Donald Trump’s First 2024 Challenger Targets His Greatest Asset
Donald Trump’s First 2024 Challenger Targets His Greatest Asset
Donald Trump’s campaign got traction by marketing himself as a successful entrepreneur, but his position as a businessman is now being challenged by Steve Laffey, who has thrown his hat into the ring for the Republican candidacy in 2024.
“I have a skill set that Donald Trump doesn’t have,” Laffey told Newsweek in a Thursday interview. “I know how to hire people and I know how to put people in the right jobs. I’m not just a businessman, I’m a financial expert.”
Laffey, a former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, declared his candidacy for president on February 3, becoming the first Republican to do so since Trump announced his candidacy in November.
Laffey is a long shot to win the nomination, with probable opponents including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence, but he believes he is the greatest candidate for the post.
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Trump has spent decades establishing an image as a real estate developer and reality TV personality through his smash show The Apprentice. In his successful 2016 campaign, he embraced his business expertise, portraying himself as a political outsider ready to “clean the swamp” of Washington’s elite.
Laffey claims to be more than just a businessman, citing his experience as a former business leader and chief operating officer for a Tennessee-based financial corporation and as a former finance lecturer at the University of Rhode Island.
“Former President Trump, in all due deference, is a real estate builder of large buildings,” Laffey said. “If we need to build some buildings, we’ll call him. But we actually need to fix financial problems.”
Laffey resembles Trump as a contender in many ways. Apart from having dabbled in national politics in the past (Laffey ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2006 and House in 2014), much of Laffey’s language mirrors why Americans loved Trump in the first place. Laffey intends to “give people the truth” about contentious issues, while Americans have frequently informed pollsters that Trump, “tells it like it is.”
However, Laffey does not believe the former president is a transparent candidate, particularly when it comes to the economy.
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Laffey’s program is mostly focused on Social Security reform, a politically charged issue that many Republicans, including Trump, have avoided addressing. Just this week, Republican senators were forced to reconfirm their support for Social Security when President Joe Biden publicly chastised them in his State of the Union address.
Laffey understands that Social Security is a contentious issue on which to base his campaign, but he believes that at least a quarter of Republican voters are seeking someone to provide a solution to the country’s “financial calamity.”
“I know it’s a third rail thing,” he told Newsweek. “I know George Bush lasted six days on Social Security in 2005. I know [Alan] Greenspan said he fixed it. But the truth is it’s a $61 trillion unfunded liability.”
“In eight years, we Republicans went after former President Obama for $8 trillion in debt. And you haven’t mentioned a trillion dollars in debt in four years [under Trump]? “He stated. “You said everything you could about corruption when Obama was president. You didn’t say the [Paycheck Protection Program] was a failure, did you? It was approved by all Republican senators. Donald Trump gave his approval.”
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Laffey said he feels that most of the Republicans holding office are just sitting around and “doing the least bad thing” in hopes that someone else will step forward and be the “adult” for the GOP. Laffey believes it’s him.
Klink said, “While I’m sure he is a good, traditional conservative Republican candidate, he stands little to any chance of winning the Republican nomination in 2024,”
“They invariably begin by vilifying Democrats. Is there still a reason for that?” Laffey stated. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Republican, but we need to find a way to unify people…and I think we’re going to unite people over improving Social Security.”
Despite Laffey’s intentions to be the GOP’s breakthrough candidate in 2024, Republican strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek that unless Laffey sees a massive fundraising drive, his campaign will be short-lived.
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“Despite some recent publicity, he has zero to insignificant name recognition, and unless he plans to spend a hundred million dollars to boost his name recognition and become known among better-known politicians, he has no hope of becoming relevant in what will become a crowded Republican field in the coming weeks,” the strategist added.
Laffey said,” And if he doesn’t? “If I change the very nature of the debate, but I lose and we fix Social Security, I’m totally OK”
Nonetheless, Laffey is optimistic that he will receive enough votes on the margins to advance through the primaries.
Trump, is the Best choice for President.
Everything he stated was right on point. Many were saying he was wrong or way off base. He proved he was correct and all of them were wrong.
Trump made promises and kept them. He said he would expose the swamp, he did, all of them. He made us e energy independent. He lowered taxes on businesses and the citizens. He brought back many companies. He helped our military in many ways. He closed the boarder, brought in the best to fix issues with the black communities and doing a wonderful job.
He tells the truth and explains how things are and what’s needed to fix. He gets the job done.
I could go on for hours, yet not necessary, why? Because everyone knows Trump is the Right Man for the Job and IS the Leader We Need.