‘Loser Donald Trump’ has prominent Republicans employing new coping mechanisms

Donald Trump is receiving everything but a coronation following his Tuesday announcement he would once again seek the office of president of the United States.

"Within hours of Donald J. Trump announcing his third presidential bid on Tuesday, some of his former aides, donors and staunchest allies are shunning his attempt to recapture the White House, an early sign that he may face difficulty winning the support of a Republican Party still reeling from unexpected midterm losses," The New York Timesreported. "While Mr. Trump has long faced opposition from the establishment and elite quarters of his party, this round of criticism was new in its raw bluntness, plainly out in the open by Wednesday and focused on reminding voters that the Trump era in Republican politics has led to the opposite of the endless winning Mr. Trump once promised."

The report came after multiple prominent Republicans declined to endorse Trump's 2024 comeback attempt.

"A growing chorus of Republican officials, lawmakers and activists blame the former president for their failure to regain control of the Senate and for what will be a narrow margin in the House," The Times reported. "At an annual gathering of Republican governors in Orlando, donors and lobbyists mingled with governors past, present and future while weighing ways to wrest Mr. Trump from the party’s base. Their main complaint was not over policy or even style, but losses the party has taken since Mr. Trump won the White House in 2016."

South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem said Trump did not offer the "best chance" for Republicans to regain the White House in 2024. Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Trump's message "was the same one that lost the last election cycle and would lose the next."

While Trump may be holding on to his MAGA base, he's publicly struggling with GOP major donors and elected officials.

"Three major party donors — Stephen Schwarzman, Ken Griffin and Ronald Lauder — said this week that they intended to back someone other than Mr. Trump or have no plans to support him this time," The Times reported. "Other potential contenders — including Ms. Noem, former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia — are reassessing their 2024 chances in the wake of the midterms. Another possible contender, Mike Pompeo, who served as Mr. Trump’s secretary of state, wrote on Twitter that Republicans needed 'leaders who are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood,' a reference to Mr. Trump’s declaration on Tuesday that 'I’m a victim.'"

Writing in The Washington Post, Greg Sargent identified five ways Republicans are coping with Trump's 2024 campaign.

"Some Republicans willingly blame Trump for the outcome of the midterm elections, but without acknowledging that their own party’s willing and even eager embrace of the pathologies of Trumpism was also a major culprit," Sargent wrote. "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), for instance, declared that the 2024 nominee must not be 'the loser Donald Trump has proven himself to be.' Brooks played a big role in the former president’s effort to overturn his 2020 loss, along with other House Republicans loyal to Trump. What Brooks can’t say is that many prominent GOP candidates lost this year in no small part because they actively sought to keep that insurrectionist spirit alive."

Another coping mechanism, keeping up election denial, was employed by unsuccessful Arizona GOP nominee for governor Kari Lake. Meanwhile, Sargent said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) was amplifying Trump hagiography.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has employed a theme of forgiving Trump while other Republicans are claiming Trump has ascended to the role of elder statesman.