Trump Can’t Go Banning People from MAGA if He Wants to Be President, Prominent Republican Says
Former president doesn't understand why he lost in 2020, Thiessen adds
Donald Trump shouldn’t be trying to ban voters from his political movement if he wants to get elected president again, according to a prominent Republican who once worked in the White House.
Coming off his win in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Trump lashed out at his sole opponent in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, one-time South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley.
He warned that anyone who contributes to her campaign would be “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”
“When I ran for Office and won, I noticed that the losing Candidate’s ‘Donors’ would immediately come to me, and want to ‘help out.’ This is standard in Politics, but no longer with me,” Trump wrote in a post on his personal social media site.
That sort of exclusionary thinking does not win elections, according to Marc Thiessen, an American right-wing author, political appointee, and weekly columnist for The Washington Post. Thiessen served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
“I’m not surprised she’s raising money,” he said of Haley. “But I’m worried about is his ability to win over the voters once this [primary season] is over. When he says anyone who makes a contribution will be permanently banned, does that apply to Haley voters too?
“It shows that he hasn’t learned any lessons from why he lost in 2020,” Thiessen added. “He lost in 2020 because he lost 43,000 swing voters in three states. About 43,000 swing voters will decide this election. He has to win them over. They’re not MAGA. They’re either Democrats or center-right right Republicans who are not big fans of his.
“He’s got to win them over and expand his base, not shrink his base. You don’t ban people from MAGA if you want to become president of the United States,” he said.
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