Trumpist Site Encourages Donald to Run in a Third Party — and He Seems Down

Former President Donald Trump, who threw his nightmarish red cap back into the ring and launched a fourth bid for the White House last month, shared an article on Wednesday that suggested he run as a third-party candidate.

Posting on Truth Social, the social media platform he started after being booted from Twitter, Trump promoted an article from conservative publication American Greatness by writer Dan Gelernter. Staying true to the site’s unofficial role as a Trumpist mouthpiece, Gelernter claimed the “RNC can pretend Trump isn’t loved by the base anymore” and that Trump is still “admired and even loved by those who consider themselves ‘ordinary’ Americans,” particularly those who reside “anywhere outside the Beltway.”

More from Rolling Stone

• Jan. 6 Committee Drops Trump Subpoena as Time Runs Out

• 'Alex Jones Did Nothing Wrong': Meet the Christian Nationalist Behind 'Pastors For Trump'

• The Most Damning Things Jan. 6 Witnesses Have Said About Trump

Gelernter compared Trump to the late President Teddy Roosevelt, whose run for a third term as president and third-party bid in 1912 was widely blamed for splitting Republican ranks and handing over the election to Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson.

Although Gelernter admits that Trump running as a third-party candidate in 2024 would likely meet a similar fate, he declares his allegiance to the former president and suggests a Republican loss would teach the “corrupt gravy-train” a lesson.

Trump, who was faulted by the Jan. 6 committee for provoking the Capitol attack, has been accused of trying to intimidate Republicans into backing his 2024 bid as major donors and former allies bow out following the GOP post-midterm meltdown.

Still, some die-hard supporters refuse to get off the ride at Trumpworld, and as Gelernter so passionately puts it, “if the Republican Party thinks it’s not big enough for Trump, it’s not going to be big enough” for him either. Luckily, the exit path is clearer than ever.

Best of Rolling Stone

• The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign

• Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

• The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence

Click here to read the full article.