In a recent public statement after the guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump in a New York City criminal trial on felony allegations of falsifying business records in connection to pre-2016 election hush money, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) suggested that her party replace Trump as its 2024 nominee for president.
To be specific, Trump’s status is presently that of Republicans’ presumptive selection for president this year, as the major parties’ main conventions remain forthcoming. But the primary is effectively over, with Trump easily trouncing the surprisingly numerous slew of primary challenges that he faced. Most of his former challengers have turned around to supporting Trump’s bid for president. Even Nikki Haley, the final holdout in the primary in terms of big-name candidates, has now indicated she’ll back Trump this year.
“It is a shame that this election has focused on personalities and legal problems rather than a debate about policies that would lift up Americans,” Murkowski argued Friday on social media. “These distractions have given the Biden campaign a free pass as the focus has shifted from Biden’s indefensible record and the damage his policies have done to Alaska and our nation’s economy, to Trump’s legal drama. A Republican nominee without this baggage would have a clear path to victory.”
Murkowski is likely in the minority inside the GOP, although there are, notably, some others aligned with her here, ideologically. New polling by Ipsos done in collaboration with ABC News found that 16 percent of Republicans said Trump should end his campaign after the guilty verdict: again not enough to clearly shift the party’s pro-Trump direction but enough to potentially cause a problem for the Trump campaign later this year, when precedent and the latest polling suggest that Trump and Biden’s expected rematch could be close.
