'Super-spreader of amoral self-interest': Columnist chronicles Trump’s diminishing power as GOP scrambles for direction

Former President Donald Trump may have lost the 2020 presidential election but, unfortunately for the Republican Party, he still remains one of the top contenders to be the political party's presidential nominee in 2024.

While this worked in Republicans' favor in 2016, The Guardian's Rebecca Solnit is explaining why this does not necessarily give the far-right a clear advantage for the next presidential election. According to Solnit, Trumpism is in a state of "clear and present danger." In her new piece, she explained why. She highlighted Trump's internal and external complications that are impacting his reach and influence across the board and laid out her own assumptions about what may lie ahead.

"One of the assumptions is that Trump will still be alive and competent to run," Solnit wrote, adding, "but the health of this sedentary shouter in his mid-70s, including the after-effects of the Covid-19 he was hospitalized for in 2020, could change."

She added, "Look to external issues too, for whatever the condition of his own health, his financial health is under attack, with businesseslosing money and somebanks refusing to lend to him after the storming of the Capitol."

Pointing to all that has transpired from 2016 up to this point, Solnit argues that Republicans have a slim chance of winning another presidential election with Trump as the party's nominee. In fact, since 2016, Trump's popularity has waned significantly -- and it's important to note he never won the popular vote even when he did win the presidential election. At this point, Trump's following is slowly diminishing into a faction of the Republican party.

"It’s also worth remembering that he lost the popular vote by millions in 2016 and by more millions in 2020; he never had a mandate," Solnit wrote. "The Republicans are clearly gearing up to try to steal an election again, but their chances of winning one with Trump as candidate seem slim. Currently, he is creating conflict within the Republican party with his insistence on controlling it for his own agenda and punishing dissenters."

Even if Trump chooses not to enter the presidential race in 2024, Solnit noted that Trumpism is still a problem as many of his far-right supporters are attempting to run for key positions in local and state government. However, she believes the former president's political run is over.

"Even if Trump is not indisputably in the running, Trumpism is running rampant, and it’s a force to contend with in political races across the US," she wrote. "Trump was a super-spreader of his brand of amoral self-interest that tramples fact, truth, law and rights. The man himself is sulking in his private club in Florida – enduring effectual exile from New York, Washington – and Twitter – but to a degree, his work is done."