Erick Erickson, a Georgia Republican insider, said bluntly on Friday that former President Donald Trump is in real trouble after his frantic efforts to make himself more palatable to voters who believe in reproductive rights and other key issues.
Writing on X, Erickson claimed to have had "private conversations" with fellow Republicans in which they argued that conservatives would actually be better off with Trump losing the 2024 election at this rate.
"The damage Trump is doing to himself is playing out in private conversations like this: 'We have a really good shot at taking the Senate. Manchin leaving gets us to 50. Tester is toast. That's 51. Between that and the Supreme Court, we can hold off Harris for two years and get more reinforcements then fight in 2028 for the White House. If Trump gets in, we set back the pro-life cause and free markets by a generation at least,'" Erickson revealed. "You can say that is crazy talk. But that crazy talk is happening more and more."
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Erickson added that Trump still had the opportunity to right the ship, but that he needed to stop alienating traditional conservatives if he wanted to have any chance of turning things around.
"Trump, with Vance as his pick, hurt himself with the economic wing of the GOP," Erickson writes. "His Florida and IVF remarks hurt him with the pro-life wing. He was already hurt with the natsec wing. He's cutting off all three legs of the stool at the same time hoping 'But Harris' saves him. He's got real damage control to do. No amount of bullying 'but you're helping Harris' is going to fix this. Only Trump pivoting can."
In a separate post, he added that, "Sometimes, good stewardship means letting the field lie fallow for a greater harvest later."
"In 2000, so many evangelicals opted not to vote for President that the Bush Administration created an entire agenda to show them that Bush really was one of them," Erickson said. "Their refusal to vote on the first line of the ballot in 2000 led to many victories for the pro-life movement. If you think people aren't talking about this today in their private conversations, you are sorely mistaken. Again, Trump has real damage control he needs to do."
