….Forget 2020; let’s talk 2024.
US President Donald Trump is fighting for his political life, but win or lose in November, his political heirs are stirring. Whenever it comes, the post-Trump period will be a battle for the soul of the GOP, between “America First” and a possible revival of more traditional ideological conservatism and Atlanticism.
Logic might suggest that potential Republican candidates would snub a President who is 9 points down in the polls, and who is viewed as an agent of chaos by more than half the country. But former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas all rushed to audition for Republican primary voters at this week’s convention. They are following in the footsteps of one of their party’s shrewdest political tacticians: Richard Nixon.
In 1964, Nixon was in the political wilderness after losing theradicalism presidency to John F. Kennedy four years prior. But unlike other party grandees, he embraced the party’s radical nominee, Barry Goldwater, who even then looked destined for a devastating defeat. In a convention speech later seen as the launchpad for his own 1968 campaign, Nixon urged party unity. He understood that the delegates who lifted Goldwater would decide the following nomination — which he would win on the way to the White House.
The same is true today. Jokes about third or fourth terms aside, Trump will not be on the ballot in 2024. But his supporters aren’t going anywhere. Knowing that the Republican nominee will need them, Pompeo makes clear that he is one of Trump’s most trusted lieutenants. Cotton, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is now serving in Trump’s culture war and lashes elites — despite having attended Harvard himself. Haley has been especially skillful in building her profile and foreign policy credentials alongside Trump, and she escaped the administration with her reputation enhanced — her rare Oval Office farewell from the President will make a great campaign ad.
It’s a balancing act for these Republican rising stars. Trump will rage at any sign he’s on his way out and hates sharing the limelight. But even he can’t deny the inexorable march of the US presidential election calendar.
Source:CNN/Meanwhile in America
