Some factions in the Republican Party don’t want Donald Trump to run again in 2024. It’s understandable; even I sometimes feel that Trump is better suited to stay on the sidelines. But, boy, some in the GOP establishment have some really bizarre ideas about who might challenge Trump for the GOP nomination.
Trump has suggested that there are some potential candidates who wouldn’t challenge him in a primary, including Mike Pence and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.)—the latter being the most preferred candidate after Trump. So who do some GOP donors think should step up to challenge Trump if he runs again in 2024?
Would you believe that the person they want isn’t even a Republican?
Well, believe it because, according to a report from CNBC, some Republicans are pushing for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to run for the Republican nomination in 2024.
Related: The RNC Just Told the Biased Commission on Presidential Debates to Shove It
These donors apparently have been wowed by Manchin’s habit of thwarting key aspects of Biden’s agenda and have somehow gotten it in their heads that it would make Manchin a good candidate for the GOP.
According to the report, Manchin attended a $5,000/plate fundraiser last month at the estate of billionaire investor Nelson Peltz in Florida. An attendee of the fundraiser told CNBC that even though Manchin said he plans to run for reelection to the Senate in 2024, several people expressed their desire for Manchin to switch parties and challenge Trump for the Republican nomination.
Manchin has long denied that he would switch parties. However, last year he revealed that he’s approached “every day” about switching parties.
“It would be much easier, my goodness,” Manchin said. “But is that the purpose of being involved in public service, because it’s easy?”
Despite the constant pressure to switch parties, he insists that it is something he hasn’t thought about. “No. I’ve never thought … What I’m telling you now is who I am. Do you think by having a D or an R or an I is going to change who I am? I don’t think the Rs are going to be any more happy with me than Ds are right now.”
A spokesperson for Manchin insisted that Manchin is focused on running for reelection.
“Senator Manchin has made it clear he is singularly focused on doing what is best for West Virginia and the country regardless of any political affiliation,” Samantha Runyon, Manchin’s communications director, said. “In this hyper partisan world we live in, this may sound like news. But for his entire career he has always been focused on doing what is right, not pleasing party elites or winning elections.”
It’s also a terrible idea. As much as Republicans can appreciate Manchin for occasionally blocking Biden’s agenda, for the most part, he’s been a loyal Democrat. Manchin even supported the confirmation of Biden’s controversial Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, despite her troubling history of giving lenient sentences to child sex offenders. So while I can appreciate Manchin when he resists Biden’s radical agenda, that doesn’t make him someone I’d want to be president.
