Why Republicans do not want Trump to run again

The announcement by former US President Donald Trump that he is submitting his candidacy for the White House in 2024 has not been met with overwhelming exuberance on the part of Republicans. In fact, it appears many of his former supporters would like him to just go home. The recent midterm elections for the House and Senate did not see a projected red wave, and a number of Republican candidates supported by Trump lost their campaigns. This failure appears to have cemented Trump's image now as a loser and not a winner as he has proclaimed. But there are more reasons why Republicans want Trump to step aside.

In addition to the spreading perception that he contributed to the Republican failure in the midterm elections, Trump also has baggage that many see as too complicated or even dangerous as he runs again for president. His role in the January 6 US Capitol riot has left an indelible stain in the memories of voters and his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic was disappointing. His activity on Twitter when he was president, coupled with his raucous press conferences, have left many Americans with bad memories. Trump also has legal troubles that could hamper his campaign and his elect-ability, including, as one BBC article noted, "a criminal election-tampering inquiry in Georgia, a civil fraud case targeting his business empire in New York, a defamation lawsuit involving a sexual assault allegation, and federal probes into his role in the Capitol attack and his post-presidential handling of classified material."

Furthermore, according to a Pew research poll, since July 2021, "positive views of Trump have slipped across many Republican groups. The share of conservative Republicans who rate him warmly or very warmly has declined by 7 percentage points since July 2021, while the share of moderate or liberal Republicans who rate Trump positively has fallen by a similar amount (6 points)." Another set of polls by political website fivethirtyeight shows that the number of Americans who have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump is growing. Nearly half of all Republican primary voters said they want a candidate other than Trump as president in 2024, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released in July.

Trump now also has a formidable opponent in Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida who just ran a successful campaign, swinging Florida to the right and routing his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist. DeSantis is now seen as a presidential contender for 2024 and therefore a challenge to Trump. Setting aside the obvious Democrat wish to see Trump exit the stage, there is no shortage now of Republicans who would like to see the same.

While Republicans enjoyed Trump's successes in office such as on criminal justice reform, the southern border, and lowering taxes, many of his campaign promises did not come to fruition. According to politifact, he only kept 23% of his promises and broke 53%. That is nothing to be proud of and voters should remember this as Trump begins to travel around the country campaigning as a presidential candidate.

Trump has already begun to tout his accomplishments, as he did in his hour-long announcement of his reelection bid, and it is clear he plans to do so throughout the next two years. But most Americans and many Republicans are not interested in hearing the self-aggrandizement that always comes along with a Trump speech and they certainly do not want to hear about minimal successes when there have been so many failures. In the past, people have laughed at Trump when he did so.

A Trump vs. Biden ticket could happen, but this has yet to be determined. Only 11 sitting US presidents have lost reelection so President Joe Biden has history on his side. However, this does not mean he does not have his work cut out for him if he does indeed run again. Republicans want the ability to challenge Biden and they are now more confident than ever that a contender like DeSantis, who is much younger and less gaffe-prone than the president, has a higher chance of winning the 2024 election than Trump.

If Trump makes the election about himself and not about Biden, Republicans will be disappointed. They do not want to dwell on the past; they want to move forward and Trump, in their perception, is holding them back. Aside from his many faults, Trump is also seen as an ageing candidate, especially when compared side-by-side with the much younger 44-year-old DeSantis. Republicans want a young, fresh candidate to face-off with the much older Biden.

To today's Republican voters, Trump is no longer the winner he claims to be. They have found a new winner in DeSantis and they will now prefer him as their presidential candidate. It is time for Trump to exit stage left.