Tim Scott “shook up” the 2024 Republican race for President yesterday with his announcement that he is throwing his hat in the ring for the nomination. Let alone that the odds of him even showing up in the polls in a meaningful way are null. Same with Asa Hutchison, Nikki Haley or talk show host Larry Elder. Every single one of them has not only the right, but the credentials to enter the race. And each and every one of them should bow out now, and give the American people a real choice between two viable candidates. Yeah, that’s right. Merely 534 days before the election, I’m saying that Republicans need to pare their choices down NOW and give the two leading contenders a chance to make their case and have a fair chance to win the nomination over the other.

Let’s be perfectly clear. Trump is a powerhouse contender, with 56% of the RealClearPolitics polling average, to DeSantis’ 20%. All signs point to a Trump win, but there at least 1 out of 5 likely Republican voters who favor DeSantis, and another 1 out of 5 that are either undecided or favor someone else. These ankle biters that are in the race will only serve to slice points off of DeSantis’ side a la Ross Perot, effectively coronating Trump before the primary even gets under way.

Look, it’s simple. The GOP effectively needs to make a choice between allowing Trump to be the head of the party, or choosing someone else. The only way that choice can be made effectively is to quickly winnow the opposing field of candidates until there is Trump and someone else, emphasis on the “one.” Only at that point can voters consolidate behind one of two choices, and clearly identify Trump (or his opponent) as the party leader.

We have a lot of challenges on the right. Absent him collapsing up a flight of stairs, Biden is already the heir apparent for the Democrat party. He doesn’t have to primary, he has the next year and a half to campaign toward the middle and suck up the oxygen before the primaries end. We have to fight against a united media, including a Fox News that is clearly moving toward the moderate center post-Carlson. The electoral apparatus in most states is arrayed against us, and our ground game — especially in ballot harvesting and GOTV — is weak compared to the Democrats. All that before we consider the Democrat’s ability to cheat openly becaue the media will protect them.

As Republicans, we need to make an early choice as well, so that we have the next year plus to make our case to the electorate at large. A pile of ankle biters fighting over the remaining 20% of the undecided vote will weaken us, not strengthen us. We need to make a choice, and in all practical terms it’s DeSantis or Trump. Once that choice is made, every single one of us despite whether our choice won, needs to get behind the other and put a stop to the Democrat advance. Another four years of Democrat rule will ensure that America is lost, and as much as I like a feisty primary, this election is just too important to spend another minute fighting among ourselves.

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