If Politico intended to generate some conversation with a headline, its editors appear to have succeeded. As the day began, this greeted readers at the top of the page: “Looming indictment wrenches open the central question of 2024: Is Trump fit to serve?”
Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he expects to soon be a thrice-indicted candidate is forcing GOP candidates to fully contend with the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential primary. Is the former president fit to reoccupy the office?
In the run-up to Election Day 2016, I recall some conversation about the presidential election serving as a referendum of sorts on Trump’s character. This never made any sense to me: The question about the Republican nominee’s character had already been answered. Trump had spent the campaign presenting himself to the electorate as a cruel and racist buffoon who lied uncontrollably, mocked those with disabilities, ridiculed heroic veterans, and was heard bragging about sexually assaulting women.
If observers wanted to see the election as a referendum on our character, that might’ve made sense, but to the extent that there was a test, it was one the GOP candidate had already flunked.
This came to mind anew seeing the Politico report. “Is Trump fit to serve?” is certainly a question, but it can’t be “the central question of 2024” because the answer is already obvious.
Indeed, members of the former president’s staff have already answered it — out loud, in public, and on the record. For example, former White House national security adviser John Bolton, who worked closely with Trump for a year and a half, has stated plainly that the former president is not “fit for office.” Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who also worked alongside Trump for a year and a half, used nearly identical phrasing: “I think he’s unfit for office.”
The assessments were hardly unreasonable. We are, after all, talking about a man who has already been indicted twice, and who’ll very likely be indicted twice more. He has also been impeached twice and held liable for sexually abusing and defaming a woman. What’s more, while in office, the Republican proved himself to be corrupt, incompetent and overtly hostile toward democracy, American institutions, U.S. allies and the rule of law.
How can “Is Trump fit to serve?” be “the central question of 2024”? There are a variety of alternatives in the mix for the actual central question. Will Republican primary voters care about the former president’s faults and failures, which make him unfit to serve? Will the GOP base be informed about this? Will Trump’s rivals make a credible effort to shine a light on the former president’s scandalous record? How will all of this affect the Republican front-runner’s ability to compete in a general election? These questions have uncertain answers. “Is Trump fit to serve?” has a painfully obvious answer.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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