The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is arming itself to prepare for all manner of contingencies during both the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential cycle, according to Politico.
“That’s a four-year project, that’s not a two-year project,” a DNC official was quoted as confirming.
As it begins to “dig up dirt” on the potential opposition GOP candidates which could potentially be “fed” to mainstream media outlets, the DNC is believed to be casting a particularly wide net, researching obvious contenders as well as less “conventional” ones.
At least 20 Republican presidential candidates who might challenge Joe Biden in 2024 have already been identified by a specially designated crack team, according to the outlet, as well as sources cited by The Hill.
These include a number of high-profile politicians, like former POTUS Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.), former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Other potential GOP candidates in the sights of the team, believed to be headed up by its research director Nick Bauer, are former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and even MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Allegedly launched just a few weeks after the inauguration of Joe Biden on 20 January, the research effort is said to be aided by Bauer’s two deputies, Caroline Graham and Austin Dieter.
As for fundraising and organising operations for both the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential cycle, the DNC has ostensibly assembled a group which includes Roger Lau, who managed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential bid, DNC political director Alana Mounce, and Pete Kavanaugh, a former deputy campaign manager for Joe Biden.
Overseeing the effort is said to be Jen O’Malley Dillon, who managed President Biden’s campaign and is currently employed as the White House deputy chief of staff.
“To say that there's some sort of small team that's been tasked with 2024, that's simply not accurate… With that having been said though, the map is such that we have a huge opportunity here. It’s sort of a false choice, right? If you look at the top eight Senate targets, they perfectly overlap with eight of the likely battlegrounds for 2024,” a DNC official was quoted by West Wing Playbook as saying.
‘Crowded GOP Field’
Research into the potential “crowded” field of GOP candidates is said to be in full swing, notwithstanding whether Biden, 78, decides to run again or not – something he recently reiterated he expects to do.
Accordingly, should former POTUS Donald Trump decide to run for office again, Democrats will ostensibly wield his public comments leading up to the Capitol riot on 6 January as a likely tool against him.
Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about election fraud during the 2020 election were largely blamed for triggering the Capitol mayhem which left several people dead and delayed the certification of the 2020 election results.
The storming of the building had followed then-President Donald Trump’s rally outside of the White House denouncing Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election.
While Trump had urged the rioters to go home in peace during the violent upheaval, he was later impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting the riot with his words and claims on social media denouncing the result of the vote. The ex-POTUS was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
Currently, Donald Trump, who was banned by Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube after the Capitol events in January, has launched a new web site that will publish content "straight from the desk" of the ex-President.
Trump has not ruled out another run in 2024.
.@RealCandaceO to Trump: "Are you going to run in 2024 and if so, can I be your Vice President?" pic.twitter.com/M7kifG4wLK
— Candace (@thecandaceshow) May 4, 2021
“As you know, it's very early… But I think people are going to be very, very happy when I make a certain announcement," Trump said on 4 May in an interview with Candace Owens on The Daily Wire.
Regarding Ron DeSantis, an opponent of the Florida governor, Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, has urged an investigation, after DeSantis earlier announced creation of a pop-up vaccination site in the wealthy and “donor-rich” 34202 and 34211 zip codes, in Manatee County.
Crist claims De Santis prioritised COVID-19 vaccines for “Republican-leaning communities”, and established “coronavirus vaccine distribution and administration sites to benefit political allies and donors, over the needs of higher-risk communities and existing county waitlists”.
Why is Governor DeSantis playing politics with vaccine distribution? His political allies & donors should not get to skip the line. Calling for full DOJ investigation. pic.twitter.com/OTjpkdD1o4
— Congressman Charlie Crist (@RepCharlieCrist) February 21, 2021
As for MyPillow exec Mike Lindell, who visited the White House in the last days of the Trump administration and continued to echo the 45th President’s claims the election was ‘rigged', he is also coming under fire.
The pillow magnate appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on 28 April to make unproven claims about voting machines altering the result of last year’s election.
MyPillow has sued Dominion Voting Systems for $1.6 billion over alleged “suppression of speech and attacks on the company”, CEO Mike Lindell announced after Dominion sued both MyPillow and Lindell for defamation, accusing him of pushing false conspiracies about the 2020 election “because the lie sells pillows”.
