Donald Trump is an electoral disaster for the Republican Party. He cost the GOP control of the House of Representatives in 2018, lost the presidency in 2020, and contributed to the party’s underperformance in the 2022 midterms.
So how to stop Trump from wreaking havoc in 2024? Apparently some desperate Republicans are simply hoping he dies before the election.
I’m not exaggerating. Earlier this week, the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins recounted multiple conversations with Republican officials who see no way to stop Trump from destroying the party in yet another electoral cycle.
When this is one of the GOP’s plans, you’ve pretty much thrown in the towel
According to former Michigan Rep. Peter Mejier, “You have a lot of folks who are just wishing for [Trump’s] mortal demise. I want to be clear: I’m not in that camp. But I’ve heard from a lot of people who will go onstage and put on the red hat, and then give me a call the next day and say, ‘I can’t wait until this guy dies.’” Coppins noted that Mark Leibovich, in his recent book “Thank You for Your Servitude,” quotes a former Republican representative saying of Trump, “We’re just waiting for him to die.”
It’s reminiscent of the “Seinfeld” episode in which George, desperate to get out of his impending wedding to Susan, wishes she might take a plane somewhere.
“And what, hope for a crash?” Jerry asks.
“It happens,” George says.
Trump is 76 years old, has the eating habits of a teenage boy, views exercise with the same disdain he does modesty, and is seemingly permanently stressed and enraged. But when this is one of the GOP’s plans, you’ve pretty much thrown in the towel — or at the very least, tacitly acknowledged that you have no political courage whatsoever. For a party that has long preached the virtues of determination, resolve and rugged individualism, the level of cowardice is shocking (albeit not longer surprising).
To be sure, the GOP is right to be afraid. Another Trump presidential nomination will likely be an electoral meltdown for Republicans. If Trump does win the party nod, it seems highly unlikely that he would better his 2020 performance against Biden. A politician who was well below a 50% approval rating for pretty much his entire presidency, is currently viewed favorably by less than 40% of the country, and is obsessed with a two-year-old election that he clearly lost is not exactly an ideal candidate for winning back the White House.
The down-ballot carnage for the GOP could also be significant: Vulnerable House Republicans who won seats in purple districts this past November would likely be dragged down by association with Trump.
Ideally, for Republicans, they would rally around one nominee but that would mean confronting Trump directly, and that’s a path that few are willing to tread. As Coppins notes, many Republicans “quietly hope for a new nominee,” but “few would be willing to endorse a non-Trump candidate early enough in the primary calendar to make a difference.”
Ideally, for Republicans, they would rally around one nominee but that would mean confronting Trump directly, and that’s a path that few are willing to tread.
Their preference is, and has always been, for someone other than them to do it. Trump’s continued presidential aspirations create a classic collective action problem: Republicans who want to be president would have to sacrifice their electoral dreams, while others would be required to challenge Trump and risk the wrath of the former president’s social media barbs. Acting in the party’s long-term interests and putting aside their personal ambition is especially difficult for prominent members of a party in which selfishness is seen not as a character flaw, but as a virtue.
But there’s another problem — and we turn again to Seinfeld co-creator Larry David. One of the best bits on his HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” comes in season 5 when at a dinner party, someone spills gravy on Larry’s suit, and his mother-in-law yells out, “Somebody get a sponge.”
Larry’s response is perfect, “I don’t understand. Why don’t you get a sponge?”
The modern GOP is Larry David’s mother-in-law — she recognizes a problem and even posits a solution, but wants someone else to fix it. Think for a moment of all the Republican politicians who have over the years criticized Trump but don’t want to get the proverbial sponge and rid the party of him. In 2021, following Trump’s second impeachment acquittal, Sen. Mitch McConnell delivered a speech on the Senate floor lacerating Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Then he voted to acquit and weeks later said that if Trump is the nominee in 2024, he’ll vote for him again. Around the same time, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Trump bore some responsibility for Jan. 6. He privately told colleagues that “I’ve had it with this guy” and that he would push for Trump’s resignation. Last month, though, McCarthy said he’d consider supporting an effort to “expunge” Trump’s second impeachment. Or what about likely presidential candidate Nikki Haley? In the days after the attempted insurrection, she said of Trump, “We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.” Nine months later, she told The Wall Street Journal, “We need him in the Republican Party. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.” How about former president George W. Bush, who has been a regular punching bag (along with his family) for Trump over the past seven years? In April 2021, he said in an interview that he would describe the modern GOP “as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist.” But when asked if he’d criticize the man clearly responsible for that dangerous shift, Bush laughed off the idea. Imagine if all these political figures united around the idea that they need to take a stand against Trump. Imagine if they collectively spoke out against him — and pointed out that not only does his belief system (and yes, I’m using that term generously) run counter to long-standing conservative principles, but also that he’s a political zero? Maybe it would make a difference and maybe it wouldn’t but, at the very least, these mandarins of the party could take a stand against the havoc that Trump is wreaking on the party and the country. But doing so would mean standing up and getting a sponge — and really, can’t someone else do it?
Michael A. Cohen is a political writer and a fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation. 
