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DeSantis Tops Trump by 23 Points in New Poll

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Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ national profile is continuing to soar and Donald Trump should be concerned.

A recent poll reported DeSantis leading Trump by 23 points among a list of potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates.

The USA Today- Suffolk University poll reported that 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters prefer DeSantis, while only 33 percent would support Trump. More than 60 percent said they want a nominee who will continue Trump’s policies but is not Trump, while 31 percent want the former president to run, according to The Hill.

“Republicans and conservative independents increasingly want Trumpism without Trump,” said David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. 

The poll also found Trump’s favorable rating among Republicans dropping from 75 percent in October to 64 percent in December. His unfavorable rating has also risen from 18 percent to 23 percent in that time. 

Pollsters found President Biden leading a hypothetical head-to-head match-up with Trump, 47 percent to 40 percent. DeSantis led Biden in the poll by about 4 points, 47 percent to 43 percent. 

Almost two-thirds of GOP and GOP-leaning voters want DeSantis to run for president in 2024, while only 24 percent do not want him to.

Despite Trump’s early entrance to the 2024 primary field the former president has seen his support diminish since the announcement.

Republican donors have pledged to support other candidates they feel stand a higher chance of defeating Joe Biden while others have blamed Trump for this year’s disappointing midterm results.

Republican Senator Refuses to Acknowledge Trump as Head of the Party

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

Despite Trump’s early 2024 campaign announcement, Republican senators are wary of dubbing him the current “leader” of the Party.

Over the weekend, Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was especially harsh on the former president and rejected Trump as the leader of the Republican Party and said the GOP could shift away from his influence in the future.

According to The Hill, Cassidy told CNN’s Pamela Brown that despite polls indicating Trump as the top candidate to receive the Party’s nomination he thinks Republicans should support someone else.

“The Republican Party does not have a president in office right now,” Cassidy said. “It does not have anybody who’s obviously not my leader.”

Cassidy on Saturday echoed other Republicans in calling for the party to “speak about the future” rather than fixating on issues in the past.

“We’re led by principles. We’re led by kind of concepts,” Cassidy said. “A right-of-center party which thinks that smaller government, that individual responsibility, that free markets is more likely to bring prosperity to a family and prosperity to our country. … If we are responsible to those principles, then we win.”

Cassidy has been critical of Trump over the years, even voting to impeach the former president in 2021.

According to Politico, some Republican lawmakers are holding out hope South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott launches a White House bid in 2024.

Joni Ernst is “very excited” about a potential Tim Scott presidential run. John Cornyn would “advise him to go for it.” And John Barrasso said it “doesn’t get any better than Tim Scott.”

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spent much of Donald Trump’s presidency sticking to his side, said he’s intrigued by the possibility of a Scott presidential bid in 2024 and wants to see “what Tim does” before he makes any endorsements.

Scott would “bring something to the table on day one,” Graham said, adding his South Carolina colleague has “one of the most compelling stories of any Republican out there.”

Bernie Sanders Mulling 2024 Run if Biden Steps Aside

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A top aide to Vermont Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I) says the senior lawmaker would “seriously” consider mounting a third presidential campaign if Joe Biden decides not to pursue a second term in the White House.

Sanders, 81, ran for president as a Democrat in 2016 and 2020, losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden respectively.

“I assume that he would give it a hard look,” longtime Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir told CBS News on Thursday. “I don’t want to make the judgment for him. Obviously, it would be his choice to make. But I assume that he would want to reevaluate it.” 

If Sanders to win the presidency in 2024, he would be 83 years old upon assuming office. Shakir said Sanders is “very aware that he’s older now, and he’d have to make a real judgment about his own vigor and his stamina and his desire and hunger and passion to do this a third time.”

“But if it were an open field? Yeah, I’m confident he would take another look at it and say, ‘Do I want to do this or not?'” he added.  

“Personally, I take President Biden at his word and our orbit takes him at his word that he’s taking it seriously and presume that he is leaning toward yes,” Shakir said. 

However, some Democrats have noted their interest in pursing the office regardless if Biden seeks a second term, concerned he can’t defeat Trump a second time.

Deep Red State’s Latest Poll Reports Big Trouble for Trump’s 2024 Campaign

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

Is Donald Trump starting to feel a twinge of buyer’s remorse for announcing his 2024 campaign so early? The latest results from a poll based in deep-red Utah point to yes.

Trump came in a distant third place in the Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics‘ poll of possible GOP contenders for the 2024 presidential race. However, whats even more shocking than Trump’s No. 3 position is the fact that respondents were warmer toward outgoing Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decisively led the poll in a hypothetical Republican presidential primary, at 24.2 percent, followed by Cheney with 16.4 percent. Trump came in third place with 14.6 percent, nearly 2 points below Cheney

Trump was more popular than Cheney among self-identified Republicans, earning 21.1 percent to Cheney’s 10 percent, but DeSantis still emerged ahead in that group with 33.1 percent. 

However, more Utah voters said they didn’t know which candidate they’d cast their ballot for (20.7 percent) than backed either Trump or Cheney. 

The survey’s results are the latest sign Trump’s popularity among conservatives is fading. Last month, Trump officially announced his 2024 presidential campaign from his Mar-a-Lago resort but so far has received a tepid response from high-profile Republican lawmakers and donors who backed his previous presidential pursuits.

Trump’s numerous legal hurdles coupled with his bombastic personality have been contributing factors to many Republicans opting to look elsewhere for a candidate to defeat Joe Biden in the next election. In many polls, DeSantis has been seen closing the national gap with the former president but so far he’s remained tight-lipped over any potential campaigns for the White House.

Cheney, a harsh critic of the former President who lost her primary to a pro-Trump challenger, has floated a presidential campaign before. The outgoing Wyoming Congresswoman has told reporters before that she would do anything necessary to keep Trump out of the White House- including running against him.

Former National Security Adviser Mulling Trump 2024 Challenge

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The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Could Donald Trump be facing a primary challenge from one of his former employees?

Former National Security adviser John Bolton signaled to NBC he’s seriously considering mounting his own bid for the White House after Trump’s weekend comments signaling he supports “terminating” the U.S. Constitution.

If no other potential Republican candidates make “Shermanesque statements” in response to what Trump said, Bolton declared, “I’m going to seriously consider getting in.”

“I think to be a presidential candidate you can’t just say, ‘I support the Constitution.’ You have to say, ‘I would oppose people who would undercut it,’” Bolton said in his interview with NBC.

Bolton served in roles in the Reagan administration and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. He later worked as Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019.

Following Bolton’s departure, he and Trump have exchanged several tense exchanges. According to The Daily Wire, in 2020 Bolton told reporters he would not vote for Trump, claiming Trump was not fit for office, and stated he would “figure out a conservative Republican to write in.”

Nikki Haley Reveals New Timeline for 2024 Decision

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The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is taking some time to mull her options before making any hasty decisions about 2024.

Haley, who served as Ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, has been named a potential contender to seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination but says no final decision will come until after the holidays, according to The Hill.

“We are taking the holidays to kind of look at what the situation is,” the former South Carolina governor said at an event at Clemson University. “If we decide to get into it, we’ll put 1,000 percent in, and we’ll finish it.”

“A lot of people have asked if I’m going to run for president. Now that the midterms are over, I’ll look at it in a serious way, and I’ll have more to say soon,” Hayley said at a Las Vegas meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition earlier this month.

“For now, I’ll say this. I’ve won tough primaries and tough general elections. I’ve been the underdog every single time. When people underestimate me, it’s always fun,” she added. “But I’ve never lost an election. And I’m not going to start now.”

Earlier this fall, Haley told reporters that she would not launch her own bid for the White House if Donald Trump runs for president in 2024 but it seems she’s reconsidering.

Trump announced his own bid for the presidency earlier this month but has been met with a lukewarm response from high-profile Republicans- and donors.

Veteran Republican strategist John Thomas, who backed Trump during the 2016 and 2020 elections, recently told The Washington Examiner that he will not be supporting Trump a third time saying the bombastic Republican isn’t a viable candidate to defeat Democrats and take back the White House.

Thomas recently created the Ron to the Rescue super PAC and says he’s committed to spending at least $50 million in the next six to 12 months to ensure the governor earns the GOP nomination over Trump. However, DeSantis has not even announced his presidential campaign.

“The problem is, for Trump, is he needed to announce and pretty much steamroll everybody. He needed all the donors to capitulate his way. He needed all the party leaders to come his way, and while he’s had some success, it’s not been unanimous, and he needed it to almost be unanimous because the cracks that are appearing are going to turn into canyons very soon,” he explained. “He’s going to be constantly trying to, like, plug these leaks. I think his legal challenges, whether they have merit or not, I would think are going to turn his operation into more of a sclerotic beast.”

“I still like the guy. I just think he should move from a party leader to a party elder. That’s kind of the nuanced dynamic here that I want to make sure it’s not lost in the media, and also voters are reminded that it’s OK to vote for somebody else. It doesn’t mean you don’t like Trump,” Thomas continued. “I think at the end of the day, particularly primary voters want to get excited about their nominee, but it really is a sport about winning. If you don’t win, you can’t enact your legislative agenda. It’s not just about rallies and having a good time. It’s about winning, and Trump has kind of called into question at best his ability to do that anymore.”

California Governor Finally Breaks Silence on 2024 Run

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Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 AR via Wikimedia Commons

California Governor Gavin Newsom is putting rumors to rest that he’s plotting a primary challenge against Joe Biden in the next election cycle.

Newsom, who has faced increased scrutiny recently due to speculation he’s planning to mount a presidential campaign, told reporters that he’s “all in” on Biden 2024 and has made that same commitment to other White House officials, according to Mediaite.

“I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,” he recounted to me as we sat on the top floor of California’s now-ceremonial governor’s mansion on election night.

His message to Ron Klain and Jill Biden over the summer — when he visited Washington amid growing speculation, and considerable West Wing irritation, that he was plotting a primary challenge — was to count him as a firm supporter of Biden’s reelection: “I’m all in, count me in,” he said he told them.

Newsom relayed the same to Biden himself on election night.

Newsom says when he spoke to Biden on Election Night, he told the president “I’m all in; put me in coach. We have your back.”

Newsom’s declaration of support for Biden comes as he already faces a 2020 rematch against Donald Trump, who recently announced his own 2024 campaign. However, Trump’s announcement has been met with mixed feelings from Republicans as some say his bombastic character and history make him unlikely to win another national election.

Over the weekend, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced he plans to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 if he mounts a bid, despite just reinstating Trump’s Twitter account access.

“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting,” Musk wrote in reply to a tweet about Trump’s restored account. “The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service.”

“Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America,” he said.

In his reply thread, Musk said that in 2024 he wants someone “sensible centrist” in office, and that Biden has not been that. When someone replied to ask him directly whether Ron DeSantis would fit the bill, he said yes.

Amanda Head: Are You on the #TrumpTrain for 2024?

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Donald Trump officially kicked off this third presidential campaign while delivering a speech Tuesday evening from his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Are you all in on Trump 2024 or keeping your options open?

Watch Amanda break it down below.

Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Campaign

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

While addressing a crowd in his Mar-a-Lago resort former President Donald Trump officially declared his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“Ladies and gentlemen, America’s comeback starts right now!” Trump said to a cheering crowd.

“The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden. This decline is not a choice we must accept,” Trump said.

Epoch Times editor Ivan Pentchoukov tweeted shortly before Trump’s speech that tonight’s remarks follow a similar time frame to his initial 2016 campaign announcement.

https://twitter.com/IvanPentchoukov/status/1592666689111408641

Former President Donald Trump filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday to run for a third consecutive White House bid, ahead of a planned announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

The paperwork listed “Donald J. Trump for President 2024.”

Trump’s main political committee had approximately $70 million in the bank as of mid-October, which could be transferred to a newer super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc.

Trump teased the announcement on Election Day eve at a rally in Ohio to support U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.,” Trump said toward the end of a rally near Dayton, Ohio, where he was campaigning for a host of candidates in the state, including Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

“We want nothing to distract from the importance of tomorrow,” Trump said.

As Great America News Desk previously reported:

However, while a Republican red tsunami was expected to sweep the midterm elections the results thus far have been disappointing as the GOP has yet to officially win a majority in either chamber. Some conservatives have blamed Trump’s interference as a major factor behind the lackluster results and have expressed hopes he will reconsider his announcement.

Former House Speaker for the GOP, Newt Gingrich, stated on Wednesday that he believes Trump might be reconsidering his plans for 2024.

“I mean, just in my own emails today, [with] the number of people who want somebody other than Trump who have decided, literally overnight, that person is going to be DeSantis, he’s going to find it almost impossible to avoid running,” Gingrich told Just the News. “I think Trump’s got to look at the results and be troubled.”

Trump’s announcement tees up a re-match against Joe Biden, who has said he plans to seek a second term.

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.

DeSantis Responds to Abrupt Trump Attacks

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is finally responding to the surprise attack from former President Donald Trump last week, calling it “noise.”

DeSantis was asked by a reporter what he thinks about Trump’s “big announcement” tonight and his thoughts about Trump repeatedly attacking him. (RELATED: Trump Goes Nuclear on Gov. Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin)

“Well, you know, one of the things I’ve learned in this job is when you’re doing, when you’re leading, when you’re getting things done, you take incoming fire, that’s just the nature of it,” DeSantis said. “I roll out of bed in the morning, I’ve got corporate media outlets that have a spasm, just the fact that I’m getting up in the morning, and it’s constantly attacking, and this is just what’s happened.”

“I don’t think any governor got attacked more particularly by corporate media than me over my four-year term,” DeSantis continued. “And yet, I think what you learn is all that’s just noise. And really what matters is: Are you leading? Are you getting in front of issues? Are you delivering results for people? And are you standing up for folks? And if you do that, then none of that stuff matters. And that’s what we’ve done.”

“We focused on results and leadership. And, you know, at the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis continued. “The fact of the matter is, it was the greatest Republican victory in the history of the state of Florida.”

Trump also targeted Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin in a shocking message. Both Republican governors have been floated as potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Nov. 15th announcement from Mar-a-Lago.

However, while DeSantis has decided to move past Trump’s comments the former president seems to be doubling down. In a Tuesday afternoon Truth Social message Trump targeted DeSantis again by pointing out a 2018 gubernatorial ad in which the Florida governor praises him.

In a tongue-in-cheek ad, seemingly no longer available on his YouTube page, DeSantis was shown building a toy wall and reading a book about Trump to his children, brandishing himself as a “pit bull Trump defender.” 

“Hopefully TODAY will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country,” Trump teased in another Truth Social post.