{"id":510408,"date":"2022-11-15T03:47:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T00:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-gop-cant-dump-trump-but-republican-voters-can\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T03:47:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T00:47:47","slug":"the-gop-cant-dump-trump-but-republican-voters-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-gop-cant-dump-trump-but-republican-voters-can\/","title":{"rendered":"#The GOP can&#8217;t dump Trump \u2014 but Republican voters can"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a415d444c308\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a415d444c308\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-gop-cant-dump-trump-but-republican-voters-can\/#%E2%80%9CThe_GOP_cant_dump_Trump_%E2%80%94_but_Republican_voters_can%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;The GOP can&#8217;t dump Trump \u2014 but Republican voters can&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CThe_GOP_cant_dump_Trump_%E2%80%94_but_Republican_voters_can%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;The GOP can&#8217;t dump Trump \u2014 but Republican voters can&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>Donald Trump is in his weakest political state since 2015 or early 2016.<\/p>\n<p>During his presidency, when he was at the center of countless intense controversies, he didn\u2019t blink once. He never showed fear or desperation. Both are clearly at work now in his gratuitous attacks on Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin, neither of whom has done anything to him, besides presenting a viable alternative to his continued dominance of the GOP.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Any Trump political obituaries are premature, though, until a verdict has been reached by the force that has buoyed him and lent him his overwhelming power in GOP politics \u2014 Republican voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The idea that the \u201cparty decides\u201d \u2014 that a party\u2019s elites guide voters to their preferred presidential candidate \u2014 got blown to smithereens in 2016. Trump had almost no institutional support and won anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the party has neutered itself and in many states been affirmatively taken over by pro-Trump forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"596\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/20221109_zap_l113_002.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Oz fell to John Fetterman in Pennsylvania's Senate race. \" class=\"wp-image-24653307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/20221109_zap_l113_002.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/20221109_zap_l113_002.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/20221109_zap_l113_002.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/20221109_zap_l113_002.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Trump-endorsed candidates like Dr. Oz lost their midterm races. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">ZUMA24.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape and Jan. 6 experiences, Republican officials have internalized the lesson that getting too far out in front of voters in expressing anti-Trump sentiment \u2014 indeed getting an <em>inch <\/em>in front of them \u2014 is potentially fatal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Politics is always a realm of artifice and whispered conversations, but the Trump era has taken it to another level in the GOP. Many of the elected officials who are Trump\u2019s biggest public boosters have a dim view of him in private. People serving at the highest levels of his administration \u2014 not Deep State operatives but his own political <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ointees \u2014 would make clear their discomfort with him in private. Even the most pro-Trump voices in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> often don\u2019t share their true feelings about him.<\/p>\n<p>If the window has opened a crack to Trump criticism among Republican officialdom, it\u2019s still quite muted. Everyone considers it much safer to train their public fire on Kevin McCarthy or Mitch McConnell.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/Capitol_Riot_College_Student_99463jpg-ece58.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Anti-Trump politicians were threatened during Jan. 6. \" class=\"wp-image-24653311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/Capitol_Riot_College_Student_99463jpg-ece58.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/Capitol_Riot_College_Student_99463jpg-ece58.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/Capitol_Riot_College_Student_99463jpg-ece58.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/Capitol_Riot_College_Student_99463jpg-ece58.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Anti-Trump sentiment to Republicans has seen major pushback.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember, by the way, that some of the worst candidate choices in the midterms were freely made by GOP primary electorates under Trump\u2019s influence. There\u2019s been a lot of criticism of Democrats spending on weak MAGA candidates in the primaries. But these candidates never would have gotten nominated in the first place if Republican <em>voters <\/em>hadn\u2019t happily supported them, despite their flaws and despite Democrats desperately wanting to run against them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>One hopes the lesson has finally been learned that Trump \u2014 no matter how much Republicans admire his combativeness, appreciate his entertainment value and detest his enemies \u2014 is not a sound electoral guide, to put it mildly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump didn\u2019t win a majority in either of his presidential elections, even the one he won; he was never anywhere close to 50% in the RealClearPolitics polling averages in either of his races; and his average job approval rating during his presidency never approached 50%, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump won in 2016 courtesy of Hillary Clinton, the Electoral College and a dollop of luck. At the end of the day, he\u2019s a plurality, not a majority, candidate. And he\u2019s drawn to other plurality candidates, who, lacking the advantage of running in races with an Electoral College or against Hillary Clinton, tend to lose. Winning 46.1% worked for Trump in 2016, but it\u2019s a formula for failure for everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>There are early signs that voters have taken on board the contrast between Trump, who was embarrassed on election night and has been attacking other Republicans in crude terms, and Ron DeSantis, who won a crushing re-election victory and hasn\u2019t felt it necessary to throw out wild charges or insult other party leaders to try to deflect blame from himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The polls are very early but telling. A YouGov survey had DeSantis up over Trump nationally in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, 42-35. A new 2024 poll in Texas has DeSantis up by a similar 43-32. And a WPA Intelligence poll has DeSantis beating Trump in Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and Georgia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There will have to be much more of that to signal that a fundamental, enduring shift has taken place and coax party leaders out of their long defensive crouch. The party won\u2019t decide to turn against Trump until voters give it clear, unmistakable permission.<\/p>\n<p><em>Twitter: @RichLowry<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/14\/the-gop-cant-dump-trump-but-republican-voters-can\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The GOP can&#8217;t dump Trump \u2014 but Republican voters can&#8221; Donald Trump is in his weakest political state since 2015 or early 2016. During his presidency, when he was at the center of countless intense controversies, he didn\u2019t blink once. He never showed fear or desperation. Both are clearly at work now in his gratuitous&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":510409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/newspress-collage-24652342-1668472671563.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1668454718&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[135539,78209,4941,134320,29102],"class_list":["post-510408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-14-22","tag-2024-presidential-election","tag-donald-trump","tag-midterm-elections-2022","tag-ron-desantis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}