While Donald Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, some of his past supporters are turning to other GOP hopefuls.
One is New Hampshire state Rep. Fred Doucette, Trump's state campaign co-chairman in 2016 and 2020. This time around, he is the state campaign co-chairman for entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
"America is ready for a new day," Doucette told Newsmax, explaining that he likes the idea Ramasawamy is a genuine outsider like Trump, but is younger, and that Ramaswamy's vision to take America forward entices him.
"Vivek has an acute mind and is thinking toward the future in the big picture," he said. Doucette also expressed his desire not to "rehash the past" by nominating Trump a third time.
Doucette's enthusiasm for Ramaswamy is not shared by many Republican voters, however, as Trump remains the clear front-runner in the first-in-the-nation primary.
Doucette also switched from Trump to Ramaswamy because of what he feels is "the never-ending drama prompted by the left during the Trump administration."
The Granite State lawmaker sees the constant false attacks against Trump — the "witch hunt" — as detrimental to America and the Republican Party.
"We have seen this through the nonsensical Russia hoax, among various other false attacks," he told us. "The American public was not only divided but misled, while the powers that be attempted to slander and remove a sitting president."
Doucette praised Trump's handling of the economy, but was disappointed by the failure to repeal Obamacare.
All things considered, Ramaswamy is inarguably a longshot GOP contender. But the backing of and enthusiasm for him from major political players such as Doucette make his candidacy something at least to watch carefully.
Christopher Savino is a rising senior at Rutgers University in New Jersey and an intern with Newsmax’s Washington, D.C., bureau.
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