Former President Donald Trump and his team have yet to make it clear how he can beat President Joe Biden this time. His ongoing lack of discipline makes it clear that the most likely outcome is a 2020 repeat.
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany offered the same wise advice as my colleague Chris Tremoglie following Trump’s win in the New Hampshire primary: Forget Nikki Haley and focus on the general election. There is no path for Haley to win the nomination, and there really hasn’t been since she declared her candidacy.
“If I’m Trump, I sit back, and I exclusively focus on the general election,” McEnany said. “I take the posture of a presumptive nominee. I focus on, No. 1, uniting the party, and No. 2, winning the independents, which Nikki Haley won 55%-39%.” That is obviously reasonable and correct, and McEnany was one of the better members of Trump’s administration, so, naturally, Trump threw a fit.
“I don’t need any advice from RINO Kayleigh McEnany on Fox. Just had a GIANT VICTORY over a badly failing candidate, ‘Birdbrain,’ and she’s telling me what I can do better. Save your advice for Nikki!” Trump posted after his victory. Meanwhile, in just a recent series of polls, Trump is down to Biden in the crucial state of Pennsylvania by 8 points (down 23 points with independents) and down among independents nationally by 12 points. He doesn’t even have the entirety of the GOP behind him, with half of Iowa voters and 1 in 4 of New Hampshire Republicans backing other GOP candidates.
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There is no reason for Trump to humor Haley’s campaign rather than pivoting to the general election and focusing on rallying support from both Republicans and independents. Even if he doesn’t want to do that (because his own ego won’t let a GOP challenge to him go unpunished), there is no reason to attack McEnany, who proved her worth to him in his first term, for offering that obviously correct advice. But Trump can never let perceived slights or “disloyalty” slide by, and so he is as quick on the trigger as he has ever been.
This is how Republicans lost regularly under Trump in the first place. He couldn’t stay on message ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, he kept shouting over Biden in their first presidential debate rather than letting the incoherent rambler bury himself, and he couldn’t focus on winning the Georgia Senate runoffs after his own 2020 loss, handing control of the chamber to Democrats. He still has no discipline, and he will only continue to sink winnable races going forward, most likely including his own.