Amid a parade of Republican candidates making a run for the primary, including Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott, Donald Trump has called for party unity behind his candidacy. The former president expressed himself in a video in which he assured that he is the only candidate capable of defeating Joe Biden in November 2024.
DeSantis' entry into the primaries did not go over well with the Trump campaign, which quickly went on the attack with ads and posts on Truth Social. With just over a day to go before the Florida governor threw his hat into the race, he raised more than $8 million, which he will add to the other $110 million he already has at the ready.
Although Trump continues to lead in the polls, it may take a few weeks to determine DeSantis' impact. Needless to say, polls can change very quickly.
For example, at this point in the 2008 election race, the favorites to win their party's nomination were Hillary Clinton (D) and Rudy Giuliani (R). Neither was at the top of the list when all delegates were counted.
The situation was similar for the GOP in 2016. In early to mid-2015, it looked like the primary was going to be a neck-and-neck between Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, which ultimately did not end up happening.
Trump calls for Republican Party unity behind MAGA movement
As he expressed in a recent video, Joe Biden and George Soros are looking forward to a "long, hard-fought Republican primary." To avoid this scenario, the former president assured that "the Republican Party needs to unite behind the MAGA movement and our succesfull America First Agenda."
"TPolls show I am leading the republican field by 40 points. And also show, very importantly, that I am the only candidate who can beat Joe Biden, and will beating him by a lot, right now, by a lot", he added.
To counter DeSantis' argument that he is a winner, Trump pointed out that he has also won all his elections. "Remember, we did two elections and won both. We did much better the second time and it was rigged," he added.
"With your support today we Will lock up the republican nomination so that we can focus all of our energy and resources on beating crooked Joe and winning back the White House in 2024. If we don't, our country will be in trouble like we've never seen before," Trump commented at the end of the video.
