An NBC THINK piece speculated that in the wake of the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s home in Florida, Republican leaders are discreetly hoping it will destroy his political prospects.
Emmy Award-winning producer and communications consultant Arick Wierson speculated that many Republicans can't wait for the fall of Trump from political prominence.
"You won’t be able to tell from their public statements, TV news hits or tweets, but the earth-shaking news that the FBI executed a search warrant likely has some Republicans smiling — maybe even high-fiving one another — albeit in private," Wierson wrote in his op-ed published on Thursday. "We’ve seen how leaders in the party who publicly stood behind Trump have, at the same time, privately wished he would just go away."
He suggested that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, R., in particular would benefit from Trump's downfall.
"In fact, the biggest beneficiaries of Monday’s search will be the cast of characters not named Trump looking to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took to social media to say that an operation like this would happen only in a ‘banana republic,'" he continued.
Wierson said the Justice Department would do 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls a favor by potentially barring Trump from running for office.
He went on to suggest there have been hints that many in the Republican Party are looking for a new leader.
"For a long time now, signs have shown that many Republicans — both stalwart establishment figures like McConnell and heirs-apparent to the MAGA mantle like DeSantis — have wanted the party to move on from Trump," he wrote.
Other Trump critics have claimed that the controversial raid will have the opposite effect, actually uniting the party behind Trump as he is portrayed as unfairly targeted by some of America’s most powerful institutions.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT GOP DEMANDS SCRUTINY INTO NATIONAL ARCHIVES ROLE IN FBI'S RAID OF TRUMP'S MAR-A-LAGO
Former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut cautioned in a Monday op-ed that the FBI raid at former President Trump's Florida estate may politically boost both Trump and his supporters.
"Indeed, despite some naysayers, all signs still point to a Trump run," the former federal prosecutor warned in another piece for NBC THINK. "We ignore them at our peril — doing so means losing precious time both reminding Americans of the ‘clear and present danger’ to our Constitution that he poses and preparing for how best to defeat him."
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Aftergut warned, "Trump may believe that an indictment could help his political profile, promoting his longtime campaign theme of being an aggrieved martyr."
