Former President Donald Trump was the first to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. The announcement was very timid — Trump’s adult children skipped the Mar-a-Lago event.
Melania Trump stood quietly next to her husband as he boasted about his days in the White House and made extravagant political promises to his MAGA fans.
The confirmation of Trump’s bid for the presidency was not well received in Washington.
Many high-profile Republicans, including Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Mitch McConnell, publicly turned on Trump and declared he was not the right candidate.
Some outright slammed him for being too old, controversial, and self-focused. Many conservatives are demanding fresher blood with true Republican ideas and policies.
These people prefer to put their energy and big dollars behind Nikki Haley, who has announced, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is mulling the idea of throwing his hat in the ring.
Noticing that Trump is not taking the loud hint that he is not welcome in his party, Republicans have devised a plan that will humiliate and further push him aside and even make it impossible for him to access the debate stage.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel has confirmed that all Republicans running for president in 2024 must sign a loyalty pledge to participate in the GOP’s primary debate.
The pledge requires candidates to promise they will support the eventual GOP presidential nominee facing President Joe Biden.
McDaniel told CNN’s State of the Union: “I think it’s kind of a no-brainer, right? If you’re gonna be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say, ‘I’m gonna support the voters and who they choose as the nominee.”
The bombastic billionaire was asked recently if he would back the person who emerges as the nominee, and he refused to commit, saying “it would depend” on who the nominee was.
Trump told Hugh Hewitt: “It would depend. I would give you the same answer I gave in 2016 during the debates. The first question I was asked by Bret Baier was.”
In 2015, Trump was forced to sign the pledge. A year later, he revealed that he had a change of heart and would only back the nominee if he approved of who it was.
McDaniel concluded to interview by saying: “I think they’re all going to sign it, including Trump. I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage. That’s what he likes to do.”
Like 2016, the field is expected to get very crowded — businessman Vivek Ramaswamy entered the race.
Trump’s former Vice president Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are all expected to join the campaign trail.
Having a large number of candidates is great news for Trump — the votes will be split, and once more, he will capture the nomination.
