As part of an analysis on the way Donald Trump strong-armed the Republican Party after his 2020 presidential election loss to set up a third run 2024, one GOP insider suggested any other GOP lawmaker who felt they could compete with him never had a chance.
According to the Guardian's Richard Luscombe, the sheer number of extended Trump family members who be representing Florida at the Republican party convention this summer is indicative of how of how the former president has taken over state parties and shut everyone else out.
Noting that Eric Trump will lead the Florida delegation with Don Jr, his fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos also on-board, Luscombe wrote, "The parallels in Trump’s subjugation of the national Republican party, and the installation of Lara Trump, Eric’s wife, as its co-chair, are hard to miss – especially as it was Florida’s hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who was once seen as a potential 'Trump killer' in the party’s nomination race until, of course, Trump quickly vanquished him."
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According to Dan Judy, a senior analyst for the Republican-centric North Star Opinion Research, Trump worked effectively behind the scenes at capturing state parties much as he did after he fled Manhattan for his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort.
“The big, sort of under-the-radar story in American politics over the last couple of years was the way Trump and his people had taken over state parties across the country,” Judy explained.
“Even early in the primary process, a year and a half ago when Ron DeSantis was riding high and leading a lot of the polls, I was always thinking: Trump has control of the state parties, he’s got his people in, and they are, for lack of a better word, going to attempt to rig the process in favor of Donald Trump," he added.
Judy also pointed to rule changes at the state level that switched to winner-takes-all which crippled the chances of GOP up-and-comers like former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) who has drawn substantial support — even after having dropped out — but continues to walk away empty-handed primary after primary.
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