movement. even if republicans still have the economy and inflation, if they can t get out of the trump trap, it is still going to be very difficult for them to win swing states and swing districts that they need to win the presidency to keep control of the house, and to maybe gain control of the senate. kurt, as of now, the seven gop candidates expected to be on the stage august 23rd in milwaukee for the parties first presidential debate of the 2024 cycle. those who have qualified so far donald trump, ron desantis, tim scott, nikki haley, chris christie and doug burgum. noticeably missing from this list is mike pence. how significant is it that pence has not made the cut yet? but it is pretty stunning
haley, and others to convince republican primary voters that donald trump is not fit for office. that donald trump is very unlikely to win in a general election. whether they have the courage to do that remains to be seen. whether they can do it effectively remains to be seen. they are the only ones who could potentially change the minds of republican primary voters. otherwise, republican primary voters and the party at large are going to remain stuck in this trump trap, where they elect trump and people align with him in primaries. and then trump and those candidates can t win general elections. let s turn to trump s event last night in erie, pennsylvania. he had this to say. every time the radical left democrats, marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, i consider it a great badge of honor. i do. it s a great badge of honor.
you defeat donald trump by following him, by imitating him, by just trying to kiss up to him every single day. that really does seem to be a dead end. so i m looking more at these candidates that are at least looking for a way to get out of this trump trap and to tell the voters the truth. so jen, it does seem like republicans are really just grappling with what the best political strategy is as well as what is the right thing to do, and i think part of it comes down to what the voters want, right, and according to that quinnipiac poll sahil mentioned, trump still maintains a huge lead over the republican field, even after the second indictment. are you surprised at all by that? not really, ana, i mean, the thing is though that polls are about a moment in time, and clearly some of these republican candidates either smell blood in the water or they re making a political calculation that they have to do something different and draw a contrast.
department run by the current president of the united states. so you know what he s implying without saying things directly. sheer the thing, congressman. trump is now the competition. the gop is supposed to be the party of law and order. we re talking about national security implications, nuclear secrets here, information that could u.s. service members at risk. yet he s not using this indictment as an opportunity to confront trump. what s he waiting for? ana, these republicans are walking right into the trump trap. it is impossible to beat donald trump by following him. if you want to beat donald trump, even though you re going to have to take some risk at first, you re going to have to try to distinguish yourself. and what a perfect opportunity for mike pence to distinguish himself. he was also investigated by a special counsel. he was cleared because he did not act with intent to violate the law. it s a perfect opportunity for him, yet he won t take it.