taking stock of its power — such as it is — and gauging what success looks like as it comes into perhaps its most defined form yet in the wake of some major defeats.
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s primary loss this month, followed by her formation of a group targeting election deniers and her repeated openness to a 2024 presidential run, anointed her the de facto leader of the sliver of the GOP opposing the former president.
Joining Cheney in pushing for an alternative party leader are figures like outgoing Govs. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas — also floating 2024 presidential bids of their own — and retiring Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who launched his own anti-Trump PAC.
While the members of this wing have become more prominent, they do not all share the same approach.
As Cheney and her allies stare down long, if not impossible, odds in toppling Trump from his perch as GOP kingmaker and likely 2024 nominee, some of them say they’ll settle for trying to make Trump unpalatable to a general electorate in two years instead of a fatalistic bid to wrench the party from his grasp.
“Why couldn’t she shift some fundamental dynamic? Not to win a Republican primary, but to peel off voters or to help motivate soft Democrats,” Sarah Longwell, the executive director of Republican Accountability Project, told ABC News.
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Question10 Overall Do You Think Donald Trump Has Had A Mainly Positive Or Mainly Negative Impact On
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoPositive 43% 85% 7% 46% 47% 38% 36% 53%Negative 49 9 88 46 44 55 60 37DK/NA 8 6 5 8 9 7 4 10 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspPositive 38% 39% 47% 47% 54% 42% 48% 12% 52%Negative 50 53 46 49 39 50 45 85 39DK/NA 12 8 6 3 7 8 8 4 10
All Aboard The Trump Train
Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House
The countrys top Republican and the partys 2012 vice presidential nominee said on June 2 that he would support Trump. His change of mind came after he previously acknowledged the pair had work to do before he could back him.
On May 5, Ryan said he wasnt ready to back the mogul, signaling Trumps uphill battle in uniting the party in the months leading up to the general election.
What a lot of Republicans want to see is that we have a standard bearer that bears our standards, he told CNN. We want somebody who takes these conservative principles, applies them to the problems and offers solutions to the country that a vast majority of Americans can vote for, that they want to be enthusiastic about.
Trump responded with a snarky comment, saying, I am not ready to support Speaker Ryans agenda.
But it all changed on June 2, when Ryan penned an op-ed for his hometown paper and said he will be voting for him this fall.
Rick Santorum, Former Pennsylvania Senator and 2016 Republican Presidential Candidate
I am committed to working with Donald and his administration to ensure that conservative priorities are advanced, he added, not simply judicial nominees, but nominees to key administration positions.
Orrin Hatch, Longest Serving Republican in the Senate
Although the Utah senator said Trump needs to soften his rhetoric, he has agreed to support him, according to the Associated Press.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
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What Ordinary Republicans Think About January 6
The hearings could change their mindsif Fox News actually aired them.
The Third Rail examines the disputes that divide America. Sign up to get it in your inbox.
A few weeks ago I ran into an old friend, a salt-of-the-earth Christian conservative Ive known for almost 30 years. Hes a lifelong Republican and quite possibly the nicest person youll ever meet, a Trump voter whos about as different from Trump as day is from night. After we caught up on our lives and careers, he asked how I handle covering modern politics, where so many people lie. He specifically brought up Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
I joined him in lamenting general political deception, and then asked him what he thought of Trumps lies. What do you mean? he responded, in all sincerity. He genuinely did not perceive Trump as dishonest. Even now. In 2022.
Ive had a version of that exact conversation over and over again for more than six years. I live in a deep-red part of America. According to the New York Times neighborhood political calculator, only 15 percent of my neighbors are Democrats. Thats one reason why I laugh when Beltway Republicans and Acela-corridor conservatives purport to explain Trumps appeal to me. Theyre explaining the actions of my best friends, my neighbors, and many, many members of my family.
I understand it all. Perfectly well. But understanding does not necessitate agreement.
America Should Deport Illegal Immigrants
Republicans believe that illegal immigrants, no matter the reason they are in this country, should be forcibly removed from the U.S. Although illegal immigrants are often motivated to come to the U.S. by companies who hire them, Republicans generally believe that the focus of the law should be on the illegal immigrants and not on the corporations that hire them.
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Trumps Support In Iowa For Another Run Surpasses Bidens
According to news reports, Trumps decision is more a matter of when to launch a 2024 campaign, not if he should.
Some Republican operatives believe he should wait to make an announcement until after the November midterm elections to avoid taking the focus off Biden, whose approval ratings have plummeted amid rising inflation and soaring gas prices. But aides and allies have said an announcement could come as early as this summer.
Unlike Biden, Trump has fared well in Iowa in the past, placing second in the 2016 presidential caucuses and carrying the state in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections. Today, he garners more support in Iowa for another presidential bid than Biden, his 2020 rival, the poll shows.
Just 23% of Iowans say they hope Biden, 79, runs for president again, while 67% say they hope he does not. Nine percent are not sure.
Unlike Trump, Biden fails to garner a majority of support from within his own party for another campaign. Among Democrats, just 37% say he should run again, while 52% say they hope he does not.
Bidens approval rating in Iowa has hit a new low at 27%. At the same time, the share of Iowans who believe the country is on the wrong track has surpassed even what it was during the 2008 Great Recession. Today, 84% of Iowans believe things in the nation are on the wrong track. Just 10% say they believe things are headed in the right direction.
Iowa Pol:Voters prefer Republicans in 3 of 4 US House races except in 3rd District
The Gops Trumpian Soul
If you read studies of the American conservative movement, Trumps continued strength should be no surprise. The political strength of the movement never came from its policy ideas. Many of its positions, like tax cuts for the rich and stringent abortion restrictions, have ultimately proven to be extremely unpopular.
Instead, its strength has been rooted in grievance: the bitterness of those who believe that modern America is changing too fast, beyond recognition, turning traditional citizens into aliens in their own country.
A charitable observer might call this sentiment nostalgia for a bygone America. A more critical one might call it the venting of reactionary white male rage against a more egalitarian country. But whatever your assessment, it is this politics of cultural grievance that animates the GOP base.
And nobody is better at channeling it than Donald Trump.
The core of Trumps success has been an ability to tap into the sense of loss Make American Great Again and direct that anger against the traditional GOP elite, Democrats, minorities, and even the US electoral system itself. His celebrity and charisma two traits DeSantis lacks have allowed him to build an unparalleled personal bond with this segment of the electorate.
And it is this connection that, again and again, has proven predictions of Trumps decline to be premature.
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