As things stand in the GOP now, it appears that Donald Trump will be the likely winner of the party’s nomination for president in 2024. But, according to a report from The Atlantic, allies of the former president are already rehearsing arguments to dissuade him from running for the Oval Office again.
One of Trump’s former campaign advisors, who spoke toThe Atlantic anonymously, said they plan to warn him that he could be known as a serial political loser if he runs in 2024 and lost. To make their point the individual said they plan to use Adlai Stevenson as an example.
Stevenson, a diplomat is more widely known as the man who ran for president twice in the 1950s and lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower both times.
The former campaign advisor hopes this message would resonate with Trump whose well documented hatred of losing predates his entry into politics.
“I don’t think he wants to risk losing twice,” Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and Trump ally told The Atlantic. “Once, you can argue about the outcome. Twice, it becomes a repudiation.”
Others who know the former president well and have worked closely with him also shared Gingrich’s view.
Earlier this month former Trump White House national security advisor John Bolton said Trump is fearful about losing in 2024.
“I think he knows deep inside, although he will never admit it, he did lose in 2020 and very much fears losing in 2024 because if he hates anything in the world, he hates being called a loser,” Bolton said.
Trump has refused to accept that he lost last year’s election to President Joe Biden and continues to push baseless allegations of voter fraud. He has managed to retain his hold on the Republican Party because of the possibility of a comeback, and has raised millions off it. That is what some people, like his estranged niece Mary Trump, believes to be the point of Trump’s continued political activity.
“It’s important to remember that Donald couldn’t care less about politics. He couldn’t care less about this country. He couldn’t care less about the Republicans,” Mary Trump said in March. “It’s all about maintaining the grip on power. He thinks on some level it’s going to allow him to continue to operate with impunity as he has done his whole life, and also it’s going to allow him to keep grifting money off of people.”
“I’ve said all along he has no intention to run for the presidency in 2024. He’s going to pretend to,” she added.
Bolton believes Trump is trying to remain relevant and will continue to tease a political comeback right up the point when he is no longer able to do so, then he will decide not to run.
“Imagine what would happen if he said, ‘After careful consideration, I won’t be a candidate in 2024,’” Bolton said. “You can hear the spotlight switches turning off. He’ll talk about it [running for president again] right up until the point when he doesn’t.”
