Top Republicans believe their top prospective presidential candidates should skip the 2028 election because Trump has made it too difficult for them to win.
Citing GOP strategists and consultants, The Hill reports that Republicans aiming to run in 2028 face impossible political headwinds.
Among them is the challenge of distancing themselves from the increasingly unpopular Trump and his war with Iran, while ensuring they do not attract the president’s wrath that will cause him to turn his base against them.
Donald Trump may have sunk the party’s 2028 chances, top Republicans believe.
“How can a candidate run in 2028 when they have to criticize the policies of a sitting president with a large amount of sway with the Republican base?” said one GOP operative who is close to a lawmaker weighing a presidential bid. “It’s a suicide mission.”
Ahead of the midterms, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were widely seen as the president’s most likely heirs. But the GOP rout in the midterms appears to have dented both candidates, who remain closely tied to Trump.
CNN reported last week that Vance is considering skipping 2028 and pausing his presidential ambitions as the MAGA movement fractures and Trump’s popularity tanks.
The key stumbling block to any GOP 2028 hopeful is the Iran war, which has spiked domestic fuel prices, inflation, and caused millions of voters to abandon the Republicans in the midterms. The war is in its ninth month with no clear end in sight.
“The question isn’t if JD can do it. It’s: If the Iran war is still happening, can any Republican do it?” a Vance ally told CNN. “If they don’t end the war in Iran, no Republican has a shot at 2028.”
Some Republicans believe that Trump and his inner circle have been so tarnished by the war that only a Republican from outside the MAGA inner circle stands any chance in 2028. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may fit that bill, but both fell well short in previous presidential bids.
“Everybody is still in the fog of defeat, but no one is confident that 2028 is going to be appreciably better,” a national Republican consultant who worked on midterm races told The Hill. “We’re gonna play, we’re gonna spend a ton of money, and we’re going to do better than we did because it was so bad this time.
“But as far as flipping these institutions and winning the White House, no one thinks that’s in the cards for 2028.”
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