If Trump wins in November, he won't 'leave in 2029': ex-Bush speechwriter

18 January 2024

Donald Trump moved a step closer to securing the 2024 GOP presidential nomination when, on Monday, January 15, he won 51 percent of the vote in the Iowa Caucuses.

The former president picked up more votes in Iowa than Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy combined, and recent endorsements from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) show that more and more high-profile Republicans are rallying around Trump as the likely nominee. Ramaswamy, who dropped out of the race, has endorsed Trump as well.

Trump, however, is not universally loved on the right, and many Never Trump conservatives are rooting for Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden. One of them is journalist David Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter.

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In an article published by The Atlantic on January 16, Frum warns that a second Trump term will be a "disaster" not only for the United States, but for its allies as well.

"Trump's party is signing up for the ride, knowing exactly what the ride is," Frum laments. "Pro-Ukraine senators are working to elect a president who will cut off Ukraine, knowing that he will cut off Ukraine. Pro-NATO senators are working to elect a president who will wreck NATO, knowing that he will wreck NATO…. After the Iowa Caucus, the Republican Party is all but certain to renominate Trump for the presidency."

Frum warns that if Trump defeats Biden in November, the United States may not have a presidential election in 2028.

"Trump has made clear, without illusions, that his ballot issue in 2024 is to rehabilitate and ratify his attempt to overturn the election of 2020," Frum explains. "He is running to protect himself from the legal consequences of that attempt. But even more fundamentally, he is running to justify himself for attempting it."

Frum continues, "In 2016, Trump opponents warned that he might refuse to leave office if defeated. In 2024, Trump himself is arguing that he was right to refuse to leave office when defeated, and he is asking Americans to approve his refusal. If he should return to the presidency in 2025, we have no reason to expect him to leave in 2029."

David Frum's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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