It's Time for Conservatives to Divorce Trump

The Party Needs New Leadership Right Now

Conservatives are feeling giddy these days as they watch President Biden’s poll numbers sink. Republicans are poised to take back control of Congress in this year’s midterm election, and the Democrats don’t have an appealing 2024 candidate waiting in the wings, should Biden elect to spend more time with Dr. Jill and Major, or take up a lucrative career in painting, like Hunter. But I sense complacency and overconfidence among conservatives regarding 2024. Too many conservatives have forgotten how deeply unpopular Donald Trump is, and how plausible it is that he could lose again in 2024.

The news that Hillary Clinton may be plotting a 2024 run may not alarm Republicans, but despite her unpopularity and track record of corruption and incompetence, she’d still be a more formidable candidate than Biden, Harris, Sanders, or any other Democrat who ran for president in 2020. And I suspect that if Hillary enters the race, Trump will run because he’s beaten her once and assumes he can do so again.

Trump is also already spoiling for a fight with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his presumed primary opponent. Axios reported that Trump recently trashed DeSantis “as an ingrate with a ‘dull personality’ and no realistic chance of beating him in a potential 2024 showdown.” But Trump is 10 points underwater (43/53) in favorability according to 538’s average of polls, and in key states like Michigan, his rating (31) is even lower, according to a recent poll there. Biden’s numbers are just as bad, but why should Republicans counter an old, unpopular President or an old, unpopular ex-co-President with an old, unpopular ex-President?

A Marquette Law School poll found that 71 percent of Americans don’t want Trump to run again. But voters like the 28 percent in the poll who do may be enough to nominate Trump, should he run. Recall that on Super Tuesday in 2016, he won 34 percent of the vote, compared to 29 percent for Cruz and 22 percent for Rubio. The following week, Trump won five of nine contests, with an average of 37 percent of the vote.

Polls show that Trump is far ahead of DeSantis and other potential primary opponents. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll gave Trump a 54-11 edge over DeSantis, with only 14 percent undecided. Trump’s lead in a recent University of Massachusetts poll was at 55 -20.

DeSantis, 43, and others like Senators Josh Hawley, 42, and Tim Scott, 56, still have time to introduce themselves to voters and explain why they’d be a better choice than polarizing Trump. But familiar faces like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, and Marco Rubio aren’t popular with Trump’s base and may have a hard time reinventing themselves. In any case, Trump’s presumptive Republican opponents are at least a youthful bunch. We’re currently ruled by the seventy and eighty-something set—Biden is 79, Nancy Pelosi is 81, her key lieutenants Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn are 82 and 81, and seventeen Senate Democrats are over the age of 70.  Republicans have fared poorly with Millennials and Zoomers in recent elections, so why not field a candidate that has a better shot at connecting with young voters than Trump?

I live in Florida and have been deeply impressed with DeSantis’ leadership. The state has a $15 billion budget surplus, despite having the lowest tax burden in the country. While others locked their states down, our governor kept our schools and businesses open. DeSantis has stood up to the teacher’s unions, he’s prevented employers from firing people for refusing the jab, and he’s been a vocal opponent of critical race theory, Big Tech censorship, and other woke poisons the left is pushing.

DeSantis is youthful, articulate and has an impeccable resume, which includes military service in Iraq, degrees from Yale and Harvard, and five years in Congress. The media detests him, but that’s a sign of respect. Make no mistake, Democrats and their allies in the media are desperate for Trump to run. Remember how inarticulate and, at times, incoherent, Trump was in the 2020 Presidential debates? DeSantis would have obliterated Biden, but Trump often let Scranton Joe off the hook with his rude behavior and pointless rambling.

Trump was never the threat to democracy he was advertised as, but he isn’t an articulate, effective, or likable messenger for the conservative movement. More than half the country would rather eat nails than vote for him. He has more baggage than Kim Kardashian brings home from a shopping trip to Paris. Even if he wins, do conservatives really want to spend four more years defending Trump’s often bizarre and erratic behavior? I know I don’t.  Trump is too old, he could lose in 2024, and the Republican party has several younger, more viable candidates who would do a better job in the oval office.

Prominent conservatives should be shouting this message from the rooftops, repeating it ad nauseam on every media outlet that reaches Trump supporters. The Republican leadership also needs to promote Ron DeSantis and other rising stars in the same way the NBA, NFL, and other sports leagues promote their stars, to nudge voters in a new direction.

The case against Trump must be made respectfully and tactfully, but it must be clear. Trump needs to hear prominent Republicans making the case for him to retire, and soon. They should remind him that even if he retires, he still has an opportunity to play kingmaker by endorsing a candidate. Trump is a stubborn man, and his core supporters love him, so it could take a long time for the message to sink in.  That’s why conservatives must forge a persuasive Divorce Trump movement now before it’s too late and we’re stuck with a woke White House until 2028 or beyond.

Never Trumpers hated the 45th President because he steered the party away from the country club set with an America-first agenda that infuriated neocons and chamber of commerce types. We can’t let the party go back in the direction politicians like John Kasich, Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney would take it. But we do need to move past Trump and fast. DeSantis or another dynamic, young leader can reinvigorate the conservative movement away from Trump’s personality sideshow and the stuffy, old country club GOP days with a policy-driven approach focused on results rather than rhetoric.