Donald Trump has maintained a sizable lead in the polls ahead of the 2024 primaries — but he faces a growing list of once-allies who have now ditched him, explicitly declaring opposition to a second Trump presidency.
Many people once close to the former president — members of his cabinet, supporters in Congress, and even his own attorneys — have now voiced their opposition to his 2024 candidacy.
They have cautioned against electing him again, concerned about the dangers a Trump second term would pose for democracy.
Whether the tipping point was the January 6 Capitol riot, one of Mr Trump’s federal indictments, or something else entirely, each of these former loyalists has arrived at the same conclusion: they don’t think Trump should be president again in 2024.
Over the weekend, ex-Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci went so far as to say that if 2024 became another Biden-Trump matchup, he would back the Democratic incumbent.
Although he stands alone in that category, here is a list of every former Trump ally who has said they wouldn’t support him in 2024.
Let’s start with former members of Trump’s White House staff.
Former White House Communication Director Alyssa Farah Griffin has made it clear that she fears a second Trump term. She told ABC News in December: “Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don’t say that lightly.”
She reiterated the dangers that another Donald Trump presidency poses this month on “The View,” where she now sits as a co-host. She warned, “Donald Trump in office could spell, frankly, the last election in our lifetime.”
Ms Griffin has thrown her support behind Nikki Haley.
Trump’s hand-picked former Attorney General Bill Barr has been very openly critical of Mr Trump. He resigned from his post shortly after the Justice Department found no evidence of voter fraud, contradicting Mr Trump’s baseless claims after he lost the 2020 election.
Mr Barr told Fox News in December: “One of the reasons I’m against Trump as the [Republican National Committee] nominee is I don’t think he’s going to move the country forward.”
The former AG has emphasised that he will not endorse Trump in 2024. When NBC News asked him in July how he would vote if it came down to a Biden-Trump matchup, Mr Barr retorted: “I’ll jump off that bridge when I get to it.”
The ex-White House Communications Director, who served just 10 days in the post before being fired, said that if 2024 becomes a 2020 repeat, he would be backing President Biden.
He added, “I will do everything I can to make sure that the president stays in office.”
Mr Scaramucci outlined the potential dangers of re-electing Mr Trump, like expanding executive power and “going after his adversaries using the Department of Justice.”
The former White House deputy press secretary sat down with ABC News last month to discuss the risk of a second Trump presidency. She resigned on January 6.
She emphasised to the network that her former boss has not backed down on his 2020 election fraud claims and said that she believes his rhetoric since has become “increasingly erratic.”
She added, “We don’t need to speculate what a second Trump term would like because we already saw it play out.”
