For example, Donald Trump put on a show of force this Fourth of July weekend, highlighting his early dominance in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and the difficult task his rivals will have to solve in order to thwart his bid to win their party. Nomination for the third time – books CNN.
The former president drew huge crowds Saturday at a rally in key South Carolina early on, which resonated over his false claims of election interference and allegations of mishandling of classified documents after he left office.
However, Pickens’ raucous event also demonstrated how enduringly charismatic his personality and intense political appeal was to GOP core voters.
His lead in the primary should serve as a warning to Democrats that the most turbulent president in modern history has a realistic chance of returning to a White House that is likely to be even more turbulent than his first term.
We preserve liberty, liberty, and justice, and promote the spirit of July 4th, 1776
Trump said, crafting a message that will fill his supporters with joy, but repulse those who have turned away from his assault on democracy after his defeat in 2020.
One senior supporter of Trump’s strongest rival even called Trump a “runaway runner.” Steve Curtis, a spokesman for the pro-DeSantis super PAC group, acknowledged the Florida governor was “too late,” a harsh assessment of a campaign that has yet to show DeSantis has national appeal.
On Tuesday, opponents of Trump tried to gain a foothold at Independence Day rallies, a fancy rite of passage for presidential campaigns, in a race in which no alternative candidate has yet caught fire or been able to harness the anti-Trump momentum.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, visited Iowa — a first state of the general election campaign likely to be crucial to his long campaign as he seeks to rally evangelical voters. DeSantis was in New Hampshire.
With more than six months to go until the first Republican primary, it’s too early to predict how the race will play out. Unexpected events and the weight of Trump’s criminal trials may begin to take their toll, and it would be unusual if at least one of his rivals could not increase popularity.
But the summer dynamics of the race suggest Trump is the current Republican frontrunner ahead of the crucial fundraising period between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. This is when the first primary debate will take place, which candidates should use to position themselves ahead of the race in this winter’s premiere nomination contests.
(Cover photo: Donald Trump on July 1, 2023. Photo: (Shaun Rayford / Getty Images)
