Press: 2024 is looking a lot like 2016 and 2020 

Two more Republican candidates jumped into the 2024 Republican primary last week — in two very different styles. One worked, one didn’t. 

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott launched his campaign with a traditional launch in front of national TV cameras and an enthusiastic crowd of supporters.  

As classic political events go, it was perfect: well-staged, positive message, mission accomplished.  

Two days later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off his campaign with anything but a traditional launch — weirdly deciding to whisper his big announcement to one person only, Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk, with no TV cameras present.  

It was a disaster — an embarrassing display of what one wag called “electile dysfunction.” Twitter crashed and burned. It was half an hour before DeSantis could even utter one word of his own presidential announcement! Meanwhile, his potential audience shrank from over 600,000 to some 100,000. And, of course, nobody was happier with DeSantis’s embarrassing pratfall than Donald Trump and Joe Biden. 

Granted, this is only May 2023. November 2024 is still 18 months away. But it’s crazy how 2024 is already looking like 2016 and 2020. A lot can change, but so far the presidential contest of 2024 is shaping up just like Biden and Trump want it to. 

The Republican primary is Donald Trump’s dream scenario. As of today, in addition to him, there are six other announced candidates: former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, radio talk show host Larry Elder, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Scott, and DeSantis.  

And those are just the early birds. Former Vice President Mike Pence is almost certain to jump in. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is champing at the bit. And four current governors are reportedly either taking a serious look at it or being urged to do so by donors: New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu, Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, and North Dakota’s Doug Burgum.  

That’s a total of 13 possible candidates so far. And there may be even more, which would be great for Trump. For him, the more candidates, the merrier. He would need fewer votes in any state primary to win, on top of his huge built-in advantage as a former president and hero to the party’s hard core.  

Again, it’s all so reminiscent of 2016, where Trump faced 15 other candidates. The only difference is that in 2016, the 15 party regulars basically ignored Trump, while attacking each other, because they didn’t take him seriously. This time around, at least so far, even while running against him, the other candidates are largely ignoring Trump and refusing to say anything bad about him because they’re afraid of him.  

As Chris Christie points out, this is a losing strategy if there ever was one. You can never beat Donald Trump if you’re afraid to take him head-on. And why not? How hard is it to say that a twice-impeached former president facing criminal charges, found liable for sexual assault, and under additional state and federal investigations might not be the best standard-bearer for the Republican Party in 2024?  

All of which plays right into Joe Biden’s hands. He beat Donald Trump by 7 million votes in 2020. He wants nothing more than to run against Donald Trump again in 2024. And it looks like Republicans are determined to give him that chance. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”