The Republican 2024 presidential primary race is already going bust
The 2024 Republican primary hasn’t stirred up nearly the same degree of ratings in the media as the 2020 Democratic primary – for a few reasons. Since the national Democratic Party didn’t really have clear leadership following their loss in 2016, there was a sizable array of candidates who vied for the nomination, with many of the top-tier candidates having a considerable amount of influence on policy. In 2023, the GOP has a clear leader and yet no leadership with Kevin McCarthy being House Speaker, but largely acting as a doormat for the biggest crazies in the caucus. Even though the former guy is no longer in power, a whole lot of Republicans know that they need his base to win, so they’re doing all in their power to avoid crossing him publicly.
While Donald Trump has announced his decision to run again, we haven’t seen a whole lot of him lately – largely because his campaign is struggling for cash and he has a bunch of legal troubles that lead many to speculate his campaign is just a fundraiser for bailing him out. Aside from that, not a whole lot of Republicans are looking to run in his place – largely because they’re waiting to see what momentum the former guy will have. The only candidate who has stepped in so far is former Gov. Nikki Haley – and while the campaign launches of most candidates give them a little spike in approval, Haley’s launch largely went unnoticed.
Despite any attempts to criticize Trump, Haley just gave a vague speech about not clinging to names of the past or stale ideals, without actually mentioning her former boss’ name. Her embarrassing candidacy is only proof of the sad state the GOP is in – they can’t stop Trump from being the nominee and yet they can’t afford to have Trump be the nominee if they want to win in 2024. Whoever they end up getting behind, let’s make sure they say out of the White House in 2024 and lose the House.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making