Trump Would Have to Be 'Dead or in Jail' to Lose GOP Primary: Ex–Strategist

An ex-Republican media consultant has claimed Donald Trump's GOP rivals would only win if the former president was "dead or in jail."

Rick Wilson, an anti-Trump activist, and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, told SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah that there were few routes for GOP nominees to beat the former president.

In a May 27 edition of The Dean Obeidallah Show, Wilson said Trump would likely be the nominee.

He added: "There are very few paths to get a Ron DeSantis, or any of these jokers in the field over the finish line in the primary.

"I mean, Trump has to be dead or in jail, and even in those cases he still might win the primary."

Wilson said he hoped for a protracted contest between Trump and DeSantis as they would realize the Florida Governor would not be able to "save" them from the former president.

Trump has commanded an impressive lead over Florida Governor DeSantis in a majority of polls since he announced his intention to seek a second term.

A Quinnipiac University poll found Trump has doubled his lead over DeSantis with 56 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters favoring him compared to 25 percent for the Florida Governor.

The remaining GOP nominees are in the low single digits with eight candidates having less than 2 percent each.

Quinnipiac University's survey was carried out between May 18 and 22 and asked 1,819 U.S. adults across the nation. The survey included 669 Republican and Republican-leaning voters.

DeSantis' Twitter announcement earlier this week that he was running for office was marred by technical difficulties with the platform crashing several times.

The Florida governor downplayed the lackluster announcement while speaking with Fox News' Trey Gowdy.

"We had a huge audience," he said. "It was the biggest they'd ever had. It did break the Twitter Space, and so, we're really excited with the enthusiasm."

Trump claimed DeSantis "fired" his key political ally Phil Cox over the disastrous campaign launch.

But he did not provide any proof that DeSantis was behind the departure of Cox, who had been working as an unpaid advisor.

Writing on his Truth Social website, Trump said: "Ron DeSanctimonious just fired, like on 'The Apprentice,' his friend and top campaign official, Phil Cox, because his campaign is a complete disaster, and 2028 is looking really bad."

Thomas Gift, Associate Professor of Political Science at University College London, told Newsweek: "DeSantis is down, but certainly not out of the Republican primaries. It's just way too early to predict his long-term demise as a legitimate contender.

"The way we know DeSantis can still win: Trump won't shut up about him. DeSantis isn't wrong when he claims that he's the only other candidate that Trump keeps taking shots at. All that said, there's no doubt that Trump is still the prohibitive favorite, and DeSantis has a long way to go to even be considered competitive. The big question is whether DeSantis can hit the reset button after a dismal several months that have left him hobbling to the starting line.

"The prospect of a Trump third-party run is an intriguing prospect, but largely unlikely. Trump knows better than anyone that jumping into the race without an 'R' beside his name would cannibalize Republican votes and guarantee victory to Joe Biden.

"While blowing up the GOP 'establishment' might sound like fun and games for Trump, it's not clear that even he would want the reputation of guaranteeing a second term for the man who beat him in 2020. It would be a death sentence for his legacy in all but the most ultra-MAGA circles of the conservative movement."

Update 5/31/23, 3:20 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Thomas Gift.