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A number of GOP senators have expressed fear and frustration that the politically damaged former President Donald Trump can’t win a GOP nomination or even a second term in 2024.
These fears are the result of a painstaking work of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at Congress, which it blamed on the former president.
Trump’s viability damaged by “cascade” of January 6 embarrassing details – GOP Senator
One Republican
who spoke with The Hill on condition of anonymity said the “cascade” of
embarrassing details about Trump’s conduct in the weeks before Jan. 6, 2021,
and during the attack on the U.S. Capitol will seriously damage his political
viability ahead of the 2024 election.
“I don’t
think he’ll run again, and that’s a good thing, because of the whole cascade of
events,” the senator said, referring to testimony by former White House aide
Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent who refused to
drive him to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mr. Trump had planned to join his violent
supporters most of whom were armed to the Capitol after charging them in an
address to go make their voices heard.
Cassidy
Hutchinson also testified how Trump said “I don’t care” if they are armed in an
apparent reference to some of his supporters which he knew were armed. The former
president also reportedly told some of his staffers to disable the metal
detectors at the Capitol Hill to allow more of his violent supporters to enter
at a time.
Overwhelming majority of Republican senators don’t want Trump to run – GOP Senator
Speaking
with The Hill, a second GOP senator who also requested anonymity said the overwhelming
majority of Republican senators don’t want Trump to be the party’s nominee for
president again.
“I could
count on one hand the number of Republican senators who want Donald Trump to be
our nominee,” said the lawmaker, adding, “I could count it on one finger.”
The senator
noted that “the cumulative effect” of the January 6 hearings has badly damaged
Trump’s viability in 2024.
One third of Republicans blame Trump for January 6 riot – Reuters-Ipsos poll
A
Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted last week revealed that 40 percent of Republicans
now thing Trump deserves some blame for the January 6 attack on Congress,
according to The Hill. The poll also found one third of Republicans believing
that Trump should not run again for president, up from 25 who said so in early
June.
Republicans don’t need Trump anymore - Mulvaney
This month a
former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney advised former President
Donald Trump not to run again for President in 2024, saying Republicans “don’t
need him anymore,” Washington Examiner reported.
Speaking
during an interview with CNN, Mulvaney said that a “new generation” of
Republicans can support the same policies as Trump without the “baggage.”
Mulvaney
said he would be “hard pressed” to vote for Trump in 2024 and that he believes
the House January 6 committee has badly wounded Trump politically, a move which
clears the way for other Republicans to enter the 2024 presidential primary
race, according to Washington Examiner.
"I'm
one of those Republicans who hope the former president, Trump, doesn't
run," he said.
"In all
fairness, we don't need him anymore. He changed our party. We have a lot of
folks, a new generation, Ron Desantis, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Tim Scott,
Nikki Haley, go down the list, of folks who can give us the same policies, the
same energy, the same defense of the middle class, that Donald Trump gave us
without the baggage," Mulvaney said.
Trump is the
only candidate that Biden, Democrats can beat - Mulvaney
The former
White House aide who was also a onetime Republican congressman for South
Carolina said his former boss was the only GOP presidential candidate that
President Joe Biden or whomever the Democrats nominate in 2024 can beat.
"I
mean, face it, as a Republican, I'm sitting here tonight thinking to myself if
the election were today and Joe Biden was the nominee for the Democrats, or
Kamala Harris, or Gavin Newsom, there's probably only one mainstream Republican
who can lose. And that's Donald Trump," Mulvaney said, Washington Examiner
reported.
“I think the
Jan. 6 hearings have been a political circus and a transparent campaign ad by
the Democrats.”
“I don’t
think they move public opinion. I think they’re preaching to the choir,” he
said.