Is this latest scandal the one to neuter Trump? Don’t bet on it

Is Donald Trump’s disastrous dinner with rapper Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes the final nail in the coffin for the former president’s future electoral prospects? You might think so, given the chorus of condemnation emanating from prominent Republicans over the past week. But don’t hold your breath.

Trump has a penchant for surviving scandals. Remember the Access Hollywood tape during the 2016 campaign, when the press and pundit class wrote him off as a candidate? Or after he denigrated war hero and Senator John McCain (a mistake that did ultimately cost him Arizona)? Or after Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where a counter protester was killed? Despite his myriad own goals, the 45th president remains the standard bearer of the Republican Party and the most likely candidate to secure the GOP nomination in 2024.

But amid all the negative attention around that recent meal at Mar-a-Lago, Trump does appear weaker. During his 2024 announcement earlier this month, even Fox News cut away from what felt like a tired and rehearsed speech. Even Trump himself didn’t seem to have his heart in it. And some of his closest family members and advisers didn’t bother showing up. After the announcement, Ivanka Trump said she would no longer participate in politics and would sit out her father’s campaign.

The former president just doesn’t seem to strike fear in his fellow Republicans like he used to, either. Numerous Republicans – from Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis to the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo – are openly flirting with a 2024 White House bid themselves. And Trump has now repeatedly shown that he is a drag on his party on Election Day. In 2018, 2020 and 2022, Democratic voters turned out in droves to denounce Trumpism at the ballot box. Trump-backed candidates didn’t do well in the recent November midterms. It’s hard to call yourself a winner when you keep losing.

Still, it remains dangerous to write off Trump completely. He has a preternatural ability to motivate his base voters. Trump tapped into a dark underbelly of American conservatism in an increasingly diverse US populace. And his shamelessness makes him a hard target for his fellow Republicans. He will just respond in kind with a pithy nickname for his opponents – whether it’s “Lyin” Ted Cruz, “Little Marco” Rubio, or his less catchy Ron DeSanctimonious.

Trump may not be the energetic outsider he was during his first campaign. But he has remade the GOP in his image. Republicans need him, and he knows it.

Yours,

David Taintor

US deputy editor