RNC chairman expects Trump to back 2024 GOP nominee even if it’s not him

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is confident that former President Donald Trump will back the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, even if it’s not him.

By appearing on CNN State of the Union Sunday morning, McDaniel told host Dana Bash that the candidates will most likely sign a pledge to support the candidate in order to participate in the proceedings.

“We haven’t defined the criteria, but I expect the commitment to be part of it. It was part of 2016. I think that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? If you’re going to be on the Republican National Committee at the debate stage, asking voters to support you, you should say, ‘I’m going to support the voters and whoever they choose as their candidate,'” McDaniel said. “I think they’re all going to sign him.”

While speaking to radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this month, Trump was asked if he would support the 2024 GOP nominee, whoever he is. The former president replied that “it should depend on who the candidate was”.

Trump has criticized his opponents in the past and it’s no different this campaign cycle. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for president earlier this month, and Trump responded by recalling his previous comments on immigration, Medicare and Social Security.

Another potential 2024 rival Trump has on his radar is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t officially indicated whether he plans to run. The former president repeated the insults on Truth Social by calling the governor “Ron DeSanctimonious” and trashing his state’s COVID-19 response.

While speaking on Truth Social last Tuesday about DeSantis, the former president said, “Florida was doing VERY well before Ron DeSanctus came along. People are fleeing New York to Florida (and d other places) because of high TAXES and out of control CRIME, not because of Governor (thank you President Trump!) DeSanctimonious.”

Trump continued, “Rick Scott did a great job, and even Charlie Crist had some really good numbers. SUNSHINE AND OCEAN, very enticing!!!”

Political analyst Robert Collins said Newsweek Sunday, “Donald Trump has proven that his behavior is unpredictable. So there is no way for the RNC chairman to predict what he will do. In all likelihood, he will support the candidate, but we do not know everything just not for Like the campaign[s] begin to ramp up, we can expect Trump to begin to launch personal attacks on the other Republican candidates in any attempt to knock them out of the race. »

Collins continued: “It’s actually already started. Right now the poll numbers favor Trump winning the primary. It’s very early days, so things can change, of course. But for now, he seems like the most likely candidate.”

Meanwhile, in a recent Fox News poll, the former president leads potential 2024 challengers. Trump has a double-digit lead over DeSantis and Haley among voters. The poll interviewed more than 1,000 people and was conducted from February 19-22.

Newsweek contacted Trump’s campaign for comment.