Trump trailing…wait for it…Liz Cheney! New poll (Hinckely Institute) of Utah Republican voters, Trump in third place.
• Ron DeSantis: 24.2%
• Liz Cheney: 16.4%
• Donald Trump: 14.6%
Donald Trump repeatedly refused to disavow the outspoken antisemite and white supremacist Nick Fuentes after they spoke over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, rejecting the advice from advisers over fears he might alienate a section of his base, two people familiar with the situation said.
The former US president was urged publicly and privately to denounce Fuentes in the aftermath of the dinner, which included the performer Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who has also recently been propagating antisemitic remarks.
But Trump eschewed making outright disavowals of Fuentes, the people said, and none of the statements from the campaign or on his Truth Social account included criticism of Fuentes, despite efforts from advisers who reached Trump over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Across three statements on Friday, Trump initially sought only to play down the dinner and made no mention of Fuentes or his views, before saying angrily in a post on his Truth Social website that evening that Ye “expressed no antisemitism” and “I didn’t know Nick Fuentes”.
The line about not knowing Fuentes was the closest Trump came to acknowledging the offensive nature of the dinner, under pressure from advisers who warned him that being associated with a racist and Holocaust denier could further damage his personal brand as well as his recently launched 2024 presidential campaign.
But even with his ignorance of Fuentes taken at face value, the statements signal Trump will give extraordinary deference to the most fringe elements of his base – even if it means potentially losing support from more moderate Republicans who have not typically cared for his indulgence of extremism.
Trump has had a long history of delaying or muting criticism of white supremacy, drawing moral equivalency in 2017 between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters at the deadly unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, and refusing to denounce the far-right Proud Boys group at a 2020 presidential debate.
The halting response to Fuentes most closely mirrored his inability to condemn white supremacist groups after Charlottesville, the people said, when Trump faced intense criticism for not naming the rightwing groups in the bloodshed that ended with the death of a young woman.
When reached for comment, the Trump 2024 campaign said the former president had a record of combating antisemitism, including the appointment of a special envoy to combat antisemitism, and strengthening ties to Israel by recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
Donald Trump is running for president. But according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll, a whole lot of people wish he wasn't.
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans (57%) said it is a bad thing that Trump is running again, while just 34% said it is a good thing.
Trump's numbers among Democrats on that question are, not surprisingly, awful, with 88% saying it is a bad thing that he launched a 2024 White House campaign.
But that's not what should worry Trump. It's his numbers among independents (58% said him running is a bad thing) and even among Republicans (27% said it is a bad thing) that should be of concern to the former president.
The simple fact made plain by Quinnipiac's poll is that there is a sizable chunk of the public -- and not just Democrats -- who believe that another Trump presidential bid is a bad idea for the country.
And that's far from the only negative takeaway from Trump in the poll. There are several data points suggesting that Republicans are not only open to a White House run from Ron DeSantis, but that the Florida governor poses a real threat to Trump.
Six in 10 Republicans said they would like to see DeSantis run for president, while roughly one-quarter said they didn't.
When asked who they prefer win the 2024 GOP nomination, 44% of Republicans picked DeSantis -- the same percentage who chose Trump.
Now, this is one poll. But the data is the data. And what the data suggests is that Trump would not only be a weakened general election candidate (those numbers among independents are, um, not good), but also that there is room in the Republican field for someone other than the former president.
As CNN's Harry Enten wrote recently of Trump:
"He does remain a force to be reckoned with in GOP circles, and the news that the Justice Department has appointed a special counsel to oversee investigations related to the former president could elicit a rally-around-Trump effect among Republicans. Nevertheless, it's clear his power within the party has diminished following the 2022 midterm elections."
All true! And all concerning for the Trump loyalists who want to see him as their party's 2024 nominee.
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