With Sen. Tim Scott officially declaring his candidacy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to follow Wednesday, the 2024 GOP presidential field is getting bigger.
But is it getting any better…or for that matter, are any of the new entrants remotely capable of overcoming the current frontrunner, former President Donald Trump?
The quality question is in the eye of the beholder. Scott, for example, is leading with what appears to be the most optimistic message of the declared candidates:
“We need a president who persuades not just our friends and our base,” he told supporters in his hometown. “We have to have a compassion for people who don't agree with us. We have to believe that our ideas are so strong and so powerful and so persuasive that we can actually take it to the highest points in the world and be successful, but we also have to be able to take it all the way down to places that today are hopeless and prove that who we are works for all Americans.”
Persuading others? And compassion, too? A distinct difference from the doom, gloom and vengeance messaging emanating from the other campaigns.
But is it enough to win the nomination? Obviously, Scott thinks so. And the others who enter the race after him think they can win, too. The reason: a perception, or perhaps conceit, that both Trump and President Joe Biden are much weaker than they seem – in other words, they are beatable.
We shall see. Since the advent of presidential term limits in the 1950s, no one-term president has ever sought a second, non-consecutive term. And the only president who ever did so successfully was Democrat Grover Cleveland (who, like Trump, was also a New Yorker) in the 1890s. Interestingly, Cleveland was the Democratic nominee in three consecutive races – 1884, 1888 and 1892. He lost to Republican Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Trump won in 2016, lost in 2020 and is running again in 2024.
The similarities end there – because Donald Trump (or anyone else running) is no Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was perhaps the last true advocate of limited government to occupy the White House. Today's presidential wannabes all have a taste for an imperial presidency.
Republican Teddy Roosevelt was the only former president in the 20th Century to seek his party's nomination after retiring from office. When Roosevelt failed to win the GOP nomination in 1912, he and his followers bolted and formed the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt's vanity cost incumbent William Howard Taft a second term and resulted in the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Trump is highly unlikely to follow Roosevelt's path for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the daunting task of getting on the ballot in enough states in time for the general election.
But he could still, possibly, pull a Cleveland. And the odds he can at least get in position to do so as the GOP nominee increase with every new entrant into the Republican primaries.
Remember: In 2016, Trump won the nomination with an average 45 percent of the vote in a field of 17 candidates.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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I voted for Trump in 2016. I liked the things he did while he was in office. We became energy independent, did away with many things that were hindering progress. I did not like many of his tweets or his childish habit of calling people names. Unfortunately he is now carrying a lot of baggage and true or not it will be a distraction. I am concerned that many people will not vote for him because of all these issues.
You are correct. Sadly, Republicans have no chance in 2024. Far too many Independents and moderate Republicans will stay home before voting for Trump. And if Trump is not the candidate, many Trump supporters will not vote for anyone else.
I voted for Trump in 2020 and I will vote for him only if he is the Republican candidate, if not, I will not vote.