It’s often said that military leaders “fight the last war”: They assume their current enemy is just like the previous one so they misjudge their foe and lose. The Republican establishment is making that exact mistake in the 2024 presidential primary.
According to multiple recent reports, high-ranking Republicans don’t want Donald Trump to be their 2024 nominee. But they’re afraid he’ll win by recycling his 2016 strategy — carve out a populist base, keep the anti-Trump majority divided between multiple opponents, and emerge as the winner.
These GOP leaders don’t realize that Trump has changed over the past eight years — and so have his opponents. They’re wading into a completely new race, yet they’re still preparing themselves for 2016. …
Put simply, Trump is no longer an outsider who needs to throw elbows, rely on a thin plurality or hope his opposition stays divided. He’s a former president — the ultimate party insider — with a path to an outright majority. CONTINUED
David Byler, Washington Post
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