The invincible Trump 2024 campaign narrative doesn't add up: columnist

Donald Trump may be overwhelmingly popular with his MAGA base, but according to columnist Heather Digby Parton, their support doesn't suggest the near-invincibility the media claims it does.

"He must expand his coalition and he's not getting that done," the Salon writer argued in her Monday column. "In every state so far, he has underperformed expectations."

Parton also argues that Trump has been abandoned by moderates and right-leaning independents.

"The ongoing shedding of college educated and suburban voters has not abated," Parton wrote. "Trump is weaker than the narrative that's been laid out would have us believe."

Parton ties Trump's problems with these groups to his consistent pushing of the "Big Lie," namely his claims that the 2020 election was "rigged."

As Parton puts it, Trump "won't shut up about it."

Also read: Trump appeals potentially ruinous fraud ruling

Parton points to Trump telling Fox News host Bret Baier, as recently as this Sunday, that he won in 2020.

"Baier was trying to give Trump the opening to say something like, 'It's fine if someone believes that but I think my record as president and my plans to make America great again will be enough to convince the voters that I'm the best man for the job' — but Donald Trump just couldn't do it," Parton writes.

While most agree Nikki Haley's competing Republican campaign can't last much longer, Parton says its worth noting one of the former South Carolina governor's critiques of the former president is that he can't win the 2024 presidential race.

"She has said this over and over again and her calculation may be that even if she ends up endorsing him, which is entirely possible, she will still be virtually alone among her peers in going on the record warning the party that he will lose in November," writes Parton.

"If he wins, it's all over for her anyway and if not, she has some credibility as the one who sounded the alarm."