Deep bench of GOP White House hopefuls undaunted by Trump — so far
President Donald Trump has said he’s never been a fan of the House of Representatives, and he’s right to wonder about the GOP’s chances to get back into the majority if he wins a second term. Rep. Kevin Brady, the House majority leader, says he’s never seen President George W. Bush get to the point where he’s just going to sit back and watch the action, but Brady’s a little late to the game.
The Washington Post is out with a fresh batch of polls showing a wide range of Republicans eager to challenge President Trump in 2020, from former congressman Joe Walsh to Gov. Chris Sununu and others. And despite the challenges, Rep. Steve King is not exactly ready to retire.
King, who has been a vocal critic of Trump for years, says he’s still willing to go to any length to stop him. As he put it in Politico, “We will not sit idly by as Donald Trump destroys the world and America.”
It’ll be much easier to do so if he doesn’t become president. And the way he puts it, at least one in the Republican “birther” movement doesn’t count.
King is right. The Trump train isn’t ready to leave the station yet.
Here’s a look at the latest results on Trump among all Republican candidates who have not yet officially launched or dropped out of the race. There are only 13 GOP contenders still in the race at the start of 2016. (Note: The “no opinion” column includes three candidates who are so far from even entertaining the idea of running as they’ve yet to decide whether to go negative against Trump.)
President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump (R) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) take the stage during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Jan