“If even half of it is true, then he’s toast,” former Attorney General Bill Barr said on “Fox News Sunday.” I agree.
Barrels of ink are being spilled over how Donald Trump’s latest legal difficulties won’t make any difference in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
So what if the former president is charged with knowingly stealing and refusing to surrender confidential documents, conspiring to obstruct justice and endangering our national security? MAGA Republicans just don’t care.
It doesn’t matter how many times he’s indicted or for what, so the theory goes. His hardcore supporters will never abandon him. He can still freely campaign, win every primary and secure the nomination. As former FBI Director James Comey suggested, he could even accept the nomination at the GOP convention wearing a court-ordered ankle bracelet. He could even campaign from his prison cell, others insist, and pardon himself the day he’s elected.
All of which is total nonsense. Barr is right. It’s time to tell the truth. It’s doom for Don. Trump is political toast. No matter how hopelessly loyal to him his die-hard supporters may be, the Republican Party will never nominate a candidate with so much baggage who can only take the entire party down to a humiliating defeat.
There’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who’s already been found liable by a jury of committing sexual abuse, then defaming his victim, and ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
There’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who’s already been indicted for falsifying business records in order to cover up hush money payments to a porn actress for keeping quiet about their affair — charges for which Trump must answer in court on March 25, 2024.
There’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who’s most likely to be indicted in New York state for lying to lenders and insurers from 2011 to 2021 about the value of assets held by the Trump Organization, as well as lying about his own net worth.
There’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who’s also likely to be indicted in Georgia for trying to convince state officials to commit election fraud.
There’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who refused to accept the results of the 2020 election (which he lost by 7 million votes) and then encouraged his supporters to riot at the United States Capitol: an attack on the United States government for which he will also soon likely face federal charges.
And there’s no way the Republican Party will put forward a nominee who’s already been indicted by a Miami grand jury for 37 federal crimes related to his personal mishandling of top-secret presidential documents.
By the time 2024 rolls around, Donald Trump — already twice-impeached and twice-indicted — could face a total of five indictments. The question Republican leaders have to ask themselves is: Seriously, is this the best the party has to offer?
Clearly not. There are plenty of better options: former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, talk show host Larry Elder, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Every one of them is more fit to be president and has more moral character than Donald Trump.
Given those alternatives, there’s no way Republicans will nominate such a flawed candidate and sure loser. They’re not that stupid … or are they?
Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”