LAS VEGAS (AP) – The Republican Party’s nascent class of 2024, emboldened as ever, openly cast Donald Trump as a “loser” again and again Friday as they wooed donors and activists worried about the GOP’s future under the leadership of former president
Trump’s vocal critics included current and former Republican governors, members of his own cabinet and major donors who gathered along the Las Vegas Strip for what organizers described as the unofficial kickoff to the upcoming season of presidential primaries. It was a remarkable display of defiance for a party defined almost entirely by its loyalty to Trump for the past six years.
“Maybe there’s some blood in the water and the sharks are circling,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican presidential hopeful and frequent Trump critic, said in an interview. “I don’t think we’ve ever gotten to that point before.”
The meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, which began Friday, comes just days after Trump became the first candidate to formally launch a 2024 campaign. His allies had hoped his first announcement could prevent serious primary challenges, but several potential candidates said that’s not likely after Trump loyalists lost midterm contests last week in battleground states from Arizona to Pennsylvania. His political standing within the GOP, already weakening, plummeted even further.
Before his speech on Friday night, Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state, mocked one of his former boss’ catchphrases: “They told us we’d get tired of winning. But I’m tired of to lose”.
“Personality, celebrity just won’t cut it,” he later said from the salon stage.
Trump is scheduled to address the weekend meeting via video conference on Saturday. The vast majority of high-profile Republican officials considering a 2024 White House bid appeared in person at the two-day conference, which included a series of meetings with private donors and public speeches.
The program featured DeSantis, a top Trump rival, and Pence, whom Trump blames for failing to overturn the 2020 election. Other speakers included Hogan, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, New York Gov. Hampshire Chris Sununu and Florida Senator Rick Scott.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, another potential 2024 candidate, canceled his appearance after a shooting Sunday at the University of Virginia that left three dead.
Also slated is House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who could become House speaker when Republicans take over in January.
There appeared to be little sympathy for Trump’s latest legal challenges.
Hours before Friday’s opening dinner, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate, as well as key aspects of a separate investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurgency and efforts to undo the 2020 elections.
Sununu, the New Hampshire governor who easily won re-election last week, said there were no signs his party would rally to Trump’s defense this time.
“These are their problems to solve,” Sununu said. “Everybody’s going to sit down and watch the show. And it’s not just his supporters, it’s his money, the donors, the fundraisers,” said the Republican governor, who easily won re-election last week. “We’re just moving forward.”
With a loyal support base among grassroots voters and a vast fundraising operation with low-dollar contributions, Trump doesn’t need big donors or party leaders to clinch the GOP nomination for a third term. But the unwillingness of big-money Republicans to commit to him, at least for now, could make his path back to the White House more difficult.
There were few signs of enthusiasm for Trump’s 2024 presidential aspirations in the hallways and conference rooms of the weekend meeting. At Friday night’s dinner, organizers offered attendees yarmulkes with Trump’s name on them, but there were few turnouts.
This is even as Jewish Republicans continued to praise Trump’s commitment to Israel while in the White House.
“There is no doubt that what President Trump accomplished during his four years in terms of strengthening the US-Israel relationship was unparalleled. He was the most pro-Israel president ever,” said Matt Brooks, director executive of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
But that may not be enough to win over the coalition’s top donors this time.
“For many people attending this conference, this is about the future,” Brooks said. “And for some of them, President Trump may be their answer. For others, they’re interested in what other people have to say.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie weighed in on Trump’s policy failures during a private dinner with the group’s top donors Thursday. In a later interview, he didn’t back down.
“From my perspective, he’s a loser now. He’s an electoral loser,” said Christie, another 2024 prospect. “You look at a general electorate, I don’t think there’s a Democrat that can beat him because he’s toxic to to suburban voters on a personal level, and he’s earned it.”
The annual event takes place at the Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in a nod to Republican Jewish Coalition benefactor Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino mogul who died last year. His wife Miriam Adelson remains a fundraising force within the GOP, although her level of giving in the recent midterm elections, which topped $20 million, has dipped somewhat.
Israeli-born Miriam Adelson, 76, is “remaining neutral” in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, according to Andy Abboud, the family’s political gatekeeper.
She is not alone.
Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress and heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, supported Trump’s previous campaigns but has no plans to support him in 2024, according to a Lauder spokesman.
Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive of the investment firm Blackstone Group, told Axios this week that he would support someone from a “new generation” of Republicans. Kenneth C. Griffin, the hedge fund billionaire, already openly supports DeSantis.
On Friday, aerospace CEO Phillip Friedman described himself as a “big Trump supporter” but said he’s open to hearing from others who come forward.
“There are a couple of other people who have their policies but don’t have the baggage,” Friedman said of Trump.
In his keynote speech, Pence focused largely on the accomplishments of the Trump administration, but included some indirect jabs at the former president.
“To win the future,” Pence said, “as Republicans and elected leaders we must do more than criticize and complain.”
He was more direct in an interview this week.
“I think we’re going to have better options in 2024,” Pence told The Associated Press. “And I’m very confident that Republican primary voters will choose wisely.”
___
AP Writer Michelle Price in New York contributed.