Washington: Former President Donald Trump is not yet a “lock in” for the Republican presidential nomination as he still faces severe challenges heading into the 2024 election yea with huge work cut out to tear into challengers within the party and the conservative voters.
Trump is still the front-runner for the GOP nominations with a rousing reception at the New Hampshire meet, but one rival, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley also cornered attention as the number 2 in GOP for the primaries in the same state.
The former President still faces a bevy of challengers looking to make inroads with conservative voters, while Haley has seen much traction in her favour in New Hampshire, a critical early voting state after Iowa.
Trump also faces four sets of criminal charges and mounting concerns about authoritarianism and threats to democracy, US media reports indicating he had to redress the concerns of the voters on these issues. .
Here’s a look at three things Trump needs to do as Republican voters across the country choose their 2024 nominee.
Job number one: Get out on the vote. If Trump can expand his reach among Republican voters, it’ll help him deal with other challenges and knock out his campaign rivals one-by-one. “They say we’re going to win by a lot – don’t count on it,” Trump told supporters at a rally this month in Reno, Nevada, discounting polls that show him in a commanding position. “Just get out and vote; otherwise, bad things happen.”
The Trump campaign has spent months developing voter turnout machines in key states. Those operations will soon be tested, starting with the Iowa caucuses on January 15 and the New Hampshire primary on January 23. Getting out the vote is particularly important in Iowa, which still uses the caucus system that requires people to show up at a specific time on a specific night.
That’s why Trump has branded his Iowa rallies as “Commit to Caucus” events, with first-timer caucus goers as special targets. During a recent rally in Coralville, Iowa, Trump asked the crowd to “pretend we’re one point behind instead of 35 points up. The more we win, the more we have a voice. Who knows? You know, sometimes polls are wrong.”
Sideline Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis: Potential Trump victories in Iowa and New Hampshire could just about end the 2024 Republican primary, isolating opponents like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Haley, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
A Trump loss in either state would transform the race, vaulting someone into the role of top alternative and giving them a chance to consolidate the anti-Trump vote. Haley is seen as a possible threat in New Hampshire, having moved up in polls thanks to well-received debate performances and an endorsement from Governor Chris Sununu, media reports said .
Christie is basing his entire campaign on New Hampshire, using appearances to bash Trump over his indictments and pending criminal trials. The Granite State primary will give voters an opportunity to send a clear message whether Christie’s efforts have made a dent in Trump’s popularity, as per a USA TODAY analysis published on Tuesday.
Manage inevitable trouble: The political maxim is usually “stay out of trouble,” but Trump has never heeded to the adage ” beware the ides of march” and gone well past that warning. The former President faces as many as four criminal trials and at least two civil trials in 2024. He will have to be in the courtroom for the criminal cases, putting quite a roadblock in his campaign schedule.
That’s why, from the Trump campaign’s perspective, it’s important that he quickly wraps up the nomination. However, a former President seeking re-election while facing dozens of felony charges ( 91 to be precise) is unprecedented in American politics, even if Trump notches early victories, media reports said .
His first two trials could come as early as March, though Trump and his attorneys are seeking to delay all of the dates until after Election Day on November 5. But Trump’s rhetoric also lands him in trouble on the campaign trail, reports observed.
In recent weeks, Trump has described opponents as “vermin”, attacked immigrants as poisonous and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his criticism of his indictments. The former President has said he wants to be a “dictator” for one day, though only in terms of border security and energy production.
No polling evidence ever suggests that any of the court cases has hurt Trump as yet, at least among Republican voters even as rivals such as Haley are urging his supporters to move beyond the “chaos” generated by the former President.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Haley said: “People don’t want to hear about every word a person says or every tweet.”
Trump has used his social platform handle ‘Truth Social’ to condemn Haley as “Bird Brain” and Ron DeSantis as “(Ron DE) Sanctimonious”.
(IANS)
