Former President Donald Trump’s campaign for the 2024 presidential election is off to a slow, sleepy start. Trump’s first campaign swing towards 2024 generated little of the excitement that has long defined his glitzy political rallies.
It matters because there was a visible lack of support for Truck’s 2024 bid among New Hampshire Republicans. From party officials to state legislators, the rank-and-file Republicans of the key state failed to show visible support.
Trump kicked off his campaign with an event in New Hampshire that was less of a bang and more of a whisper. In contrast to the large rallies that propelled him in 2016 and 2020, the New Hampshire event was held in a compact high school auditorium, with about 400 people in attendance.
“Trump has not been mortally wounded but was damaged by the results in the midterm election,” said former Republican state party chairman Wayne MacDonald, a state lawmaker.
“Trump lost the 2020 election, and the number of people who still hold onto the belief that he didn’t are a dwindling minority.”
It comes as Trump tries to cobble together support in the Senate for his GOP nomination.
Trump is poised to double his Senate backers — to four supporters. Experts and analysts say it is a testament to how much has changed in four years.
Only four Senate GOP endorsements have emerged. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), have backed Trump since the 2022 midterms. This week, two Senate freshmen who Trump endorsed have now returned the favor.
J.D. Vance and Eric Schmitt moved to announce their support for Trump.
And though four Senate GOP endorsements is an early indicator that Trump is the frontrunner in the 2024 primary, it’s still a far cry from the show of support on the Hill that Trump enjoyed four years ago as an incumbent president.
A lot has changed since 2020, and even more since 2016. Two impeachments, a violent insurrection on the Capitol, and a presidential campaign that has been crawling along since announced rapidly two months ago, following a fizzling midterm election for the GOP.
Also, many of Trump’s picks for the midterms lost. Not to mention there is a rising Republican set to rival Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, alongside several other contenders eyeing a run for the White House.
Trump will not be a shoo-in for the GOP ticket for 2024, experts say.
Be the first to comment