Trump’s 2024 announcement is an inflection point for Republicans, in NC and beyond

There have been a number of moments in Donald Trump’s political career in which it seemed like his party might abandon him.

Republicans have arrived at yet another inflection point, with Trump announcing Tuesday night his intent to run for president once again in 2024. The party now has a choice to make: declare fealty to its leader, or face his wrath.

Trump’s announcement comes only a week after a poor Republican showing in the midterms. Voters in key swing states rejected many of Trump’s preferred candidates, who shared his extreme views and echoed his lies about a stolen election.

Much of the blame for the party’s underperformance has been placed on Trump himself, and it’s raised questions about his political future. Some Republicans have indicated they’d like to see a competitive primary election but said they’d still support Trump if he becomes the eventual party nominee.

That’s a problem. It has long been a problem. Too many Republicans have indulged Trump for too long.

That should end now, but Trump won’t make it easy. The former president isn’t going to let Republicans watch this election from the sidelines. That includes Republicans in North Carolina, especially Ted Budd, whose recent ascendance to the U.S. Senate was fueled largely by Trump’s endorsement. Will Budd, who has been a staunch ally of Trump in Washington, abandon his kingmaker now?

The same goes for the rest of North Carolina’s Republican delegation, most of whom voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election. Thom Tillis, who has long struggled with what to do about Trump, will have to make a choice, too. Trump will be calling on their support, and silence will likely not be an option. They’ll have to pick a side — and Trump will do everything in his power to make sure they choose his.

In fact, as 2024 grows closer, North Carolina will likely be a key GOP target. Trump’s 1.34% margin of victory in North Carolina in 2020 was his narrowest victory in any state, and he received less than half of the vote. Who North Carolina Republicans decide to throw their support behind in the upcoming election cycle will be especially impactful in November 2024.

For now, as many Republicans stand idly by, Trump is still spreading lies, this time about the 2022 election. He suggested on Truth Social that the “same thing is happening with Voter Fraud as happened in 2020,” falsely claimed there were voting irregularities in Michigan and Arizona and called on his supporters to “protest, protest, protest.”

Not all of the GOP agrees with this rhetoric. But Republicans have repeatedly chosen the path of political expediency, and our country has suffered as a result. They’ve allowed the Trump-sized sore to fester. They may pay a political price for rejecting him, but the existential threat of embracing him is far more dire.

While many Americans have soured on Trump in advance of his third presidential bid, he remains quite popular among Republican voters. Republicans may very well find themselves paying for the ways they’ve tacitly accepted the former president and his demagogy. Such was the case in the midterms — many Trump-endorsed candidates who ousted more moderate Republicans in the primaries were met with defeat on Election Day.

Donald Trump might be a Republican who supports Republican policies, but that’s not reason enough for his party to support him. Trump was impeached, twice. He currently faces a slew of federal and state investigations into his alleged wrongdoing — including his handling of classified documents, attempts to overturn the 2020 election and potential criminal tax fraud. Even Jan. 6 wasn’t enough for Republicans to reject him — and those who did have the courage to hold him accountable have faced political exile because of it.

The question for each member of the Republican Party is, as it has always been, this: do you support a former president who continues to threaten democracy with his election lies?

It’s time, finally, to say no.

This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 9:46 AM.