The more candidates challenging former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, the better a candidate Trump will be, CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp told Newsmax on Tuesday.
"I think it's great that people run, by the way, for Donald Trump," Matt told "Prime News" host Jenn Pellegrino. "I think he likes having a foil. I think having these candidates is going to make him a better candidate. If he gets that nomination, he will be that much better to take on Sleepy Joe or Crazy Kamala, whatever these names are going to be, in the general election."
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador in the Trump administration, announced her candidacy on Tuesday, becoming Trump's first official challenger for the 2024 nomination.
Mercedes Schlapp, a Senior Fellow at the American Conservative Union, told Pellegrino that she thinks many people run for president not necessarily to win the nomination, but to "beef up their national voice."
"You find many of the times that these candidates that basically decided to run end up becoming cabinet members in a future administration, and so they make these political plays so that they can have a voice in the process," she said.
Mercedes added that she thinks that it will be tough for Haley and that Haley will see if she can get the "establishment vote."
However, Mercedes noted that Haley "did create a lot of tension with President Donald Trump, who elevated her to a very powerful position in his administration as U.N. Ambassador. She was effective in that job, but at the end of the day she did turn against President Trump, and for MAGA supporters, that's just a non-starter."
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