Article author:
Associated Press
Steve Peoples And Thomas Beaumont
Sioux Center, Iowa (AP) — Amazing new about former President Donald Trump's fight to overturn the 2020 elections The revelation exposed growing political vulnerabilities, just as he turned to another presidential election.
This week, a former White House aide is a leader unrelated to the safety of elected officials from either party when Trump came to power on January 6, 2021. Said. According to some legal experts, the Capitol attack provided a roadmap for prosecutors to prosecute Trump for crimes.
Republican voters and Trump's rival candidates in the 2024 presidential election drew attention.
Here in Iowa, the first presidential nomination contest will be held in about 18 months, with several voters opening to another presidential candidate on Thursday, even if Trump runs again. Showed that it is open. At the same time, some conservative media have announced the bitter criticism of the former president. Aides to Republican presidential candidates also publicly and privately showed that they felt more and more bold to challenge Trump in 2024, following explosive new testimony.
Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, put about 350 conservative activists on a parliamentary fundraising barbecue on Thursday in Sue County, where Trump won 82% of the votes in 2020. Attracted. There was ample evidence of Trump's fatigue. Interviews with more than a dozen attendees revealed that even though Trump was participating in the vote, he was keenly interested in the 2024 alternative.
"It will be difficult to find someone in the area who supports the idea of not looking for others," said transport company owner Dave Van Wyk. I am. .. "Estimating that the conservative America is 100% behind Donald Trump is simply not."
For some Republican voters, it's before this week's surprising new testimony. But that was the feeling.
Tuesday's former White House staff Cassidy Hutchinson said the degree of Trump's anger in his last few weeks, some supporters brought weapons to the city on January 6th. The riots later besieged the Capitol, which provided previously unknown details about his perception and his ambivalence.
I was angry at the size of the crowd at his "Stop Stealing" rally — many supporters were armed and didn't want to go through the metal detectors, so they avoided entering. — Trump said: It doesn't matter if they have weapons. They aren't here to hurt me, "Hutchinson says. She recalled that Trump grabbed the handle of the president's car and went to the Capitol to hear about another incident after a rally trying to join his supporters.
The details caused some repulsion. The agent and another employee who were allegedly driving the vehicle were ready to testify under the oath that Trump never plunged into the wheel.
But new concerns were clear.
The conservative Washington Examiner editorial board said Hutchinson's testimony "should ring the bell of death" about Trump's political career. "Trump is unfit to be near power again."
The often Trump-friendly New York Post has blown up the headline "Tyrant Trump." And the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial page writes: "A new wild testimony arrives when Donald Trump's behavior after the 2020 defeat seems unlikely to worsen." ..
Indeed, conservatives have repeatedly shared serious concerns about Trump in recent years. And in each case, the former president was almost unharmed and sometimes appeared stronger. He was caught up in a video boasting about sexual assault. He instigated a violent attack on the Capitol. And he was impeached twice.
Still, Trump uses over $ 101 million in election funding and is hugely popular with many Republican voters. As there are no questions, Republican candidates from Arizona to Pennsylvania to Georgia are fighting each other this midseason for his support.
"Americans are hungry for his leadership," said Trump spokesman Taylor Glitch, citing Trump's strong support record and successful funding. "And President Trump is in a stronger position than ever, as another witch hunt has been blown into the face of Democrats."
But even before this week's revelation, AP News -In a new poll from the NORC Public Relations Center, 48% of U.S. adults say Trump should be charged with crime for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. ..
Trump's view of criminal liability collapses as expected in line with party policy, saying that 86% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans should prosecute Trump. I am. Still, the fact that almost half of the country believes he should be prosecuted is noteworthy to the former president, pointing out the difficulties he may face if he runs again at the White House. It is a position.
Meanwhile, Trump's funding has dropped dramatically in the last two months. He reported raising a total of over $ 19,000 in May and June after receiving nearly $ 9 million in March and April.
For the 2024 presidential election, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he had heard similar concerns about Trump from donors and voters before this week's testimony. Political shortcomings.
"People are concerned that we may lose the election in 2012 and want to avoid appointing someone with a serious flaw. I'm thinking, "says Christie.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is also considering an election in 2024, but in the GOP primary, even if Republican voters aren't paying close attention to parliamentary hearings. He said he believes he can beat Mr. Trump.
"His approval in the Republican primary has already declined somewhat," Hogan said in an interview. "Trump was the least popular president in American history until Joe Biden."
Other Republican presidential aides said this week for Trump to win the next Republican nomination. He personally said it could be an overwhelming favorite, but believes his position with Republican voters is steadily declining. There was broad, or at least hope, that Hutchinson's testimony would accelerate its decline between voters and donors in a way that would open up opportunities for others.
Mark Short, senior adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, a 2024 presidential candidate, was frank when asked about Trump's political power.
"Republican activists believed that Donald Trump was the only candidate who could beat Hillary," Short said. "Now the dynamics are reversed. He is the only one who lost to Joe Biden."
Indeed, Trump's Republican candidate competitors are leaning.
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who joined the committee on January 6 and did not exclude the 2024 presidential election, cast Trump. As a direct threat to American democracy in a speech on Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
"Republicans cannot pledge allegiance to Donald Trump or to the Constitution. We must choose," she said.
Haley said she wouldn't ask for a Republican nomination in 2024 if Trump ran, did her testimony give her a reason to rethink the plan? I didn't say on Thursday. Instead, she made a bright sound.
"If there looks like a place for me next year, I've never lost a race, I'm not going to start now," Haley told reporters. "I'll put in 1,000% and finish. And if I don't have a place for me, I'll fight for this country until the last breath." He said he continued to devote himself. He will support him at the Iowa Caucus, no matter who runs.
But his wife, Kathy de Corning, said, "We can do better."
"I don't know if he can be elected anymore," she said.
-
People reported from New York. New York Associated Press author Jill Corbin contributed to this report.