Resistance to Trump fading fast
Ex-president’s efforts pay off as he gains support in Congress
Long before Donald Trump announced his campaign to retake the White House, he launched a quieter campaign to rack up Republican endorsements.
In early 2021, after Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden and inspired a mob of supporters to attack the Capitol trying to overturn the 2020 election, the defeated president started laying the groundwork for the support in Congress he would need for a return.
With lavish three-hour dinners hosted at his private clubs, telephone town-hall fundraisers, rides on his private jet and endorsements of his own up and down the ballot, Trump schmoozed and strategised and wined-and-dined his way to the GOP lawmakers’ support.
By the time of the first 2024 caucus in Iowa this month, Trump had secured endorsements from 120 House Republicans and nearly half the Republicans in the Senate.
On Thursday, after Trump won the New Hampshire primary, the number of endorsements climbed higher, with a solid majority of Republicans in both chambers of Congress.
“It’s past time for the Republican Party to unite around President Trump,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, setting the tone after Trump’s New Hampshire victory.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for Trump, whose campaign is being powered not only by loyal voters but also by elected Republicans in Congress. And those politicians appear unwilling or unable to stop his rise, almost ensuring Trump has no institutional roadblocks to the eventual party nomination and a potential return to power.
Trump himself marvelled at those standing behind him on election night in New Hampshire, where he was trying to drive his remaining rival, Nikki Haley, out of the race with a show of endorsements from her home state of South Carolina.
He singled out Senator Tim Scott, suggesting he “must really hate” Haley, the state’s former governor.
The senator, once a Republican presidential candidate himself, stepped up to correct Trump, gushing: “I just love you.”
The race for endorsements, years in the making, has been painstakingly orchestrated as a way to bring a certain official Washington legitimacy to Trump, who was twice impeached by the House, including for the insurrection at the Capitol.
Trump now faces federal charges of defrauding voters in the run-up to the Capitol attack, among dozens of other charges in several different court cases.
Once facing pockets of resistance in Congress, Trump has essentially won over all segments of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill — the House GOP leadership team, including Whip Tom Emmer who had voted to certify Biden’s election, to the chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, Representative Bob Good of Virginia, who quickly switched sides last week when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign.
The Republicans in the Senate, who have provided a stable of Trump sceptics, some more vocal than others, are also falling in line, save for a few. Trump is even picking up backing from a New York politician in a House district that Biden won last time, with more swing-district Republicans expected to join.
What becomes glaring now are the holdouts, most notably Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and a few top Republican senators, who appear wary of Trump’s return and have yet to give him the nod.
While McConnell has signalled he would support the eventual Republican nominee, the same comment the second-ranking Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota made on Thursday to reporters at the Capitol, that’s usually not good enough for Trump.
For Trump, a supportive nod is not sufficient. He wants a full-throated endorsement.
The “Big E”, as some have said he calls it.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a key Trump ally, said it’s a moment of “true change” for the GOP.
Any Republican who isn’t willing to adapt to his policies, “we are completely eradicating from the party”.
So far, Trump has received endorsements from 30 of the Republican senators and some 120 Republican members of the House — far and away beyond those for Haley or even DeSantis, a former congressman who suspended his campaign after a disappointing finish in Iowa. He later endorsed Trump.
Trump’s team says winning over the holdouts has been easier than one might think, insisting there are no pressure campaigns, sticks to go with the carrots that Trump uses to court lawmakers over phone calls and long dinners at his Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster clubs.
Representative William Timmons was among the South Carolina lawmakers that Trump’s campaign brought to New Hampshire to appear at a rally in a display of force.
South Carolina’s primary is next month and Timmons said he was working to win over Republican colleagues, “putting the hard press” on those who earlier backed Scott.
His message to those who have yet to endorse Trump: “Come on in. The water’s fine.”