Donald Trump won the 2016 election because moderate voters in several swing states decided to vote for him. He lost the 2020 election because those same voters agreed that they had enough of him and voted for Joe Biden.
Trump needs those moderates to win the election in 2024, but the hard-core MAGA-wing of the party is going to make it hard for him to win those voters over. As a case in point, Charlie Kirk recently was angered by Trump taking credit for developing the COVID-19 vaccine, and he thinks that people could vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead.
During Joe Biden's State of the Union address last week, he talked about how the country was no longer living under the threat of the virus. Trump responded on Truth Social by responding, "You're welcome."
Kirk said of the moment:
"RFK is building a coalition of center-right Moms that the Trump campaign needs to do a better job of appealing to. And, Donald Trump taking credit for the vaccine, if RFK wasn't in the race it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But you have to understand that there are millions of voters who look at the vaccine issue as a highly personal issue. That they will not vote for a candidate. That they will not support a candidate. And with RFK on the ballot, you cannot dismiss this coalition."