Trump In, Biden Out? Dems Themselves Fanning New Red Wave, US Commentator Says

Former President Donald Trump came out on top of the 2024 GOP presidential nomination straw poll at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on July 24. On the other side of the US political aisle, the Washington Post released an op-ed urging the incumbent president not to throw his hat in the ring again.

Over 78% of youth conservative activists from around the US said they would vote for former President Donald Trump in 2024 during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit last Sunday. The straw poll was sponsored by Turning Point Action, the affiliated 501(c)(4) of TPUSA, an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values on high school, college, and university campuses.

On July 23, Trump dropped "major hints" that he would run in 2024, according to Fox News. Addressing the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, the former president said, in particular, that he had won the 2016 and the 2020 elections, adding that "now we may just have to do it again."

Still, it's too early to say whether the Republicans have really started to consolidate around Trump ahead of the 2024 race, according to Michael Shannon, a political commentator and Newsmax columnist.

"The nomination is Trump's for the taking. He is in pretty good shape now," the commentator says. "But a lot can happen in two years."

When it comes to the upcoming midterms, Shannon is skeptical about the Republican leadership, suggesting that they do not have the guts to focus on issues that would lead to a red wave in November:

"Real conservative leaders would use the anger propelling the red wave in November to gather support for a strong platform built on cultural issues," he argues. "That won't happen. Our comb-over conservatives, led by Kevin McCarthy in the House and Mitch McConnell in the Senate, will work hard to turn this red wave into a pinkish tide that once again thwarts and insults the populist base of the party."

Meanwhile, clouds are continuing to gather on the horizon of the Democratic Party, eating away at their already fading chances of winning, with inflation still swirling and Biden's approval rating plummeting.

"President Biden should announce now that he will not run for reelection in 2024," wrote Steven L. Isenberg in a July 24 op-ed for the Washington Post. Isenberg is a former publisher of New York Newsday who served as chief of staff to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay. In his op-ed, he argues that the incumbent's early announcement of quitting the 2024 race would benefit Democratic House and Senate candidates, as their campaigns wouldn't be overshadowed by the tarnished image of Biden's presidency.

In addition to that, Isenberg noted that the Dems have already started "plotting" about who to back in the 2024 presidential race. "Unless Biden announces that he is not running for reelection, this quiet campaign against him will intensify," he projected.

"I think it gives us a strong sign," Shannon says while commenting on Isenberg's op-ed. "Leftists have decided that another Biden presidential run would be a catastrophe for Democrats."

Still, the commentator doesn't believe that Biden's decision not to run again will actually boost the Dems' odds of winning, as their problems are not limited to Joe Biden.

"Democrats are usually unified among themselves, it's finding unity with independent voters that is going to be the problem," he says. "And as long as Democrats and leftists are in the grips of this religious fervor for the Green New Deal, then nothing in the country is going to improve and nothing in their political prospects is going to improve."

Democratic politicians are unlikely to fix gas prices and tame inflation, since it's their policies and zero-carbon agenda that led to the unfolding crisis, according to the journalist. The Dems shot themselves in the foot by placing progressives in the driving seat; therefore, the Americans are likely to see a real red wave in November, argues Shannon.

"Beating inflation will take a long time," he says. "And lowering gas prices is something that the left is congenitally unable to accept. As I mentioned earlier, they have this religious jihad they've declared on carbon and fossil fuels, and that's behind much of the problem… You can't let people who think that the solution to high gas prices means everybody buying a $40,000 electric car run your party… So this electric car and this green new deal is a fantasy that will only come true with a much smaller population here in the US and in the world. And I don't think people will accept it."