Left-wing billionaire George Soros recently shared his hopes for the 2024 U.S. presidential election and the conditions he believes will lead to a “Democratic landslide.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, Soros said it is likely that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will challenge former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination – and win. His hope is that Trump, pride wounded, will mount a third-party campaign for president that will split the GOP vote and hand Democrats another four years in the White House.
“My hope for 2024 is that Trump and Gov. DeSantis of Florida will slug it out for the Republican nomination,” Soros said.
“Trump has turned into a pitiful figure, continually bemoaning his loss in 2020. Big Republican donors are abandoning him in droves,” he continued.
Calling DeSantis “shrewd, ruthless and ambitious,” Soros predicted the Florida governor will be the Republican candidate for president.
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“This could induce Trump, whose narcissism has turned into a disease, to run as a third-party candidate. That would lead to a Democratic landslide and force the Republican Party to reform itself,” Soros said longingly. “But perhaps, I may be just a little bit biased.”
The 2024 race for the Republican nomination is on, with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley joining Trump as a declared candidate this week. DeSantis is widely expected to announce his own campaign for president in the spring or early summer, once the current session of the Florida legislature wraps up.
Polls consistently show Trump and DeSantis as the top two candidates in the Republican field. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed Trump edging out DeSantis 42%-36% in a hypothetical matchup.
Haley received just 5% in that poll, while former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both received 4%. No other candidate got more than 2% support.