In December, it appeared as though Donald Trump’s vision of recapturing the presidency was coming to an end. He had been effectively shunned by the Murdoch media empire, which included Fox News. As19FortyFive notes, the midterm election results were devastating for the candidates he favored in swing areas, and his campaign launch speech in November was widely panned.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis quickly became the frontrunner, at least among the Republican donor elite.
Just 150 days later, though, with DeSantis’s implosion and the other GOP candidates thus far not able to distinguish themselves, Trump is out in front of nearly every poll examining the 2024 election.
Voting won’t begin until January of next year, and not every potential candidate has declared their candidacy yet. Trump is currently facing a civil rape trial, with other court appearances to follow.
Despite this, Trump continues to lead in the polls and has even discussed skipping the Republican primary debates.
In the most recent GOP primary tracker from Morning Consult, Trump has the support of 58% of Republicans, far ahead of his nearest competitor, Ron DeSantis (21%), former VP Mike Pence (7%), and Nikki Haley (3%), Liz Cheney (3%), and Vivek Ramaswamy (3%).
Some people opposed to Trump, or who once backed him but now believe it is time to move on, had hoped that DeSantis would become a serious contender, but it appears that this will not happen.
However, Trump’s viability as a candidate in the general election is a source of widespread concern.
Jewish Insider examined the concerns of Republican establishment figures, particularly those affiliated with the Republican Jewish Coalition, over the “reality” that Trump seems likely to secure the nomination.
A GOP activist from Pennsylvania, Jon Tucker, told Jewish Insider that there’s a lot of praying that Trump will step aside so other candidates can jump into the race.
There is also a lot of praying that he will be the next president of the United States.
