Members of the Republican Party are desperately pushing Trump to stop focusing on the 2020 election and instead look to the future. Recently, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told ABC News’s George Stephanopolous that the former president’s continued spotlight on the 2020 election will hurt his chances if he decides to run in 2024.
According to The Hill:
“If he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances,” he added.
Pressed by Stephanopoulos on past comments in which Graham said Trump, who has repeatedly leveraged baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, would have to change if he wants to be competitive in 2024, and examples of him not changing his conduct since, Graham emphasized that Trump will “hurt his cause” and the GOP overall if he “continues to talk about the 2020 election.”
“I do believe that if he talked about what he’s capable of doing and remind people what he did in the past, he has a chance to come back,” Graham said.
“If he continues to talk about the 2020 election, I think it hurts his cause and quite frankly, hurts the Republican Party,” added.
While Trump has repeatedly hinted at plans to mount a third presidential campaign in 2024 he’s yet to make any official announcements. The former president has taken on a sort of kingmaker role within the Republican Party as he throws his clout behind Republican challengers across the country as the GOP seeks to win back majorities in the House and Senate.
However, some have begun to question if Trump’s power over the party is waning. The rumors seem to have gotten under the former president’s skin as he released a statement through his Save America PAC pushing back on the claim.
Per a separate report from The Hill:
In a statement on Sunday, Trump insisted that the power of his endorsement in races up and down the ballot “is much stronger today than it was even prior to” the 2020 presidential election, noting a near-perfect record of his preferred candidates winning Republican primaries.
“I am almost unblemished in the victory count, and it is considered by the real pollsters to be the strongest endorsement in U.S. political history,” Trump said.
“There are plenty of existing politicians who wouldn’t be in power now were it not for my Endorsement (like the Old Crow!),” he added, using his preferred nickname for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “The Fake News does everything within their power to diminish and belittle but the people know, and the politicians seeking the Endorsement really know!”
