With the Presidential campaign of 2024 beginning, the question arises whether there are ANY potential Republican Presidential contenders who would refuse to endorse Donald Trump, were he to win the Republican Presidential nomination next year.
Many Republicans have made criticisms of Trump in some form, and a number plan to run and compete, but the issue is IF any of them lose the nomination to Trump, would they support and endorse him at the end of the process.
There is no certainty of any active Republicans willing to go so far as to refuse to support the party nominee if Trump is that nominee.
But on paper, the following, none certain to run, would likely NOT support him:
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson
Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
This author and blogger would have added sitting New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to the list, but it turns out that even with their likely candidacies for President, and their strong criticisms of Trump in recent times, that they have said that they WOULD support Trump, were he the nominee of his party!
This is stunning, as it takes Sununu and Hogan off a short list of Republican political figures who have the guts and courage to overlook party, and do what is good for the nation!
Trump recently stated that he wished to torch the Constitution, and what else needs to be known as to the threat to American democracy than that utterance!
And yet Sununu and even Hogan, as well as many other Republicans who opposed and criticized Trump in the past and present, are still letting party win out, and would support Trump if he was the nominee of the Republican Party!
Realize one thing about the short list given above, that all but Romney (who would be 77 and a half at election time in 2024, and is considering running for reelection to the Senate), are FORMER officeholders!
And despite Liz Cheney stating she would do everything possible to stop Trump, will she actually run against him or form an independent party candidacy?
And Kinzinger seems highly unlikely to mount a campaign either.
And Hutchinson is an unknown, and is unlikely to be a serious contender in any case.
So fundamentally, it seems likely that no significant Republican will stand in the way of Trump, ultimately, and many will even show that party loyalty matters more than principle!
So the Republican Party is hostage to a very dangerous, authoritarian Fascist threat in Donald Trump, but the leading alternative seems to be a person of similar authoritarian tendencies, who is much younger and smarter, and therefore, even MORE dangerous than Trump would be!
This is in reference to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis!