The Republican Party of 2024 is far angrier, more liberal, out of touch with reality, and more openly racist than the one in 2016. Still, that doesn't mean Trump's nomination is now considered a favorite. Inevitable. A completely different kind of candidate running a different kind of campaign likely would have had a better chance.
First, the typical Republican politician who spouts pro-Trump platitudes will always have a hard time gaining support from Republican primary voters. These voters don't care about experience, politics, or (certainly) personality. They want a winner, someone who will defeat the Democrats. They are looking for someone to lift them up as “real” Americans. They want a ruthless bully on their side. In that case, Trump Plus might have worked instead of Trump Lite.
Richer, more successful, younger, more fun (do not have the disgusting and bizarre Vivek Ramaswamy) — perhaps from Silicon Valley executives (e.g., former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, fund manager and Republican megadonor Kenneth Griffin), sports owners, or former generals. If he had become a big name, he might have called himself something like this. A real “winner”. A true outsider could have pitched himself as the person who would clean up the mess both sides had made. (He could go after Trump to make money while in office by microbilling taxpayers.) As Trump first did in 2016, a wealthy challenger could essentially be You can show that you are not beholden to anyone by raising funds. In other words, Having someone take on an outsider role, like President Trump did in 2016, could have made the election more competitive..
Attacking Trump as weak, old, failing, self-obsessed (as Haley did in the final days before the New Hampshire campaign), and most of all, boring It would have been a way to attract attention in a political party that is now obsessed with performance politics. Moreover, if the challenger had been willing to be on mainstream news 24/7 and hurl expletives at all Belt and Road politicians, including Trump, he could have won a ton of free media. . Someone like that might have caught President Trump's attention.
I say “he” because, to tell you the truth, that's part of President Trump's appeal to the MAGA cult. teeth His toxic masculinity. The entire Republican Party's obsession with “masculinity” and its apparent determination to return women to the domestic sphere are typical of right-wing movements. “A strongman is an authoritarian leader who not only damages and destroys democracy, but also uses this type of toxic, arrogant masculinity as a tool of control.” Ruth Ben Guiat, author of “From Mussolini to the Present'' said: As she explained, such leaders make threats and profess to use violence, deploying “a type of masculinity that dominates and possesses others.” Someone who fits Trump's image as tougher, fitter and more athletic could have undermined him in a way that his 2024 opponents couldn't.
Moreover, such a person would have avoided jumping on the sympathy bandwagon when Trump was indicted (again and again). It remains a mystery why leading candidates in the 2024 primary didn't make it clear that President Trump's desperate efforts to protect himself from prosecution had nothing to do with empowering voters. It remains as it is. (Going a step further, a real pugilist would have ridiculed Trump for refusing to take a stand against E. Jean Carroll in his first libel trial, or mocked Trump for exaggerating his wealth. (Maybe it was.)
All of this may sound superficial, juvenile, or even vulgar. That's the case, and so is the Republican Party today.Matching Candidates Required that The Republican Party is not the Republican Party it was in 2012, when Mitt Romney, now a Republican outcast, won the nomination. Such numbers could have removed some of the anxiety among anti-Trump voters that came with nominating someone who has been indicted on 91 counts. At least some Trump supporters may have viewed this type of person as Trump 2.o.
Traditional, boring politicians trying to swing Trump around could never defeat him. Roughly 20 Republican candidates have attempted this in two election cycles (2016 and 2024) and failed. Indeed, even with an unconventional opponent like Trump, still He might have won, given his grip on what had become the fascist cult that made up the party's base. However, the race could have been a little more competitive. More importantly, such adversaries may have exposed Trump's vulnerabilities in a way that particularly infuriated those with narcissistic tendencies.
Looking ahead to the general election, the primaries, which never materialized, may signal some line of attack against President Biden, who has called President Trump a “loser” and pointed to his mental “decline.” Biden could at any time try his hand at bike races or 24-hour visits to combat zones. Better yet, ask him to explain why a draft dodger would have the courage to insult the military.
In short, Republicans never understood that the way to beat a bully is to keep beating him. Biden shouldn't make the same mistake.