In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) acknowledged the reality of the Republican Party, saying that if Donald Trump runs for president in 2024, he will easily secure the Republican nomination.
Romney, who tried his best to prevent Trump from getting the nomination in 2016 and just recently became one of only a handful of Republican senators to vote to convict him on charges of impeachment, said that no one could match Trump when it came to connection with the voters.
“He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,” Romney said. “I don’t know if he’s planning to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he would win the nomination.”
Romney said that “a lot can happen between now and 2024,” but he said that looking at recent polls shows that Trump has a clear advantage against the rest of the potential field.
“He wins in a landslide,” he said.
According to a report this week from Axios, Trump is very much planning to set the stage for a 2024 run when he appears at the annual CPAC conference in Orlando:
In his first post-presidential appearance, Donald Trump plans to send the message next weekend that he is Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee” with a vise grip on the party’s base, top Trump allies tell Axios.
What to watch: A longtime adviser called Trump’s speech a “show of force,” and said the message will be: “I may not have Twitter or the Oval Office, but I’m still in charge.” Payback is his chief obsession.
Axios has learned that Trump advisers will meet with him at Mar-a-Lago this week to plan his next political moves, and to set up the machinery for kingmaking in the 2022 midterms.
In remarks to the outlet, Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said, “Trump effectively is the Republican Party. The only chasm is between Beltway insiders and grassroots Republicans around the country. When you attack President Trump, you’re attacking the Republican grassroots.”
If that’s not a shot across the bow at Mitch McConnell and assorted NeverTrump Republicans in Washington, we don’t know what is. Trump is plainly going to Orlando to make it clear that he’s still here, he’s still involved, and anyone in the party who opposes him is going to have to face the wrath of his power.
And with millions of supporters (and a very well-funded PAC) behind him, that power is substantial.
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