In the past week, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida officially announced their candidacies for the Republican presidential race, making a total of six declared candidates. Donald Trump, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, a former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and a former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, are among the other candidates. Governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, is reconsidering his decision to take himself out of the race, and Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota is also expected to join. Meanwhile, Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, continues to indicate his interest in running.
With its current trajectory, the 2024 Republican primary is set to become as large and divided as the one in 2016. This means that the race is shaping up to benefit Trump once again, despite many Republican elites’ preference for someone else at the top of the ticket. These elites, who include donors, intellectuals, and activists, are struggling to find a single alternative candidate to challenge the former president. Even DeSantis, who was supposed to play that role, has not been able to gain a foothold with Republican voters and can hardly compete with Trump in major national polls of the Republican primary electorate.
As more candidates compete for the role of an alternative to Trump, the problem is exacerbated. This gives Trump the necessary political space to consolidate his support, which is considerably larger than that of his rivals. Moreover, there is no indication that any candidate is ready to go on the offensive against the former president and render him unattractive to Republican voters. DeSantis, for instance, possesses credentials, fundraising capabilities, and a conservative record in Florida. However, none of this matters if he is not prepared and capable of making his stance against Trump. So far, neither DeSantis nor any of the viable candidates seem to be ready to take such a step.
Perhaps there are no genuinely anti-Trump candidates in the Republican primary, only substitutes that aspire to take his place in the conservative political imagination. That may explain why DeSantis has said that he would consider pardoning some of the Jan. 6 rioters, making his campaign rollout controversial. Unless something changes, the Republican primary of 2024 will play out like 2016, with candidates doing all they can to avoid alienating Trump voters too much, hoping they might sway some of these voters when Trump finally drops out of the race. But as before, there is no indication that he will. Consequently, there is no reason to think that Trump will lose in 2024, at least not yet.
Links I Loved
Here are some articles I enjoyed reading:
- Moira Donegan on the connection between conservative attacks on abortion and trans health care for The Guardian.
- Jeremy Lybarger on Rainer Werner Fassbinder for The Baffler.
- Sheryll Cashin on American poverty for Politico magazine.
I also enjoyed these pieces about American history, both of which I quoted in my columns this week:
What I’m Eating
My Memorial Day schedule involves cooking a big meal for family and friends. Chili-oil noodles are perfect for a quick and effortless Sunday dinner. They are easy to prepare and complement almost any protein. I intend to stir-fry some chicken I have in the freezer and serve it with my chile-oil noodles. Plus, my kids love noodles, so I know they’ll be a hit. Here’s the recipe from New York Times Cooking, and below are the ingredients and directions.
Ingredients:
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14 ounces dried udon noodles
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¼ cup chile oil with crunchy garlic
Author: OpenAI
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