Politics
JUST IN: Trump Reveals His Decision On RNC Loyalty Pledge
Former president and current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump stated that he would not sign the Republican National Committee’s pledge form to support the eventual nominee and requiring candidates to appear before a moderated debate stage on August 23rd according to Just the News. “I wouldn’t sign the pledge…Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn’t have? I wouldn’t have certain people as somebody that I would endorse,” Trump told Newsmax anchor Eric Bolling.
Trump also said that he has “already decided” whether he will attend the RNC-endorsed debate and that he will announce what he plans to do next week. Trump added, “I haven’t totally ruled it [joining the debate] out.” In contrast to Trump, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed the form. Republican hopeful Chris Christie, however, took a different approach. “I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” said Christie.
While Trump eventually signed a loyalty pledge back in the Republican primary for 2016, he retracted that pledge given that he felt he could not in good stead endorse another candidate. Trump also acknowledged that if Ted Cruz (R-TX) felt the same, he would understand. “Honestly, he doesn’t have to support me,” said Trump about Cruz, his rival back in 2016 for the Republican nomination. “I’m not asking for his support” he added. Both John Kasich and Cruz themselves also hedged about their pledges in that race.
There was even a famous moment of Trump refusing to pledge loyalty for 2016.
WE ARE SO BACK https://t.co/9eMcDcdRoP pic.twitter.com/H9skVihmuS
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) August 10, 2023
In this 2024 race for the Republican nomination so far, Trump has been the clear favorite. Richard Baris, a pollster and political pundit, went so far as to comment that “A Republican candidate not named Donald Trump cannot win a presidential election in this country…And it’s time for reality checks, specifically around the Rust Belt.”
Baris explained that his polling showed that “[i]f Republicans go back to a party without Donald Trump [or Trumpism], or go back to a party that’s perceived to have fought Donald Trump every step of the way; filled with a bunch of people who stabbed him in the back; filled with a bunch of people who betrayed him or cowered in the face of maybe, potentially their own persecution — whatever my American people are going to derive from what they’re seeing here — if they go back to that party, it’s over.”
Even back in May of this year, Richard Baris observed that for the other Republican primary candidates, the problem was “no longer persuading potential ‘fatigued’ voters anymore, it’s now a much more difficult task of changing A DECIDED MAJORITY of voters’ minds [who wanted Trump as their candidate].”
For the lazy who reply to tweets without having the intellect or attention span to read the article outlining an argument in great detail, let's walk you through what you missed.
1. This is not 2016. The NeverTrump/Anti-Trump vote has never been a "majority". Meaning, the…
— Rich Baris The People's Pundit (@Peoples_Pundit) May 13, 2023
He further revealed, “No candidate has lost the nomination with 60+ endorsements from NTL and Gov elected offices, in the modern era. No candidate has lost the nomination polling at or above 50%, in the modern era.”
Yes, even this early in the process, at this point:
No candidate has lost the nomination with 60+ endorsements from NTL and Gov elected offices, in the modern era.
No candidate has lost the nomination polling at or above 50%, in the modern era. https://t.co/w2OxBwYdqi
— Rich Baris The People's Pundit (@Peoples_Pundit) May 13, 2023