Trump is already wielding the power of the strongmen within the Republican Party.

CNN
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Following two victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, Donald Trump is seeking to assert complete dominance over the Republican Party, a harbinger of the strongman rule he envisions in a possible second term.

The former president is trying to blackmail Nikki Haley into abandoning the Republican presidential race. He has warned that donors who gave to the former South Carolina governor will be ostracized. Trump’s supporters began lobbying the Republican National Committee to make him the presumptive nominee after just two nomination contests, until Trump withdrew because of concerns from allies. may have the opposite effect.

And the 45th president is now pressuring Republican lawmakers to scrap the immigration deal in a bid to steal President Joe Biden’s victory and ensure he uses the border crisis in his campaign. President Trump is also quick to endorse former Republican opponents and key Republican decision-makers as he forces his party to play low in front of him, as he did during his four years in the White House. He is frowning.

President Trump’s vigorous assertion of his growing power as a leading candidate is a dismantling of the characteristic constraints that reflect his actions in office. He was impeached twice during his first term, ending when voters tried to overturn the election that removed him from office. It’s consistent with the persona Trump has created for himself as the most powerful person in any room, which has sustained him throughout his life in business, reality TV and as a former president.

Among Trump’s critics, his actions have raised new concerns that a potential second term could mean the beginning of an authoritarian regime in the Oval Office. And even though Haley holds a 32-17 lead in the 1,215 delegates needed to win the Republican Party, they have pressured Haley to withdraw from the race after just two races. President Trump’s desire to do so is consistent with his disdain for the democratic process.

The former president has made no secret of his intentions. For example, he has frequently warned that he would dedicate his second term to harsh “retaliation” against his enemies. He has called almost daily for complete impunity for the president, in part to avoid his own prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election, but also to avoid a possible second term. It also allows the president to act as he wishes without risking public consequences.

On Saturday night, at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, filled with offensive imagery, the former president praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a “great man.” President Orban has systematically violated political freedoms, suppressed independent media, and undermined confidence in electoral systems, courts, and other sources of power. He is considered a hero and role model by many Make America Great Again supporters. “Some people don’t like him because he’s too strong. It’s good to have a strong person at the top of the country,” President Trump reflected. His comments suggest that Orbán may be a better prototype of the kind of authoritarian leader the former president wants to be than the extreme dictators of Europe from the 1930s, to whom his recent comments, particularly on immigration, have been compared. This reinforced the impression that it was impossible.

The former president’s authoritarian instincts are one reason why the upcoming election is certain to be one of the most fateful in modern American history.

But there are risks to Trump’s hardline approach. By undermining his position, he could support Biden’s claims that he would endanger democracy if elected to a second term in November. And the bullying tactics and sexist language he has used against Haley could alienate some of the moderate, independent, suburban voters she attracts in the Republican primary. These are exactly the kinds of voters Trump alienated in his 2020 loss. If he wants to win re-election, he must reduce his disadvantage against Biden among this group, at least in November.

Former South Carolina Republican Party Chair Cayton Dawson addressed the potential consequences of Trump’s actions in an interview Thursday with Casey Hunt on CNN International and CNN Max’s “Race Situation.” did. Dawson, one of the few Palmetto State Republican stalwarts to back Haley, warned that Trump would “polarize” South Carolina women with “shady little comments about Nicki’s outfit.” He added that “Donald Trump seems to want to be the president of Cuba, not the president of the United States.”

Haley may not have beaten Trump in Iowa or New Hampshire. But she, like other Republican candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, quickly suspended her campaign and refused to endorse him. provoked. President Trump’s fury was evident in his smug victory speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday night. Haley’s mockery of that performance further infuriated the former president.

“We did what we had to do, we said what we had to say, and then Donald Trump came out and threw a tantrum,” Haley said Wednesday in Charleston. “He had a seizure. He was insulting. He was doing what he had to do, but I know that’s what he does when he’s anxious.”

CNN’s Caitlan Collins reports that President Trump is extremely unhappy with Haley’s defiance of his demands to withdraw from the race. During her speech in New Hampshire, she mocked the dress she wore on the night of the Iowa caucuses. He calls her “birdbrain” on social media. President Trump also warned that anyone who made a financial contribution to Haley would be “banned from the MAGA camp,” but Haley turned that into a fundraising pitch for her own campaign. Oops.

Given the magnitude of Ms. Haley’s loss to Mr. Trump and the fact that New Hampshire, where independents can vote in the Republican primary, was her best chance of winning, we urge Ms. Haley to suspend her campaign. It’s not surprising that there were voices. Generally, political parties like to quickly solidify behind their candidates for the general election once the outcome of the primaries is clear. But the Trump world’s disdain for Haley is notable.

For example, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of President Trump’s leading supporters, said that even before all voting ended on Tuesday night, following the former president’s “monumental” victory, He issued a statement saying Haley’s campaign “must end.” For the republic. ” A look at past campaign history suggests that restraint and respect may be more effective than threats in forcing Haley out of the race. And while her prospects look bleak, the very idea that a candidate should abandon a campaign after just two rounds of a national primary season just because the front-runner says so. , is an affront to the democratic process.

Even Trump seems convinced that some of this is going too far. The former president announced his opposition Thursday to the RNC’s draft resolution declaring himself the presumptive candidate. This would give him access to RNC data and fundraising activities. In effect, he would be joining the forces of Mr. Trump and his party while the election involving his rivals is still being held.

But Trump wrote on Truth Social that while he appreciated the RNC’s “respect and dedication,” he wanted to win “the old-fashioned way” at the polls. The campaign initially approved the resolution, and Trump himself supported it, but a backlash changed the situation, sources told Collins. The resolution was withdrawn late Thursday.

The former president whose business career was mythologised in “The Art of the Deal” is now more focused on the deal painstakingly hammered out by Republican and Democratic senators to address the southern border crisis. I’m interested in breaking techniques. President Trump has campaigned on the issue this year, using private conversations and social media to ensure he doesn’t win in Congress that could ease pressure on the border and help Biden win re-election. Both public statements in the media have encouraged Republicans to oppose the deal. said the official.

As Biden has indicated he is open to restoring some of Trump-era hard-line immigration policies as a compromise, some Republican senators looking for something that will deliver results for voters are wary of Trump’s gambit. I’m furious. Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said any effort to disrupt ongoing negotiations would be “tragic.” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a frequent Trump opponent but not running for re-election, said it would be “appalling” if Trump sabotaged the deal just to blame Biden. “That’s true,” he said. President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill have also made clear their opposition to Biden’s latest $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, which is running out of bullets and ammunition.

Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, who has been deeply involved in discussions on both the immigration and Ukraine issues, said the looming shadow of one man who currently holds no governing role could overwhelm a branch of the U.S. government. expressed concern that there is.

“In today’s world, one Republican can wield so much power that he can block bipartisan legislation that would give the president more powers at the border to make immigration policy more meaningful. I hope we don’t live there,”’ Murphy told CNN’s Manu Raju.

“I hope there is not one person in the Republican Party strong enough to hand over Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, but we will find an answer to that in time.”