By Anna Deng
A rematch between the incumbent president and his lawsuit-haunted predecessor seems to be approaching. New Hampshire primary results are just in, and to Nikki Haley, the only competition to Donald Trump after Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race, it was a critical hit. Even with less MAGA sentiment, more moderates, and the undeclared residents who make up nearly 40 percent of the state’s registered voters, New Hampshire still failed to slow down Trump’s momentum toward the nomination.
The question is, what comes next? To expand his base within the GOP and collect swing voters, Trump’s running mate choice will require discretion. The best candidate for Trump’s running mate from the standpoint of electoral interests would be his biggest competitor, Haley, if she drops out of the race after Super Tuesday. Trump needs a way to consolidate Haley’s voters, and who else is better at securing her voters than Haley herself? Loyalty is important, but DeSantis and Ramaswamy cannot complement the bedrock of Trump’s support. Another moderate choice, Tim Scott, is much less influential and is probably not going to rev up the female Republican votes.
Still, up to this point, both Trump and Haley are firmly rejecting this idea. A less effective vice president choice may make the election a lot harder for Trump.
To be clear: I am not a Trump supporter and never doubted the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results. I chose to write this piece out of a rational concern about the possible outcomes Trump’s victory — both in the primaries and in the general election — could bring.
The most direct impact of Trump taking office would be freedom from his legal jeopardies — a total of 91 felony accounts and civil suits. Further, he has also promised to retaliate against prosecutors who have attempted to bring him to court. It is dangerous to have a president targeting political enemies. “We pledge to you that we will root out … the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,” Trump remarked in November 2023 in Claremont, New Hampshire.
As an extraordinarily unpredictable former president who bombarded us during his first term with more than 26,000 tweets, unprecedented domestic fissures, and a resurgence of diplomatic isolationism, Trump’s policy-related plans in his second term are still vague. However, as Democratic voters are drifting away from President Biden for his inactivity on the Israel-Hamas war, one thing to be noted is that Trump is very unlikely to push for a ceasefire either – in part due to his close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel.
Whatever the result is, the 2024 general election and its aftermath will be significant, even with the possibility of another Jan. 6 riot. Though Trump is caught up in multiple lawsuits, it is not likely that he will be denied eligibility to run for president by the conservative Supreme Court. Courts will not hold him back, and once he is voted into office, the blunt sword of Damocles — the impeachment mechanism — will not either. It is an unconventional election with an unconventional candidate. Right now, the only thing I could hope for is votes of reason and reflection, and we shall wait for the hammer to fall.
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