Editorial written by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board
Then there were four. Wait, five. OK, six. The number of Republican politicians who have formally declared their candidacy to take on former President Donald Trump in 2024 has been growing almost by the day. That’s a problem.
Trump’s notable in-party opponents — that is, the ones who hold or have held significant elective office — include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
What’s wrong with this picture? It’s too big. By about five names. As New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu pointed out in an op-ed that ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch opinion section last week, a wide, fractured field of candidates is the surest way for Trump to repeat his 2016 path to the nomination. That would be disastrous for the party and potentially catastrophic for America.
Whether because he’s a potential convicted felon or a potential dictator, Trump belongs nowhere near the White House.
Right now, he’s polling at about 50% support among likely Republican primary voters, but the wider electorate holds a far dimmer view of him — to the point that Democrats might, as a matter of strategy, want him as their opponent in the general election next year.
But that’s coming dangerously close to the White House lawn, especially against an octogenarian incumbent. The best thing for America would be Trump’s defeat in the primaries, even if that works against the Democrats. A President DeSantis might sound problematic to many readers — it does to us — but it doesn’t sound apocalyptic.
Trump’s lead in the primary field may look daunting, but it’s not necessarily insurmountable. Only one non-incumbent former president has ever won a subsequent term (Grover Cleveland, 1892), and while Trump’s indictment last week could spawn some unpredictable reaction among Republican voters, it’s difficult to believe it will be a sum positive.
So what’s the best way to ensure Trump is stopped in the primaries?
One theory, which could be summarized as the “death by a thousands cuts,” holds that the half-dozen notable opponents all aiming their knives at Trump would gradually erode his support.
Small problem: They would actually have to aim their knives, and among them, only Christie and Hutchinson seem willing (or, in Christie’s case, salivating) to do that.
Pence, despite having his life literally threatened by a mob Trump flung at him on Jan. 6, 2021, has said he would support Trump if he’s the nominee.
DeSantis — the only challenger who seems to have even a theoretical chance of catching Trump — leapt to his defense following last week’s indictment, while Haley and Scott leaned in that direction.
“The stakes are too high for a crowded field to hand the nomination to a candidate who earns just 35% of the vote,” Sununu wrote last week. That’s how Trump won the nomination in 2016.
Any Republican candidate running against Trump who isn’t willing to actually, y’know, run against Trump should get out.
