Amid the dynamics of the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Vivek Ramaswamy, after finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses, has officially withdrawn from the race.
Receiving criticism from Trump, who stated that he was a fraud and supporting him would not be supporting the "MAGA" (Make America Great Again) movement, led to discouraged support for Ramaswamy. In addition, Ramaswamy supported controversial conspiracy theories such as the Capitol attack on January 6 was "an inside job" without providing any clear evidence. Low support, Trump's criticism, and promoting controversial conspiracy theories jeopardized Ramaswamy's campaign's viability, and ultimately contributed to his suspension for the presidential campaign. In the end, Ramaswamy firmly backed Trump, urging voters to bring support for Trump.
Just two days before the New Hampshire primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew from the Republican presidential primary, attributing his withdrawal in large part to the desire of the majority of Republican voters giving Trump another shot.
There are several drawbacks that can be associated with DeSantis' decision to withdraw from the presidential race, such as his circumspect handling with Trump as well as his media shyness. In an attempt to win over Republicans, DeSantis tried to position himself as a Trump substitute; as a result, his position did not make a big impression, as he did not want to enrage Trump's supporters and protect his political career in the future. Additionally, he has previously faced criticism for coming across as stiff and awkward, as well as his media shyness which has negatively impacted his appearance in the public eye. Internal conflicts between power centers in DeSantis’ campaign, particularly his outsourcing to the super PAC Never Back Down, caused tension among campaign staff members and produced arguments and bad press.
The decisions of Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis to suspend their presidential campaigns are intricately tied to Donald Trump's influence within the Republican Party. In spite of Trump’s criticism, Ramaswamy sees the strong hold Trump has over a significant portion of the GOP base, and ultimately withdrew and endorsed the former president. In a similar vein, DeSantis dropped out of the race, seeing Trump's significant lead and being wary of Trump's supporters. These incidents can be attributed to Trump's influence on the GOP base, as there is still a sizable portion of the Republican electorate loyal to Trump, which makes it challenging for competitors to stand out and establish themselves as viable alternatives. This produces a political environment in which success depends on having strategic alignment with Trump.
It remains to be seen how Nikki Haley will perform in the New Hampshire primary as Trump's competitor.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/15/us/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-drops-out.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4414407-ramaswamy-desantis-credit-if-drops-out/
https://abc7ny.com/ron-desantis-presidential-campaign-suspends-538-analysis/14350485/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/15/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-ends-presidential-campaign/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/15/1224751138/vivek-ramaswamy-suspends-campaign-and-endorses-trump
5 comments:
This was very interesting... I wonder how Trump's influence within the GOP will continue to shape the presidential primary, and how will this affect Nikki Haley. I also think it was interesting that as both Ramaswamy and De Santis Dropped out of their campaign, they then encouraged their supporters to vote for Trump--this all seems like a strategic scheme for Trump. It'll be interesting to see how Nikki Haley does in the upcoming primaries without Trump's direct endorsement.
Coming back to this after Haley lost in the New Hampshire primary, I think it's pretty obvious (if it wasn't already before) that Trump will be the GOP nominee. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that historically, no Republican has won both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and not been the nominee. On the other hand, it does show the power of Independents, who seem to largely oppose Trump and showed up to support Haley. I also think that DeSantis dropping out was pretty unsurprising, giving his performance thus far.
Side note, it's pretty interesting how much write-in support Biden got.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/23/us/new-hampshire-primary-updates
When I was first reading into the Republican presidential candidates, I had the presumption that it would be Governor DeSantis who would give Trump a run for the nomination, given his initial media publicity being pretty strong and his ideas seeming favorable to a lot of Republican (by extension, Republican anti-Trump) votes. Echoing Rachel, I also find this news to be somewhat telling of the idea that Trump will win the GOP nomination again (besides some unprecedented or surprising event occurring). Furthermore, I find it interesting that Vivek Ramaswamy still endorses Trump when the opposite cannot be said. I wonder how, if anything, his political career will continue.
Just reading the title of this article, it was easy to connect this to what we have been learning in gov. It is very hard to beat other candidates whose names are so well known and popular, and going against both Trump and Biden, who both have already run, seems very expensive and difficult, so this is not surprising. I also agree with others comments that it is likely that with this news, Trump will win the GOP nomination.
Reading this made me realize once again how much power Trump has over alot of people. Both Ramaswaymy and DeSantis dropping out of the presidential campaigns shows the influnces that Trump has, both of them dropping out indicates that going agaisnt Trump is a big obstacle to over come, it highlights how they are trying to protect thier future political careers against the power of Trump. I also don't understand how people still support this man, not only has he given very contraversial statements but his meaning of "MAGA" is very discriminatory. Like the textbook stated America is like a melting pot of many different cultures ethnicities, and traditions that make up the USA. How can Trump get rid of all that?
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