Will there be Trumpism without Trump? Republicans are encouraged to rethink their leadership for 2024

The scrutiny of the elections in USA It had only been a few hours when it was already clear who was one of the big winners of the night: the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. “DeFuture”, he titled himself the next day on New York Post, icon of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. With the passing of the hours it was also clear who would be the big loser, and the target of the enormous disappointment of the Republicans by the “red wave” that never came: Donald Trump. With their sights set on the White House, Trump and DeSantis found themselves facing off in a new duel for the leadership – and identity – of the Republican Party, and the future of Trumpism.

“Trumpism is not going anywhere. House Republicans are as Trumpist as ever, likely to get a majority and feel emboldened.”said historian Julian Zelizer. “The only question mark is Trump himself.. Is there someone, a new generation, DeSantis, who can do what he did, but in a more polished way and can broaden the base?” he asked.

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Since his political irruption in 2015, Trump has been the bandleader of the Republican Party. subdued the establishment, he forced everyone to choose between loyalty or exile, and he took over Abraham Lincoln’s party. He transformed it into his party, home of his movement. The attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 marked the sharpest spike in tension in that link. Trump put the Republicans before the dilemma of supporting democracy or the party. I mean, him. The vast majority of Republicans followed him, even in his adventure of airing conspiracies about non-existent mass fraud, because the voters followed him. The last election put him in doubt. His political aura was damaged. Now many Republicans, like the post Murdoch, they see a future in DeSantis, without Trump. A Trumpism without Trump.

Ron DeSantis with his wife Casey, the night of the election (GIORGIO VIERA – AFP /)

The new Republican intern was one of the issues that journalists raised with President Joe Biden at the press conference he gave at the White House after the election. A reporter asked him who he thought would be a tougher competitor in an eventual 2024 race. A very confident Biden, happy with the election result, dodged the answer, opting to take a bystander stance to a nascent ferocious insider being watched by Democrats. with some glee.

“It’s going to be fun to watch them compete,” Biden said.

An image of the assault on the Capitol (Brent Stirton – Getty Images North America /)

Trump and DeSantis are a notch above the rest of the presidential Republicans. Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo have shown interest in competing for the nomination, but they are supporting actors. The leadership fight is between Trump and De Santis. Before the election, Trump was leading in the polls. But DeSantis came out of the elections much better off. Young, popular and a winner, he embodied the renewal, stripped of the scandal record and unburdened by Trump’s judicial and political troubles. Even so, Trump is the father of Trumpism, manager of an unbreakable bond with his faithful followers.

The party seems ready to turn the page. Trump he was left openly wounded, weakened. Until this election, few Republicans dared openly criticize him, and those who did suffered a scathing backlash. The election evaporated that reluctance: several Republicans went to look for the microphones to load the backpack of a victory with a taste of bitter defeat on Trump’s shoulders. They called him “toxic”, a “drag”, questioned his leadership and influence.

“I am very disappointed,” said Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is leaving the Senate this year and had hoped to leave his seat in the hands of Mehmet Oz, the Trumpian candidate he reluctantly endorsed. He will leave it to Democrat John Fetterman, the winner of the election. Oz is a symbol of Republican failure: a Trump-driven “denier” candidate, riddled with shortcomings, who ended up losing a seat that was accessible to Republicans on paper. Toomey did not hesitate: “A huge factor in all this was the disastrous role of Donald Trump”sentenced.

President Joe Biden: “It’s going to be fun to watch them compete,” he said

The Wall Street Journal, also from Murdoch, was much more frontal. “Trump is the biggest loser in the Republican Party,” was the headline of an editorial, published the day after the election. “Since his improbable victory in 2016 against the much-hated Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump has a perfect record of electoral defeat,” the newspaper said, recalling the midterms of 2018, the presidential of 2020, and the elections of this week. The editorial closes with a Chicana to one of Trump’s most famous phrases: “’We are going to win so much,’ said Trump, ‘that they are going to get sick and tired of winning.’ Maybe by now the Republicans are sick of losing.”

The Dominant Analysis

The unequivocal reading of the Washingtonian establishment is that the Republican Party did poorly in an election that it had won beforehand because of Trump, and the candidates he endorsed. Inside that bag fell the “deniers”, the litter of politicians who joined their false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election. Most of those candidates won, according to an analysis by the Washington PostBut more than 90 lost, including three Senate candidates in Arizona, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, leaving the Senate one seat away from remaining Democrats.

The stings to Trump came from all sides: politicians, media, strategists, far-right commentators. Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s political strategist, said the GOP fielded too many troubled fledgling candidates to deliver a message or mount effective campaigns, some with “wardrobes full of problems” and all “courtesy of Donald Trump.” Peggy Noonan, historic columnist for the journal, wrote that “regular conservatives and Republicans did well. Trump-backed candidates fell.”

Trump was targeted by several Republicans

Trump plans to go ahead, and could announce his new presidential campaign as soon as this week. The question is whether the electorate will follow him again.

Without detaching himself from the script that brought him to the top of power, Trump expressed all criticism on his social network, Truth Social. He recalled the epic of his first presidential campaign, when the entire party opposed it, and he won thanks to the support of the people. “We are in the same position now. They are going to keep coming for us, but ultimately, we will win”, challenge. Trump paid special attention to one person: Ron DeSantis, the target of a lengthy message split across various posts on his platform. An unequivocal sign of who is the rival to beat. Another: he gave him a nickname, “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Trump took credit for DeSantis’ victory in 2018, when he endorsed him. He dismissed him as an “average” politician, saying he was “politically dead” until he supported him in his first gubernatorial campaign.

And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing! The fake media asks him if he’ll run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m just focused on the governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future.’ Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s not really the right answer,” Trump said.

DeSantis, who has never received as much attention and praise as now, avoided responding. Knowing, perhaps, that he will come that time.

By Rafael Mathus Ruiz

Source: Elcomercio