(NewsGlobal.com)- Last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was all about Donald Trump. Looking at the website for this year’s event, it seems to be that way, too, as the former president is pictured prominently online.
However, the event that will begin this week in Orlando, Florida, will have a slight undertone this time around, with both Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a way being pitted against each other as the 2024 presidential election draws nearer.
For the last year, DeSantis has been making a huge name for himself around the country. The former federal prosecutor has been gaining support from Republicans around the country.
For a while, he was gaining support from Trump, too, who at one point had said he might make a good running mate should Trump decide to run for president again in 2024.
In recent months, though, DeSantis’ profile has become so big that he has emerged as a potential threat to Trump’s run for president, rather than as potential support. And the former president has taken notice of that apparently, too, throwing some jabs at his potential primary challenger.
The two make for an interest case of who Republican voters might support. As a former president, Trump has a national profile, of course, but he’ll be 78 years old in 2024. DeSantis, meanwhile, is an up-and-comer, and at 43 years old, might be seen as the next big thing in the pro-Trump GOP.
Voters aren’t ready to completely write off Trump just yet, but the question is whether they’re ready to stick with his policies by move onto a new person to take his place.
As Republican strategist Mike DuHaime commented:
“I’m sure Trump will be received as a hero [at the CPAC]. The question will be: Are there any cracks in that armor?”
Trump will give a big speech at the event on Saturday night, and DuHaime believes that the former president needs to speak about where the GOP is heading, rather than focus on his continued claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Recent polls have shown that a majority of Republicans are ready to “move on” from those fraud claims and focus on achieving new heights in the upcoming midterm elections later this year and retaking the White House in 2024.
The challenge for Trump, though, is that he’s continued to focus on the 2020 election, not backing down from his claims the election was stolen. That has many establishment Republicans worried that he is putting his own desire for personal revenge ahead of the greater successes of the party as a whole.
That being said, Trump is considered the overwhelming favorite to be the GOP nominee for president in 2024 if he indeed decides to run. He still has great support within the party — despite emerging candidates such as DeSantis — and he has loads of money at his disposal.
