The mid-term elections in the US held last November brought out the “dirty laundry” within the Republican Party. The Republicans, who hoped for a “red wave” in the House of Representatives, were satisfied with only a small majority, contrary to all early predictions. As a result, the internal tensions within the party opened Actually the 2024 presidential race.
Could the much criticism of Trump, within the Republican Party, cost him dearly, and give an advantage to the “rising star” of the party? Or will Nikki Haley be the big surprise of the election? The latest polls in the US showed an unequivocal result, and the battle between the Republican contenders continues to heat up – “Maariv” gives you an order:
Donald Trump
The former US president has already announced recently that he will run again for the US presidency, hoping to get the Republican support in order to return to the president’s chair in the White House. After he lost the last election to President Biden, many rumors swirled around his political future, which were shattered when he announced that he was “thrilled to beat Biden – we must end gang rule to preserve America’s dignity.” Trump is known for his hostile attitude towards Biden, and has been known to attack the Democratic president at almost every public opportunity given to him. The hostile attitude, and sometimes even the disdain for the 80-year-old president, undoubtedly led Trump to his decision to return for a second term.
However, the former president is drawing a lot of criticism within the Republican Party after the disappointing results in the midterm elections. Most of the governors that Trump supported lost, leading Democrats to celebrate the results. At the same time, American analysts tried to decipher the meaning of the results among the American public, and testified that the “independent voters”, those who are not affiliated with any party, were fed up with the former president, with his claims of rigging the elections in 2020, and chose to vote for the Democratic Party.
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During the last period, Trump will face, and continues to face, criminal and federal investigations against him, with the committee investigating the events of the Capitol on January 6 continuing in the background. Alongside this, we can add the criminal investigation into the disruption of the elections in Georgia, a civil fraud case targeting his business empire in New York, and a defamation lawsuit, which also includes an accusation of sexual assault. Just recently, the federal court determined that Trump will pay a fine of one million dollars for a “frivolous lawsuit” he filed against Hillary Clinton, other individuals and organizations, for the claim that they “tried to harm him in the 2016 presidential election.”
If that’s not enough, the former president continues to stir up public storms, after hosting Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West, who expressed many anti-Semitic views, at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Therefore, a fear arose in Trump’s heart that he might lose the Jewish vote in the next elections. The American newspaper “The New York Times” reported that many Jews, members of the Republican Party expressed their disappointment and fear of Trump. The head of the Zionist Organization of America even stated that “Trump loves Israel, but he legitimizes hatred of Jews, it scares me.”
Kanye West and Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters)
Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters)Nevertheless, Trump can perhaps be satisfied with the latest poll conducted by the Reuters news agency. The survey, conducted among voters of both parties, showed that 52% of Democrats oppose another Biden run for the presidency in 2024, compared to 40% among Republicans, who oppose another Trump run.
If that’s not enough, all the latest polls conducted in the country, among the voters of the Republican party, showed that Trump continues to safely lead the Republican presidential race in 2024. Trump leads in the percentage of support with 43%, compared to the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who gained great popularity after the mid-term elections, when he stands in second place with only 31%.
Ron DeSantis
Despite the polls flattering Trump, should he fear the “rising star” of the Republican Party? For those who don’t know, the 44-year-old DeSantis serves as the governor of Florida, having previously served as Florida’s 6th district representative in the United States House of Representatives. DeSantis began his time as Florida governor in the shadow of President Trump, closely mimicking his political views. However, DeSantis has since emerged as his strongest political opponent within the party, as he began to gain great popularity among party officials.
Ron De Santis (Photo: Reuters)The mid-term elections in the US were a disaster for Trump and his supporters, but the one who came out with the upper hand was actually the governor of Florida, who was re-elected to serve in his position. De Santis defeated the Democratic candidate, Charlie Crist, in the race for the position of governor with 59.4% of the vote, compared to Only 40% received by his democratic opponent and by a huge margin of more than one and a half million votes.
As a result, many analysts and members of the Republican Party immediately saw him as a potential candidate of the Republican Party for the presidency of the United States. With the publication of the results, the idea became significantly stronger, so much so that former President Trump addressed it and sent a warning in the direction of DeSantis. In an interview he conducted with the FOX network American NEWS, Trump expressed his concern and said that “I don’t think the voter base will like it”, and warned that he would “release” damaging information about the governor of Florida. The tension between the two even reached its peak, when Trump worked to not invite DeSantis to the rally Support for Sen. Marco Rubio At another event in Pennsylvania, Trump even mocked DeSancti, calling him “Ron DeSanctimoniou,” a play on the governor’s last name and the word “hypocrite.”
DeSantis has gained a lot of popularity throughout his tenure as Florida governor, and has adhered to the Republican ideology, and President Trump’s, on many issues. Against the background of the corona wave that hit the USA in July 2020, he ordered the schools to open, contrary to all opinions, which made him one of the most significant figures in the party. At the same time, DeSantis continued to appeal to the far-right wing on various social issues, and even signed a law who prohibits discussions dealing with sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary schools in his country.
Ron De Santis (Photo: Reuters)De Santis continued his tenure on the conservative line, after the United States Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion, he said that “the prayers of millions have been answered.” Since then he has decided to speak less publicly, and some speculate that this is his political calculation designed to balance pressure from conservative elements in the Republican Party, and the opinions of the voters in Florida, most of whom are in favor of the right to abortion.
So far, the Florida governor has shown no intention of running for president in 2024, stating several times that he is solely focused on governing Florida. Despite this, the Washington Post reported that his political team had already begun working to find political operatives for the election campaign.
Nikki Haley
The former US ambassador to the United Nations, who also served as the governor of the state of South Carolina, recently announced a run for the US presidency. Haley announced her entry into the race through a video she published online, in which she declares that “the time has come for a new generation of leadership”, and emphasized In a video publicizing her family’s immigrant roots, Haley gained national attention in 2015 after calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol, and was once considered the party’s youngest prospect.
Haley has kept a low profile in recent years, but suddenly broke out when she announced her candidacy for the presidency. Along with the calls for a “new generation of leadership”, she sent a strong message to Trump, when she called for “mental fitness tests for politicians over the age of 75”, which would of course include the 80-year-old President Biden and the 76-year-old Trump. Meanwhile, American strategists have already said that Haley is expected to continue to emphasize the age gap between her and the other two.
Donald Trump and Nikki Haley (Photo: Reuters)Alongside this, she called for limiting the term of office of members of Congress, increasing the export of oil and gas, and even sent a strong message to China when she declared that “communist China will end its path in the ash heap of history”. Although she is the daughter of immigrants, those close to the former governor said that Haley did not hesitate throughout her political career to lean on her identity and her background. They also said that she would focus her presidential message on her distinguished record as ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina.
Haley has often tried to walk the fine line between allying with former President Trump, and distancing himself from his views, enough to appeal to his most moderate critics. Trump and Haley’s relationship has changed frequently over the past few years. She criticized him when he ran for president in 2016, but was later appointed by him as ambassador to the United Nations.
Furthermore, Haley had pledged not to run against him in the race for the leadership of the Republican Party ahead of the 2024 presidential election, but as mentioned has now broken that promise. Trump, for his part, stated that he wishes Haley the best of luck, sources in his environment said that he expressed his anger, that the person he appointed as ambassador to the United Nations would challenge him on the way to the White House.
Mike Pence
According to reports from the US, Mike Pence, who served as the vice president under Trump, is also considering announcing a run for the presidency in 2024. In an interview he conducted with the CBS News network, he stated that he “continues to leave the door open to run for president in 2024.” American analysts claim that Pence’s lack of urgency to announce a run for the presidency reflects a broader dynamic within the Democratic Party, namely the lack of urgency to announce a presidential candidacy, especially in light of the small majority in the House of Representatives.
If Pence announces a female contender, the fight against Trump will be more interesting than ever, especially after Pence attacked the former president, saying that he “claimed” when he hosted far-right and holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his mansion.
US President Donald Trump and his deputy Mike Pence (Photo: Reuters)However, Pence himself is at the center of a major uproar, when a dozen classified documents were found at the former US vice president’s home in Indiana and handed over to the FBI. According to the report, the spy agency’s National Security Division has launched an investigation into the documents, and how they made their way to his home of Pence in Indiana. Therefore, in the latest polls conducted in the US, it is indicated that the percentage of support for him among Republican voters is only 8%.