Piers Morgan: GOP needs 'winner' DeSantis, not 'political suicide bomber' Trump
Television host Piers Morgan, in a new column for The New York Post, said the way back to the White House for the GOP in 2024 is not with a "political suicide bomber" in former President Trump but instead with a "winner" in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Morgan, the former host of "Piers Morgan Live" on CNN and current host of "Piers Morgan Uncensored" on TalkTV in the United Kingdom, said "if there’s one thing even more bonkers than Biden running again it’s surely Donald Trump running against him again as the Republican nominee."
Morgan, writing the day after Biden formally launched his reelection bid, said Trump has become a "loser."
"There was a time when Trump was a political King Kong, swatting away all rivals during his one-man wrecking-ball rampage to the White House in 2016. But that was seven long years ago," Morgan wrote.
"Now he’s become a political suicide bomber whose only power seems to be blowing up his own party’s chances of winning anything."
A majority of Americans don't want Trump or Biden to run again, according to a poll from NBC News, but a hypothetical matchup between the two is closer to reality than ever before.
Sixty percent of Americans, including roughly a third of Republicans, don't think Trump should seek the White House again, according to the NBC poll, while 70 percent of Americans don't think Biden should run again, including 51 percent of Democrats.
But Trump, despite countless legal troubles and GOP concerns about his appeal in a general election, announced his third run for president in November.
Morgan acknowledged Trump's popularity compared to the Republican primary field but argued DeSantis would fare better in the general election.
Morgan referenced a report from WPA Intelligence, based on six national popular vote polls, that showed Biden would beat Trump by an average of 3.1 percent in the popular vote. But the same report showed that DeSantis would beat Biden by 1.2 percent.
"You can tell how much Trump fears DeSantis by the way he’s been going after him so aggressively, from (pathetically) mocking the way he allegedly eats chocolate pudding with his fingers — DeSantis denied the charge when I interviewed him last month — to the absurd and demonstrably false claim that he’s ruined Florida, which begs the question: If it’s so bad, Donald, why have you gone to live there?!" Morgan wrote.
"Of course, the real reason Trump fears him is because DeSantis is a winner."
Morgan interviewed DeSantis on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" in March. Trump took swipes at DeSantis following the interview.
DeSantis has yet to formally get into the race, but many, including former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), have urged him to make up his mind about 2024.
As DeSantis mulls running against Trump, the former president has secured a number of endorsements from politicians in Florida.
Morgan concluded his piece Wednesday by arguing that "the alarm bells couldn’t be louder for the GOP, nor the solution more obvious."