“I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump”
Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee for President in 2024. He’s still anything but a lock for the nomination, given that he’ll be limping into the Republican National Convention with full blown dementia and a prison sentence hanging around his neck. But at this point the Republican Party should be falling in line behind him. While many are, many aren’t.
Over the weekend Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski announced that she won’t be supporting Trump in 2024 no matter what, saying “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.” Murkowski is from Alaska, where being “Republican” is more about being anti-government than being a right winger, so she’s in a bit of a unique situation where she can safely be more anti-Trump than a lot of other Republicans. But she’s not the only one who’s taking this stance.
Mike Pence, who always opportunistically takes whatever position he thinks will end up benefiting him the most personally, has also announced that he won’t be supporting Trump in 2024 no matter what. Pence has never been popular with anyone, but he has a survivor’s instinct for being able to stick around in politics. So it’s notable that he’s betting against Trump.
Then there are all the House Republicans who keep abruptly resigning because they’re sick of the clown show that Trump has turned their caucus into. First Ken Buck, now Mike Gallagher. Who’s next?
Of course it’s quite easy to find a large number of Republican politicians who are falling right in line with Trump, including some who previously condemned his very existence. But they’re not the story. The story is the fact that multiple high profile Republican politicians feel safe coming out loudly against Trump right now.
Not only are Republicans like Murkowski and Pence betting that Trump will lose in 2024, they’re betting that he’ll go down so hard, they’ll end up looking good for having stood against him. They could just keep quiet right now and wait to see which way the wind blows. Instead they’re sticking their necks out against Trump, because they’re quite certain which way the wind will be blowing by the time it all plays out.
