If former President Donald Trump thought his early 2024 announcement would cow prospective Republican primary rivals into submission, he clearly miscalculated.
At this weekend’s Republican Jewish Coalition conference, a parade of ambitious Republicans hit all the notes that politicians eyeing future campaigns for the White House typically do. Their tones and messages varied — few called out Trump by name — but collectively they made clear they are not going to back down to the former president after a third consecutive poor election with him at the helm.
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s hand-picked secretary of State and CIA director, warned that for Republicans to win elections, they can’t simply “go on Fox News or send tweets.” Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran Trump’s transition, said Republicans were losing because “Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else.”
Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador who said last year she wouldn’t run if her former boss did, has apparently changed her mind. She used her Saturday evening speech here to say she was looking at running in a “serious way,” and to call for “a younger generation to lead across the board.”
The speeches by the 2024 hopefuls at The Venetian Resort here displayed how little deference Trump is receiving in the wake of his campaign announcement last week. Increasingly, they see him as beatable. And his launch two years out from the next election — with a special counsel now hovering over him — has created a big and lasting target for the roster of alternatives.
“He’s not going to have the financial support he had anymore, he’s not going to have the internal support that he had before,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, whose state hosts the first-in-the-nation GOP primary. “And so therefore, there’s opportunity there. That political weakness is blood in the water for some folks.”
“Now, he’ll still be a player, but he’ll just be one of a dozen,” Sununu added. “He’s not clearing the field by any means.”
Trump, of course, has been left for dead politically many times before. And despite the incoming fire he’s facing, many Republicans regard him as the early favorite to win the nomination. Some say the willingness of others to jump into the race could well bolster his chances, potentially creating a repeat of the 2016 primary, when he prevailed over a splintered field of Republican opponents.
Speaking to the conference via video Saturday, Trump was met with rapturous applause. Many in the audience of pro-Israel attendees regard the former president as a hero for, among other moves, his decision to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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