In the wake of Iowa’s and New Hampshire’s presidential nominating contests, the American Opportunity Alliance — an influential network of Republican megadonors — decided it was time to take stock at the group’s winter meeting. Representatives from Donald Trump’s and Nikki Haley’s presidential campaigns were invited to attend the event and make presentations to the deep-pocketed GOP contributors.
As a New York Times report noted, Trump’s dominant position has long been obvious, but the donors in the American Opportunity Alliance “do not move in unison, and people supporting Ms. Haley … are part of the network. Some members of the group have been open about wanting a candidate other than Mr. Trump.”
It was against this backdrop that the former president’s representative delivered a curious message to the megadonors. NBC News reported:
A top adviser to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has a message for some of the wealthiest Republican donors in the country: Don’t take the former president’s divisive rhetoric too seriously. … Speaking at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, [Susie] Wiles encouraged the powerful donors to essentially ignore Trump’s more offensive remarks and focus instead on the fact that the former president is in pole position in the Republican primary for president, according to people familiar with her remarks.
Part of what makes this notable is the familiarity of the circumstances. During Trump’s presidency, White House officials, unable to think of compelling defenses for their boss’ routine madness, would often tell journalists not to pay too much attention to the Republican’s unhinged rhetoric.
At times, some officials would even go so far as to argue that Trump’s weird tweets did not reflect the Trump administration’s policies — as if the sitting American president was just a weird uncle whose odd muttering deserved to be overlooked.
As the Republican tries to return to the White House, his team’s position hasn’t changed much. Members of his campaign operation seem to realize that Trump will spend the next several months saying ridiculous, offensive, and potentially even dangerous things, and they’d appreciate it if the party’s megadonors didn’t pay too much attention when this inevitably happens. Not to put too fine a point on this, but there is no modern precedent for a national campaign effectively telling campaign contributors, “Please ignore all the crazy stuff our boss is poised to say between now and Election Day.” Nevertheless, the Times reported this week that the American Opportunity Alliance’s megadonors have begun a “slow turn toward Trump,” coming to terms with the fact that he’s all but certain to win the GOP nomination.
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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