While Republican lawmakers are publicly rallying around former President Donald Trump, in private many of them are reportedly hoping he goes down in defeat to Vice President Kamala Harris this fall.
Politico's Jonathan Martin reports that "the most fervent private debate" among Republicans right now is "how best to accelerate Trump’s exit to the 19th Hole."
Some Republicans believe that they are better off with Trump winning the White House on the grounds that he will be theoretically term limited and thus can be shoved off the stage after 2028.
Should he lose to Harris this fall, the thinking goes, "he would once again insist he was cheated and hold out the possibility of a fourth consecutive bid, prolonging the party’s capture."
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Other Republicans, however, want to have Trump gone as quickly as possible and they think that they could hold off major policy advances by a Harris presidency by retaking the Senate this fall and by having a conservative Supreme Court restrict any objectionable executive orders she issues.
"One high-level Republican, conceding it may only be 'wishful thinking,' even floated the idea of a Harris victory followed by Biden pardons of both his son, Hunter, and Trump," reports Martin. "That would take the issue of both cases off Harris’ plate and, more to the point, drain the energy behind Trump’s persecution complex so that Republicans can get on with the business of winning elections."
Additionally, Republicans tell Martin that they like their chances of winning elections in 2026 much better should Trump not be in the White House.
All the same, writes Martin, taking the party back from Trump won't be easy no matter what happens this fall.
“You’re assuming Republicans have a top of the ticket problem and not a voter base problem,” Terry Sullivan, a former GOP strategist, reportedly told Martin. “It’s not like our leaders have been leading the voters to the wilderness against the voters’ judgment.”
