One person he does not have is his daughter, Ivanka Trump,
because just moments after the former president said that
he would have run again for 20, 24
his daughter Ivanka released a statement essentially saying,
look, I'm opting out
She says this time around I'm choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life
we are creating as a family.
I do not plan to be involved in politics
while I will always love and support my father.
Going forward, I will do so outside the political arena.
They are
I mean,
I remember when there was all the conversations of the so-called adults in the room
and the person everyone kept on the speed dial.
Aside from Mark Meadows during January 6th, it seemed to be contact Ivanka.
You somehow could reel him in some way that's not there.
Whether that was true or not fully, we don't know.
But that's not going to be there.
Well, neither will Jared.
Apparently, between the two of them,
they were probably three fourths of the Trump administration
and running the decisions there.
But that's part of what we're seeing is that even for his own family members,
the shine is wearing off despite all of the goals that we saw in that
assembly that announcement that he had.
It's just the appeal is not the same.
So what can Trump do up to be a little bit different
and to set himself apart from other Republicans?
Now, to the point about his hold on the Republican Party,
it is absolutely there.
But we also saw the Trump era drives people out of the Republican Party.
If they didn't sign up as Democrats, I signed up as independents.
So outside of a really raucous Republican primary,
if Trump's winning the nomination could be a gift to Democrats.
Exactly
And you're right, as he's driven people out of the party,
that's actually strengthened his hold on the party
made it much less likely that he could ever be elected again.
I mean, you don't have a Congresswoman, Liz Cheney,
your vision of political leadership right now or Congress after this session is over.
And we're going to have the good night in committee on January 6th as well.
But I still wonder about not only who could take on from the Republican side, Donald Trump.
I know Governor Santos, he is the shiny object right now,
does not have arguably the most formidable opponent in his gubernatorial race,
as one would expect at a presidential level.
But you still have to have the support in many respects of the Republican leadership,
the Mitch McConnell, who I don't think is there,
the Kevin McCarthy who is undecided as of yet,
whether he will go in as Congresswoman Stefanik
and say, yes, I'm all in already.
When you look at the leadership right now,
and power in the Senate and soon to be the House,
Does he have the support?
Does who have the support? - Donald Trump
That's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, I think he does because for two reasons.
One, the reason that everybody already knows is there are many members of Congress
who are afraid to cross him because they're afraid of being called Lil senator X or, you know,
Ron, the sanctimonious or whatever the nickname is
I think you also have a situation
where Republican members of Congress don't want to be primaried from their right.
They fear that much more than a general election, at least up until this point.
And so you have a situation where you want to stay on the President Trump's good side
so that you don't incur that challenge
- lightly around - the situation you have as a Republican right now,
a Republican leader is they embrace Trump.
And this is now
the direct consequence of several years down the line of him having taken over the party
I want a lightning round here for what do you think the Senate is going to run, throw his hat into the ring?
I don't think Trump will be a post
Really? What do you think? Oppose or not?
I can see DeSantis running.
What do you think?
If he's going to run, he has to go now,
even though he's only in his mid forties, Laura,
if you wait too long, it's the Chris
Christie rule. You miss your window.