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Frank Eathorne was reelected for a third term Saturday at the Wyoming Republican Partys quarterly CentralCommitteemeetingin Jackson.

It wasnt close. Committeemembers reelected Eathorne 49-25 over former state lawmakerFrank Mooreof Douglas.

Those who didnt vote for me, I intend to win you over, Eathrone said afterthe votes were counted.

Despite criticism about Eathornespast personal and professional transgressionsand accusationsthat he let divisions fester within the party, Eathornes win shows he still has wide support from Wyoming Republicans.

Sheridan County Republican Party Chairman Bryan Miller said party members have addressed the concernswith Eathorne and appreciatedhis candidness when talking about them.

Folks say, Oh OK, hes sincere, Miller said. Thats huge. People find him really sincere when they see him.

Taking Sides

The race between Moore and Eathorne was largely predicated on their perspectiveson how division within the party should be addressed moving forward.

Eathorne said he believes there is an ideological rift among Cowboy State Republicans between those who are hardline conservatives and those seen as not strictly following the party platform.

He also said he doesnt have too much issue with the rift and thatas chairman, hesalways allowedevery voice to be heard.

But thats not what happenedat the partys 2022 convention. At that event, members from the NatronaCounty and Laramie County parties had most of their delegates removed for various reasons.

Moore said his only focus would be to bring the party back together.

He told Cowboy State Daily after the vote that he congratulated Eathorne on the win, but told him thathe better heal the divide in the Wyoming GOP. Moore saidEathorne vowed to do so.

The candidates also differed greatly on the issue of dues each county party pays the state party. This money goes to support the state partys headquarters office in Cheyenne, which costs more than $115,000 a year to operate, including Executive Director Kathy Russells $55,000 salary.

Different Approaches

Before the vote,Moore promised tolead with a nonconfrontational style that is persuasive and inviting. He told Cowboy State Daily after the votes were in thatthe party has much bigger races coming up than Saturdays election.

This party better get its act together, he said.

Moore started his speech to the Central Committee membersby criticizing President Joe Bidens administration, saying Democrats in Wyoming are getting stronger every year.

Moore mentioned his work in the lamb industry and his past fundraising efforts, which includes raising $15 million for the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative.

When I said Ive got the leadership to run this party, its not just empty words, he said.

Mooresaid hetraveled the state visiting with different county members during his two-week campaignand that some members refused to meet with him, showing the firm grip of loyalty Eathorne has on some in the party.

Eathorne said he listens to the grassroots of the party and considers the party platform to be the standardof being a Republican.

He said he didnt enjoy the partys censure of former congresswoman Liz Cheney even though he sharply criticized heractions as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committeeand never publicly condemned the censure process. Eathorne brought a resolution to censure Cheney at the Republican National Committee meeting in early 2022.

I didnt enjoy that;however, it was coming up from the grassroots, he said.

Eathorne said its important for the state party to have relationships at the national leveland now thatthose have been built, and continue to grow,under his watch.

Eathorne said there will be a new focus placed on county commissioner and school board races.

As far as the 2024 presidential nomination process, he said the state party plans to train local county parties on the process they should initiate.

County Shares

Moore believes the state party exists to serve the county parties and thathe supports getting rid of county shares, or dues. He said he would make up for this roughly $115,000 with increased fundraising efforts.

Just as I helped raise millions of dollars to get off our sheep industry, I am committed to make fundraising my top priority, he said.

During the 2022 election cycle, the state party spent $16,500 on candidates statewide, a particularly low sumas its coffers were low at the time. The partys cash on hand as of Saturday was$55,273.

Eathorne put a positive spin on the state partys funding, saying itreceived $30,000 from major donors this year.

Moore said any moneycounty parties wantedto give to the state party would be done so voluntarily.

Money spent at the local level is the ideal way to spend that money, he said.

Miller found fault with this argument, saying it encourages big donors to have an outsized influence on the partys activities. He believes party funding should stem from county parties up to the state level.

Hes stating, we want the party to push things from top down, Miller said. We should not be funding the party from the state level.

Eathorne said the current county shares system works, but its ultimately up to those county groupstodecide.

He, like Miller, said if mandatory county shares were eliminated, the perception of a top-down approach from the state party could develop.

This is just a way to keep that grassroots money where the grassroots people can decide how that money is spent, he said.

Sweeter The Victory

Although Eathorne took 66% of the vote and won by a 32% margin, it was a substantial departure from his previous chairman elections. In 2021, he ran unopposed and in 2019 was elected by an even moreoverwhelming margin.

State Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, said it was a positive for Eathorne to be challenged. Ide said Eathorne was visibly fired up and pretty ecstatic when he spoke to him after the win.

Its always like the old saying, the harder the battle the sweeter the victory, Ide said.

Ide and Park County Republican Party precinct committeeman Bob Berry,who supportsEathorne, said its good tohave a contested race.

It refines them, Ide saidof those running for leadership positions. Without that challenger, theyre not put in that position.

A number of Moore supporters told Cowboy State Daily before the vote that if it was reasonably competitive, they would see it as a positive change in the party.

Vice Chair Race

Wyoming Republican Party Vice Chair David Holland also wasreelected by the same 49-25 margin.

Holland, a Crook County resident, was aligned with Eathorne onhis platform. He defeated Sweetwater County GOP Chairman Elizabeth Bingham.

Bingham, a homeschool parent, took a hardline conservative tone to her speech, calling the current public school curriculadictatorial and filled with leftist propaganda. Bingham said the threats of the Democratic Party are very real and devalue what it means to be a human being.

I want to help bring back a sense of excitement to do this work, she said. Make our message of freedom, free enterprise and free exercise, something we are all proud and excited to share with all our friends and neighbors in my county, and many of the large counties.

Bingham believes there is a fracture among Republicans around the state and thata new approach is needed tobridge the divide.

Bingham defines herself a party platform Republican, but said more listening should happen within the state party.

Holland said he has no plans to make everyone happy, drawing a small burst of approval from some in attendance.

I feel like my job, and if I had a gift, is going around encouraging people and helping them to achieve their goals, he said.

Holland voiceda sentiment expressed by many in the hardline conservative wing of the party, saying one either believes in the Republican platform or they dont. Theres nothing in between. The statement brought loud applause.

Holland said it wasnt until 1992 that the WyomingGOP took a pro-life stance. He said hes surprised that somepeople who say they are traditional Republicans want to take the party back, as he believes the party is already run by this group.

We have to be aware that were in a war for the soul of America right now, he said.

Bingham said the party needs to become more engaged with local elections such as races for county commissioner. Holland said he needs to become more engaged with all of the county parties around the state.

Id like to do it on a defined schedule and build up a lot more relationships and help these county parties be successful,

Holland acknowledged the Wyoming GOP has had issues with its finances, referencing a $52,000 campaign finance fine it incurredin 2021.

Bingham said this financial position cannot be solely blamed on lawsuits.

In the end,$52,000 is not whats brought our balances down so low, she said. We have a problem. We need to raise more money. I think thats the job of the vice chair.

Rice Reelected

Donna Rice was reelected secretary of the party. She was unopposed, and was first elected secretary in 2021.

Rice said she bringsanupbeat demeanor and positive outlook tothe Republican Party.

Ive been accused many times of having rose-colored glasses and Im perfectly happy with that, Rice said.

Rice said its not necessary for party members to agree on everything as long they help each other come to decisions.

The state GOP has become knownfor making strongly worded resolutions and censures in recent years. Rice said these statements have an impactand representthe partys voice.

There were eight state legislators and a handful of former state legislators at the elections on Saturday. Also in attendance was Secretary of State Chuck Gray, State Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and State Auditor Kristi Racines.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at: Leo@CowboyStateDaily.com

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Frank Eathorne Wins Third Term As Wyoming Republican Party ... - Cowboy State Daily

Even if peace is somehow negotiated before the 2024 presidential election, it is certain that the Russia-Ukraine War will still be invoked by a Democratic campaign seeking to charge the GOP (the Republican Party) with being diplomatically irresponsible. This is because prominent Republicans in the Biden era have made anti-Ukraine sentiment a commonplace GOP stance, comparable to anti-lockdown agitation and rallying against Donald Trumps indictment. For a greater understanding of why Ukraine will form a dividing line in 2024, it is worth exploring recent partisan divisions and how potential presidential contenders like Ron DeSantis illustrate the GOPs divergence from a Jacksonian honor code embraced by earlier Republican figures.

Currently, multiple Republican representatives maintain positions on NATO expansion and Russian irredentism that are divorced from the worldview of pre-Trump Republican presidents. In an indication of how much the GOP has changed ideologically, they are also divorced from pre-Trump Republican populist icons. The isolationism of Lauren Boebert, who opposed US taxpayer aid to Ukraine at the beginning of this year, is dramatically removed from the diplomatic stances of 2008 era Sarah Palin, a figure commonly seen as a harbinger of Trumps unvarnished politics. Shortly following the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008, Palin advocated that Georgia and Russia should be admitted to NATO, a position diametrically opposed to the isolationism evidenced today. The reality that MAGA standard bearers Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, along with sixteen other Republicans, voted against a resolution that supported Sweden and Finlands efforts to join NATO in 2022 show that the kind of firebrand populism previously attributed to Palin has transmuted into something far more isolationist in the Biden era.

In a reversal of previous Reaganite traditions, the GOP today contains a minority of members who have ended their partys reputation for support of the NATO alliance and its expansion to states fearing Russian encroachment. In April 2022, 63 Republican House members and 0 Democratic House members voted against a non-binding resolution affirming support for NATO as an alliance founded on democratic principles. This partisan divide, along with the one glimpsed in the previous House vote on the NATO admission of Finland and Sweden, was different from the split displayed during a 1998 Senate vote on approval for expansion of NATO membership in Eastern Europe. The necessary two thirds majority required for ratification passed thanks to a plurality of Republicans, who backed the measure by 45 to the Democrats 35, resulting in a lopsided 80-19 victory for approval. In the Biden era, it would be unthinkable for Republican affirmative votes to outweigh Democratic ones on any issue relating to NATO expansion or support.

Notably, members of the Squad, a group of four progressive House Democrats traditionally hostile to US military commitments, have been willing to aid Ukraine unlike the far-right of the GOP; the voting records of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley all show affirmative votes for the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 and the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act 2023. The support of the left flank of the Democratic Party on those votes left anti-Ukraine sentiment a cause of the GOP in the House of Representatives, as only Republicans voted against the two bills. Strikingly, GOP votes against Ukraine aid amassed from a meagre 10 Republican votes for the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 (voted on in the spring of 2022) to 201 for the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act 2023 (voted on in the autumn of 2022).

Although the caveat should be made that Ukraine aid was combined with a $1.66 trillion dollar government funding bill in the latter act and thus combined with separate areas of domestic policy liable to be opposed by Republicans, opposition to Ukraine aid has proved prominent within the GOP voter base since the passage of that bill; a March 2023 poll provided by The Economist and YouGov showed that Republican voters significantly lagged behind Democrat ones in favouring financial and military aid to Ukraine. Only 38% of Republicans endorsed financial aid to Ukraine in contrast to 73% of Democrats, whilst assistance in the form of tanks and long-range missiles both had 19% gaps in partisan approval.

Such polling demonstrates the Republican Partys divergence from a previously stereotypical conviction in the importance of military alliances and reverence for martial valour. In a 2020 article for American Studies in Scandinavia, I examined how Trumps isolationist reorientation of the GOP was overinterpreted as stemming from what the International Relations historian Walter Mead originally defined in a 1999 The National Interest article as the Jacksonian. What Mead outlined as the Jacksonian tradition encompassed a pugnacity and nationalism along with a strong affinity for the military, bravery in combat and the fulfilling of military commitments to other states, shibboleths not always highlighted by the campaign stances and attitudes of Trump. The same asymmetry between conservatism and the Jacksonian is detectable in the firebrand Republicans who have carried most antipathy towards Western support for Ukraine.

Meads understanding of the Jacksonian (a term derived from Andrew Jackson, the populist veteran president who occupied the Oval Office from 1829 to 1837), stressed a political force that under certain circumstances demands war, supports the use of force and urges political leaders to stop wasting time with negotiations. Whereas earlier generations of hawkish Republicans supported US military commitments to South Vietnam and South Korea and the cause of victory at all costs, the hard right of the Biden era have declined to support an outright defeat of Russia. Senator JD Vances stance that the United States should seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict (a position voiced in January 2023) is contrary to the Jacksonian distrust of negotiation, embodied in the politicians who advocated negotiations with the Soviet enemy and who were labeled appeasers.

I would further argue that the scepticism towards Ukraine aid purveyed by House Republicans such as Texass Chip Roy constitutes a deviation from what Mead described as the Jacksonian honor code. In his 1999 article, Mead outlined a conviction that once the United States extends a security guarantee or makes a promise, we are required to honor that promise come what may; today, representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene complain of American support to Zelensky and wish that the US would betray previous commitments to supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine and obligations enshrined as early as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. If one element of the Jacksonian entails the continued honoring of military commitments to allies, the hard right of the GOP have worked hard to make Meads label less applicable to their brand of politics.

One noticeable symptom of the GOPs drift from the Jacksonian is an increased disdain for the national military establishment, a trend which has accelerated during Bidens presidency. Mead noted in 1999 that Jacksonians viewed military expenditure as one of the best things governments can do and the Defense Department as providing a service to the middle class. In the Biden era, potential GOP presidential contenders like Florida governor Ron DeSantis lambast the federal military establishment and propose a new civilian military force operational in the Sunshine State. Accusations of wokeness have been levelled at the Pentagon by Republican House representatives such as Floridas Michael Waltz, who has critiqued the teaching of critical race theory at service academies. The Republicans who lambasted a progressive military establishment have also critiqued the volume of Ukraine aid given by the United States and the USs general involvement in the conflict; Floridas Waltz has bemoaned the burden sharing of the US compared to European allies while the more famous DeSantis dismissed Ukraine support as not vital earlier this year.

The anti-Ukraine aid positions of Trump and DeSantis, the two Republicans most dominant in polling for the 2024 Republican nomination, almost certainly mean that the 2024 election will accentuate party polarisation on Ukraine. A contest between Biden and either Trump or DeSantis will additionally involve an inversion of the campaign mudslinging employed throughout the Cold War era; in 1984, Reagan warned that his Democratic opponent would sell out the cause of freedom abroad, an accusation more likely to be wielded at Republicans vis-a-vis Ukraine today. Given the divided nature of contemporary US politics, there is no amount of moral authority Biden could gain on Ukraine to equal the 49-state landslide Reagan achieved in 1984.

If a Biden platform based on continued support for NATO and a free Ukraine proves victorious, however, the president could claim to have harnessed the honor code integral to the Jacksonian and pre-Trump Republican presidents. Such a realignment would further challenge those who ascribe the Jacksonian paradigm to the post-Trump GOP and who contradict the reality that the hard rights reaction to Ukraines invasion precludes a natural relationship between the military solidarity of Meads idea and contemporary Republicanism.

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Opinion Ukraine and the Republican Party's Drift from the 'Honor ... - E-International Relations

North Carolina

If Mark Robinson wins gubernatorial race in 2024 there would be no one to hold back a wave of rightwing bills in the state

To Mark Robinson, gay and transgender people are filth, homosexuality is an abominable sin, and the transgender movement is demonic and full of the spirit of the antichrist.

Muslim Americans, meanwhile, are invaders, and Robinson is not afraid to dabble in antisemitism: in his mind an international cabal of Jewish financiers make up a modern-day four horsemen of the apocalypse, who rule the banks in every single country.

Lots of people have offensive and conspiracy-minded beliefs. But not all of them are running, as Robinson is, to be governor of North Carolina.

And to people who dont share Robinsons views, the problem is that it looks like he could win furthering the Republican partys years-long lurch to what was previously rightwing fringe politics.

Mark Robinson would be the most extreme gubernatorial candidate but also governor that weve ever seen in our history, said Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democratic party.

The risk Robinson would pose if elected in November 2024 polling is scarce at this stage, but experts believe the race between Robinson and Josh Stein, his expected Democratic opponent, is a toss-up is real. Republicans control both the state house and senate, and the GOP expanded its lead in last years elections.

Roy Cooper, the Democratic governor whose tenure is forced by term limits to come to an end in 2023, has vetoed 52 bills from becoming law in his six years in office, the Assembly reported, including laws that would have rolled back gun control and reduced abortion access.

With a Republican in the governors office particularly a governor like Robinson there would be no one to hold back a wave of rightwing bills.

We have bills right now going through our general assembly to ban gender affirming care for trans youth. We have a ban against trans athletes or young people competing in sports right now. We have a lot of discriminatory, just persecuting-our-own-citizens-type of legislation happening in our state, Clayton said.

And Mark Robinson is only going to be the person whos going to make that worse.

There was a time, not that long ago, when North Carolina was seen as a future Democratic state.

Barack Obama won there, narrowly, in 2008, and Democrats giddily held their national convention there in 2012, with the hope they could triumph in North Carolina for years to come. It didnt happen, and Republicans have won every presidential election since.

Republicans have super-majorities in the state legislature, yet Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at Western Carolina university, said elections for state positions like governor have tended to be close.

North Carolina has been right on the razors edge between Democrat and Republican. We were the bluest red state in the country in 2020 of all states that Trump won, his margin was among the smallest in North Carolina, he said.

I think it is the definition of a purple state in that its right in the middle. What it has not done at the presidential level is to swing so it is a purple state but not a swing state.

Taken in isolation, Robinsons back story is compelling. One of 10 children who grew up poor in Greensboro, he was elected North Carolinas lieutenant governor in 2020, becoming the first Black person to hold the position.

A former furniture manufacturer who has been declared bankrupt three times, Robinson credits his political career to a moment in April 2018: My life changed when I gave a speech to the Greensboro city council that went viral, he writes on his website.

That speech gave a flavor of what was to come.

There had been more than 50 mass shootings between January and March 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive, but Robinson used his speech to rail against stricter gun control laws, claiming: We need to drop all this division we have going on here.

When are you all going to start standing up for the majority. And heres who the majority is. Im the majority, Robinson said.

Im a law abiding citizen whos never shot anyone, never committed a serious crime, never committed a felony. Ive never done anything like that. But it seems like every time we have one of these shootings, nobody wants to blame put the blame where it goes, which is at the shooters feet. You want to put it at my feet.

Polls have shown that most North Carolinians support stricter gun control laws, but it hasnt stopped Robinson crowing about the issue.

He spoke at the National Rifle Associations Texas convention in May 2022 the gun lobbying event was held days after 19 students and two adults were killed in a school shooting in the state. In another event that month Robinson told a crowd that he owns an AR-15 the assault-style rifle used in a majority of recent mass shootings in case the government gets too big for its britches.

Guns are far from Robinsons only passionate issue.

Gay rights and trans rights specifically, the idea that those groups should have fewer have dominated his communications in the past. After the 2016 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Robinson wrote on Facebook that he would pray for the souls of those killed and wounded, but added: However, homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin.

In June 2021, Robinson told a crowd at a Baptist church: Theres no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth, and two months later declared that the transgender movement is demonic and is full of the spirit of the antichrist.

Robinson has also said Muslim-Americans are invaders who refuse to assimilate to our ways while demanding respect they have not earned, and responded: Thats exactly right, when it was put to him by a pastor that the Rothschild family of international bankers that rule every single national or federal reserve-type style of central bank in every single country.

Since becoming lieutenant governor Robinson has been accused of hypocrisy over his admission that he paid for his now wife to have an abortion in 1989, given he supports banning the procedure from six weeks after fertilization, but little seems to have dented his popularity he is firmly the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

Robinsons campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but in the days following his 2020 election to lieutenant governor, Robinson declined to distance himself from several of his past remarks, which also include claiming Obama is an anti-American atheist and suggesting half of black Democrats dont realize they are slaves.

Hes cut right out of the Trump mold, in that he is rhetorically extreme, Cooper said.

He has a penchant for making extreme, bombastic and offensive statements, particularly about the LGBTQ community. Hes a candidate who is very comfortable in the culture wars and stoking the flames of the culture wars.

Given his history, and the looming threat of what he might do in office, Clayton said a victory for Robinson could have ramifications similar to those North Carolina experienced in 2016.

Back then businesses, performers and even the National Basketball Association ditched the state after it passed a law which banned transgender people from using the public bathrooms that match their gender identities.

If Robinson wins the Republican primary which is bordering on a certainty, Cooper said it could potentially cause problems for the Republican party at large, highlighting the extreme anti-LGBTQ views that lurk within the GOP.

Hes a risky candidate in a lot of ways, Cooper said.

He will have ramifications up and down the ballot. But hell also motivate some voters, much like Trump motivated Republicans and Democrats, Mark Robinsons going to do the same.

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Fears grow in North Carolina as ultra-extreme Republican eyes governors mansion - The Guardian US

Former President Donald Trump has all but dropped a key word from his vocabulary: Republican.

He didnt say it when he met with supporters including a Jan. 6 defendant at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire, late last month.

During remarks to a packed ballroom at the DoubleTree hotel earlier that day, he said it only in praising some GOP governors work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since he hit the campaign trail in early March, according to an NBC review of Trumps speeches, interviews, video posts and face-to-face interactions with voters, the front-runner for the Republican Partys 2024 nomination has used the name of the party he seeks to represent in sparing fashion and typically to disparage other party luminaries.

Fox News and [Senate GOP leader] Mitch McConnell and the Republican donors have basically signed a pledge to stop Trump at any opportunity. So, why should he be touting the Republican Party? Steve Bannon, host of the War Room podcast and the CEO of Trumps 2016 campaign, told NBC News. He shouldnt be loyal to the Republican Party. They havent been loyal to him theyve scheduled 10 primary debates to wound him.

In essence, according to advisers and allies, Trump is returning to the anti-establishment themes of his successful 2016 bid for the presidency that rallied voters to slay the favorite totems, orthodoxies and candidates of both parties.

"Yes, theres the Republican primary still, but some of the strategies and tactics in regard to how were engaging Joe Biden will look a lot more 2016 than 2020, said Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser who worked on both of the former president's prior bids.

Trump advisers say the short shrift he's giving the Republican label reflects a view that he is the leader of a movement that is broader than one party.

Its a recognition that its not just an R versus D its about the current state of the country and who, on Day One, is going to fix it, said another Trump campaign adviser who requested anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. Whether thats the uniparty or the deep state or the world government, there is most definitely a recognition amongst the electorate at large that there is an us versus them component in all of this.

During his presidency, Trump grew closer to the Republican Party establishment as he began to take control of it. He hired Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus as his first White House chief of staff and installed Ronna McDaniel who still serves in the role as Priebus successor at the party committee. In 2020, he staged part of the Republican convention from the White House.

Trump at the time praised the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln and said it goes forward united, determined.

Trumps shift away from acting like the standard-bearer of the party comes after a year in which he waded into countless GOP primary contests, promoting some candidates who aligned with the Republican establishment and some who did not. He was able to knock out many of his loudest Republican critics, including then-Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Tom Rice, R-S.C.

But there appears to be an acknowledgment in Trumps approach now that he cant win the general election without expanding his reach outside the overlapping Venn diagram circles of his existing base and the Republican electorate. He lost in both the Electoral College and the popular vote in 2020, after winning the former and the White House in the more anti-establishment, less rah-rah-Republican 2016 campaign.

There is a recognition and realization from our standpoint that the 'them' is going to mean different things to different people, the adviser said. Youve got conservatives who are concerned about the administrative state or what theyre teaching kids in schools. There are people who are worried about the politicization of the justice system or that the military has gone woke. ... All of these things for different people mean different things, so being able to put all of those in the 'them' column provides a wider breadth.

We are the front-runner, damn it, and we're acting like it.

When Trump talks about the Republican Party, it is often to blast rivals, the GOP establishment or both. At a rally in Waco, Texas, in March, Trump took a moment to laud House Republican allies, including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky, by name and party. But he also took aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a still-unannounced candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination, who runs second to him in polls of Republican voters.

I will protect, unlike DeSanctus, Social Security and Medicare for our great seniors, defending them from both the radical left and the Paul Ryan-Republican establishment, Trump said, referring to DeSantis by a nickname and to Ryan, the former House speaker from Wisconsin.

The former presidents early distancing from the Republican establishment is also a sign of his desire to skip past internecine primary battles and focus solely on Biden.

We are the front-runner, damn it, and were acting like it, the campaign adviser said. We are doing what we have to do, and thats beating Joe Biden.

National surveys at this early stage in the race show Trump and Biden running neck and neck, typically within the margin of statistical error. While Trump's standing in GOP primary polls has emboldened him to primarily pursue a general election strategy, that could change if he starts to feel heat from DeSantis or another challenger.

On Wednesday, Trump's co-campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, published a memo to "interested parties" that ripped DeSantis for losing ground in polls while his super PAC, Never Back Down, has spent millions of dollars on national and early-primary-state television ads.

At the end of March, Trump led DeSantis 46% to 30% in the RealClearPolitics average of GOP primary polls. On Monday, the gap had grown to 52% for Trump and 23% for DeSantis.

The Trump team will not take our eye off the ball of winning the nomination, the adviser said, adding that they will continue to rush the passer when it comes to DeSantis and other rivals.

The spokesperson for the DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down super PAC picked up that ball and ran with it.

"It's cute to see the Trump team acknowledge that the person who can win the game and general election is Ron DeSantis, their admitted QB," Erin Perrine said.

At the same time he is distancing from the GOP, Trump is reaching out to a broader set of audiences. He is set to participate in a CNN town hall next week in New Hampshire, and aides hint that there may be more efforts on his part to reach voters who aren't already aligned with him.

One sign of Trumps commitment to running against the establishment of both parties despite his status as the last GOP president is his refusal to pledge his support to the eventual nominee if he loses the primary.

There are probably people that I wouldnt be very happy about endorsing who are running, so well see, Trump said when asked about a Republican National Committee proposal to require candidates to sign a loyalty pledge in order to participate in debates.

The RNCs debate committee, which is headed by former Trump aide David Bossie, announced plans for its first televised matchup of the candidates a Milwaukee debate in August without securing Trumps agreement to participate.

He is considering skipping that debate and the next one, people aware of his thinking told NBC News.

The dispute between his team and the RNC over the first debate may foreshadow a more fractious relationship as he recasts himself as an outsider.

Charlie Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA and a Trump supporter, is one of a number of conservatives promoting the quixotic Democratic nomination hopes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a liberal critic of vaccines, as part of a broader argument about political realignment outside the two-party system.

I believe there is a new coalition being built not a coalition that is right versus left, but instead, bottom-up versus the ruling oligarchy regime, Kirk said on his right-wing radio program Monday. When I got Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting standing ovations and sitting Republican senators getting booed at a right-wing conservative event, its an exciting time to be alive.

Trump proved once that he could win as a candidate that bashed the two parties and their dominance in Washington. Rather than the last war, he may be intent on fighting a central battle of the 2016 election.

Hes there to beat the administrative state and the uniparty, which is their political appendage, Bannon said. Youre seeing a reversion to the original Trump.

Vaughn Hillyard is a political reporter for NBC News.

Jonathan Allen is asenior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Ben Kamisar contributed.

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Trump, looking to regain 2016 magic, moves away from the GOP brand - NBC News

TEXAS, USA Editor's Note: This interview was conducted on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

Texas communities along the border with Mexico have been preparing for the end of the pandemic-era public health immigration policy known as Title 42, which allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants at the border due to COVID-19.

Title 42 is set to expire on May 11 and North Texas Republican Congressman Keith Self expects a wave of people will try to cross the border.

Once it expires, I think were going to see people that are going to make the decision to come on over. We are going to swing the gates open if this expires with no more action than what weve seen, Self said on Inside Texas Politics.

El Paso declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the expected influx of migrants, many of whom have reportedly been camping out on sidewalks and crowding shelters in Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, which is directly across the border from the Texas city.

The Biden Administration has promised to increase deportations and is also sending 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border to assist immigration authorities once Title 42 expires.

But those service members, who will be deployed for 90 days, will not have any law enforcement duties and wont be able to detain or process migrants.

Self calls it nothing more than a PR move.

Theyre going to go down there armed with pencils and pens, the Republican told us. Hopefully that will relieve some border agents to do their job.

The Congressman also spoke to us about a recent letter he sent to President Biden opposing the administrations proposed policy concerning electric vehicles (EVs) that governs tailpipe emissions and is part of the administrations goal to require at least half of all new vehicles be electric by 2030.

Also signed by 32 other members of Congress, the letter urges the President to consider the devastating consequences the policy would have on American manufacturers and consumers.

This is a feel-good policy that is going to allow the wealthy progressives to feel good about their electric vehicles. But most of the electricity, even in their electric vehicles, will be produced by fossil fuels, said the Republican.

Congressman Self tells us he has not yet received a response from the Biden Administration.

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North Texas Republican says the U.S. is about to 'swing the gates open' once Title 42 expires - WFAA.com