United States: these ambitious people who are targeting post-Trump among the Republicans
Will Donald Trump be able to remain influential among Republicans until 2024? Within the party, the ambitious are beginning to reveal themselves.
Will Donald Trump be able to run for president in 2024? Since the invasion of the Capitol on January 6 and his second impeachment in the House of Representatives, uncertainty hangs over the political future of the outgoing president. The billionaire nevertheless retains significant support from his base. According to Gallup, he indeed gets 88% approval among Republicans over his entire term. Only one other president has done so well since the postwar years: Dwight Eisenhower. Since the assault on Congress, polls have also shown that the majority of Republican sympathizers do not hold him responsible for the incidents, even if his coast is eroding to the margins.
The outgoing president's grip on the party will therefore still be great, at least in the short term. Despite everything, the challenge of representing himself will be immense for Donald Trump. No deposed president has succeeded in securing the nomination of one of the two great parties for more than a century. In all of American history, only Grover Cleveland, elected from 1885 to 1889 and then from 1893 to 1897, reconquered the White House after having left it. If the way is blocked for Donald Trump but Trumpism continues to live on within the Republican Party, then could someone close to the outgoing president try his luck in 2024?
Are those close to Trump going to come out of the woods?
Donald Trump has several children and America is fond of political dynasties. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has been one of the most invested for four years. "Of all the President's children, he is the one who has the strongest connection to politics, voters and the online disinformation ecosystem that put his father in the White House," The New York Times wrote. in September. According to a YouGov poll conducted at the end of August, the 43-year-old heir was the most popular of the family, behind his father, with Republican sympathizers (65%).
The daughter of the outgoing president, Ivanka Trump, comes next with 54% favorable opinions among Republicans. At 39, it offers perhaps the best potential in the entourage of the billionaire. According to Politico, she could first attempt to oust Republican Marco Rubio from his Florida senatorial seat in 2022, before considering a presidential campaign in the more distant future. In addition, Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is said to be considering coveting the seat of senator from North Carolina during the midterm elections.
Someone close to the outgoing president, such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could also be tempted by the adventure. In recent weeks, he has spared different sensitivities by remaining loyal to Donald Trump, campaigning in Georgia but also met his successor, Antony Blinken, as if to show his attachment to institutions.
Several strategies among the ambitious of the party
For several weeks, some Republicans have also started to take a stand. With the invasion of the Capitol and the second impeachment procedure, three strategies emerge.
1-Those who remain loyal to Donald Trump. A candidate for the Republican primary in 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (50) has retained his presidential ambitions. For four years, he supported Donald Trump and even defended him in the wake of the violence in Washington. He also tried to block the certification of results in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Like him, the young senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley (41), has ambitions for 2024 and has adopted the same strategy. Considered one of the future figures of the party, he has been criticized as much as praised for his positions taken in recent days. For example, the publisher Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel the publication of its next book. Enough to build him a figure of "martyrdom" among die-hard Trumpists.
2-Those who let go of the outgoing president. Other ambitious people have made contrary choices among the Republicans. Among them is the ex-governor of South Carolina and ex-ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley (49), who declared that "the actions [of Donald Trump] since the day of the election will be judged harshly by the story". His name had yet been mentioned to replace Mike Pence on the Republican ticket last November. The outgoing vice-president has long been seen as a possible successor to Donald Trump, but he attacked the billionaire's electoral base by breaking with him on January 6. The governor of Maryland Larry Hogan (64), who does not hide his ambitions, also criticized Donald Trump after the election, then after the incidents of the Capitol, saying that there was "no doubt" according to him that the billionaire was responsible. This centrist embodies a current very different from that of Donald Trump within the party.
3-Those who try to reconcile the two lines. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton (43) harshly judged Donald Trump too, but he opposed his impeachment. He could ride the populist drift of the Republican Party. This summer, he published a column titled "Send the Army" in The New York Times, in response to the riots following the death of George Floyd. A controversial text that propelled him a little more on the front of the stage. Another strategy for Rick Scott (68), the senator from Florida, who defended Donald Trump after January 6 while imploring - without success - that he attend the nomination of Joe Biden. But Florida has no shortage of suitors, starting with 2016 candidate Senator Marco Rubio or Governor Ron DeSantis.
Between each of these contenders and depending on the strategy adopted, criticism fires and divisions appear more glaring than ever. So some already imagine that an outsider comes to cap the most ambitious of Republicans as Donald Trump did in 2016. In recent months, the name of the star presenter of Fox News, Tucker Carlson, has thus been put forward. His show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, is one of the most popular among 24-hour news channels. In October, for example, it gathered more than 5 million viewers on average each day, which offers it unparalleled exposure compared to other Republican contenders. This summer, he said he was not targeting the White House.
