In an interview broadcast on Thursday, Democratic strategist James Carville said that “there is a significant chance” President Donald Trump will drop out of the presidential race before the November election, Mediaite reported.
“I think there is a significant chance he doesn’t run,” Carville told MSNBC.
“I mean, this thing is going so poorly. He’s so far back.”
Trump is indeed “far back,” as the strategist put it. The Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden , has expanded his lead over the commander-in-chief, nationwide and in swing states.
A CNBC /Change Research poll released earlier this week found that Biden is ahead of Trump in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Across the six states, the former vice president leads Trump by 6 percentage points.
Similarly, a series of Fox News surveys released last week showed that Trump is running neck-and-neck with Biden in Texas and Georgia. Both states have been reliable Republican strongholds for decades.
According to Carville, even if Trump remains in the race, some Republicans could turn on him. Senators Martha McSally of Arizona, Dan Sullivan of Arkansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and others could switch allegiances by Labor Day, he suggested.
“This is the great ‘Moscow Mitch’ strategy. After Labor Day, we’re going to turn on him. That’s really going to work,” the strategist jokingly said.
“McSally and Sullivan and Lindsey have been licking his boots for three years and nine months. But boy, come Labor Day, we’re going to get some separation,” he added.
Carville opined that Trump might destroy the Republican Party in the process.
“He is going to take the whole outfit down with him,” he said.
As Mediaite noted, it has apparently already been rumored that Trump might drop out of the presidential race. In a Twitter message posted last week, Fox Business host Charles Gasparino said that “major players” in the GOP have been discussing the possibility.
Recently, Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher said that there is “speculation” about Trump dropping out of the race. The anchor noted that the president is trailing Biden in most polls and that Americans are becoming increasingly critical of the way he is handling the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president’s 2020 campaign denied the allegations. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh suggested that polling agencies deliberately undersample Republican voters in order to create a false narrative about the upcoming election.
