Analysts and strategists see his pivot to the far right as a deliberate strategy to restore political momentum the former president may be losing, with at least some polls showing him behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican nomination.
But his Republican critics worry the move will tarnish the party at a time when it needs to broaden its support. “It continues to damage the brand, especially with downtown and suburban voters,” said former Florida Representative Carlos Curbelo. “But it also makes it easier for Republican leaders to break away from him and start a new chapter.”
Mr. Trump has long flirted with the fringes of American society as no other modern president has, openly appealing to prejudices based on race, religion, national origin and sexual orientation, among others. He generated support for his 2016 presidential campaign by spreading the lie that President Barack Obama was secretly born outside the United States and then opened up his candidacy by labeling many Mexican immigrants as rapists.
He vowed to bar all Muslims from entering the country and was slow to turn down support from David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Most famously, he wavered after the 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned bloody and denounced neo-Nazis, even as he said there were “very nice people on both sides” of the conflict.
But in the final days of his presidency, as he waged a war on all fronts to overturn the election he lost, Mr. Trump was increasingly willing to entertain allies who urged him to declare martial law while groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys mobilized to come to his aid.
In recent weeks, he has taken on QAnon themes and retweeted baseless conspiracy theories from a movement that believes he is a champion against a cabal of Satan-worshiping, pedophile elites. He has characterized those who attacked Congress to stop the transfer of power on January 6 as patriots whom he would likely extend leniency to if elected again. “I mean full pardon with an apology for many,” he said in September.
“Trump’s inner job is well aware that he’s lost the excitement of 2016 and there’s a school of thought that thinks picking up the most die-hard part of his base is the key to bringing it back,” said Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as White House director of strategic communications for Trump before breaking with him after the 2020 election. “However, the reality is that this means reaching out to fringe, racist elements that have traditionally been sidelined by the party’s mainstream.”