Trump controversies drown out GOP rivals

Former President Trump has in recent days shown that even a bad news cycle for him can also mean bad news for his challengers in the race for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination.

Trump last week was arraigned on federal charges over his retention of classified documents after leaving office, a development that has yet to dampen his support in the primary but that some worry leaves him even weaker in a general election.

But those seeking to overtake Trump in the polls as the new GOP party leader have struggled to break through the noise around the arraignment. Instead, Republican candidates have been saddled by questions about Trump’s indictment, whether it was justified and whether they would consider pardoning the former president if elected.

Some candidates have expressed frustration with the lack of opportunity to make their case on the campaign trail, underscoring the difficulty GOP candidates will have breaking through in a field that has already been dominated by Trump and where the former president is sure to remain front-and-center as his legal problems accumulate.

“He has a wide lead because he dominates the conversation,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who launched his campaign last week, said Sunday on Fox News.

“And I think the press — and you know I don’t want to fault the press — but that’s all they want to talk about,” Suarez said. “If we keep talking about the former president, frankly, I’m sure he’s sitting at home in Mar-a-Lago smiling and laughing because they’re giving him the nomination.”

Suarez has only been a candidate for a few days, but already his bid has been overshadowed to a degree by Trump; the Miami mayor was one of many 2024 candidates asked in recent days if they would pardon Trump should they be elected president. 

Suarez appeared to dodge the question, saying that the pardon power should be used to “heal the country.”

Other candidates have similarly seen their attempts to build momentum in early voting states blotted out by Trump’s indictment, particularly by questions about whether they would pardon the former president.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was asked about the issue by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt and said he would not engage with it due to its hypothetical nature.

Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) responded similarly to a question about the pardon issue on “Fox News Sunday” but added that “every American is innocent until proven guilty.” 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley went a tad further, suggesting that she would be “inclined in favor of a pardon.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence called discussion of a Trump pardon “premature,” adding that he was unsure “why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the president will be found guilty.”

Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur running for the nomination, has managed to use Trump’s centrality to the news cycle to garner some attention.

When Trump was indicted in Manhattan over an alleged hush money scheme to keep an affair quiet, and again when Trump was indicted on federal charges in the document case, Ramaswamy was first out of the gate among Republican presidential candidates defending the former president and urging his rivals to do the same.

Ramaswamy vowed to pardon Trump if he were elected in 2024, putting the pressure on other Republican candidates to pledge to do the same.

Trump’s third bid for the White House comes against a backdrop of a slew of legal battles.

Trump and his legal team are already juggling two indictments and civil cases with filing deadlines or court dates stretching through the summer and into the heart of 2024 campaign season. Two other criminal investigations could bring more charges.

The news cycle around Trump’s federal arraignment, and the ensuing questions about whether his challengers would agree to pardon him, underscore the conundrum the Republican field is facing.

“Trump is blocking his rivals from getting much-needed media oxygen. It’s the same thing he did in 2016,” said one GOP strategist. “It’s incredibly frustrating for his competitors.”

Part of the problem for Trump’s challengers is that polling has shown Republican voters still support the former president, and in some cases support a hypothetical pardon for him. The views of those voters, whose support other GOP candidates need to overtake Trump in the polls, makes it especially difficult for them to break through.

Just as he did in the wake of being charged in Manhattan, Trump seems to have solidified his lead among Republican primary voters in the days after he was arraigned on federal charges.

A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released Friday and conducted after he announced he had been indicted on federal charges found 59 percent of Republican voters said they would vote for Trump in the primary, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis garnering the next-most support at 14 percent.

The same poll found 53 percent of respondents overall, including 80 percent of Republicans, said they would support a pardon for Trump in the interest of national unity if he is convicted in the classified documents case.

The surveys make for another reason frustration is building among some Republicans who wish to move on from the former president.

“Trump blots out the sun,” said Dan Eberhart, a GOP fundraiser who has been critical of the former president.

“The debates may be the only chance for someone to break through,” he added. “Trump in the proto-incumbent. Front-runner is the wrong word.”