A GOP insider has detailed what they think was an extended maneuver planned by Donald Trump to take over the Republican Party and rig processes in his favor. Richard Luscombe analyzes a disturbing trend in an analysis for The Guardian , claiming that the sheer number of members of the Trump family who will be representing Florida at the Republican convention this summer is a sign of how the former president has dominated state parties and excluded everyone else, per Raw Story .
Insiders claim that following his loss in the 2020 presidential election, Trump coerced the Republican Party into supporting him in a third attempt in 2024 by carefully seizing control of state parties and removing any possible rivals from the GOP. Senior analyst Dan Judy of the Republican-focused North Star Opinion Research revealed the tactic: “The big, sort of under-the-radar story in American politics over the last couple of years was the way Trump and his people had taken over state parties across the country.” Judy explained.
“Even early in the primary process, a year and a half ago when Ron DeSantis was riding high and leading a lot of the polls, I was always thinking: Trump has control of the state parties, he’s got his people in, and they are, for lack of a better word, going to attempt to rig the process in favor of Donald Trump.”
Judy cited the ease with which Trump defeated DeSantis in the primary, dehumanizing the governor in his home state whom he derided as “Meatball Ron.” DeSantis left the race in January after realizing that his attempts to win over Florida’s congressional delegation had been ineffective, and he is now attempting to win over Trump.
Judy also pointed to several rule changes the state parties initiated. Many state parties altered their primary procedures to make them winner-take-all, which undoubtedly benefited Trump—particularly when it came to a one-on-one with Nikki Haley . “It was clear that she was going to have to win some of these things outright to get any delegates at all, and she couldn’t do it,” Judy explained.
BREAKING: Trump writes, “I am very happy to have the full and enthusiastic support of Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. We had a great meeting yesterday, arranged by mutual friend Steve Witkoff, at his beautiful Shell Bay Club in Hollywood, Florida. pic.twitter.com/Xt7MuKblbp
— Linda Runstein (@LindaRunstein) May 6, 2024
All of this, especially the abundance of Trumps among the delegates, is telling to political analysts in Florida. “It does illustrate in pretty stark terms how effectively the former president has his hand on the state Republican party, and his influence on what goes on,” said Kevin Wagner, associate dean of Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F Schmidt College of Arts and letters. “Among the Republican base that is very supportive of the former president, I don’t think any of this matters. They probably would approve,” he said.
“Some Republicans might be bothered, but there’s no evidence in Florida right now that this is a particularly close race so it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot. The caveat is we are in May and the election’s in November,” he added, explaining, “But right now, I’d say that Donald Trump has a very strong position in the state of Florida, and that’s reflected by how political leaders in the state are responding to him, and also by the amount of deference that the party gives.”
