An American law academic and journalist visiting Aotearoa says Donald Trump could split right-wing votes at the next election if he chooses to run as an independent.
With Trump-aligned candidates underperforming expectations in US midterm elections, speculation is growing that the former president will be challenged by a formidable opponent in the Republican Party’s candidate selection process.
Law lecturer and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston told Q+A that he believed Trump could run as an independent if he doesn’t secure the Republican nomination.
“What the Republicans have to worry about is that Trump – if he decides to run as an independent – would guarantee the Democrats will win the White House in 2024 because it would split the Republican vote,” he said.
“One of the other Republican politicians that’s most likely at the moment, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, will be the standard bearer for the Republicans. ”
He believed that Donald Trump continued to be “desperate for attention” based on his past research of the former president.
The law lecturer opined that Trump’s announcement of his campaign – unusually early as compared to many past candidates – could have been a “preemptive move.
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Yesterday, US Attorney-General Merrick Garland appointed an independent lawyer – known as a special counsel – to oversee the US government’s investigation into various parts of Trump’s dealings.
The special counsel’s remit included the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate, alongside aspects of a separate probe looking into the role the former president played during the January 6 attack on the Capital..
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