Gordon Sondland, the former European Union ambassador, is saying out loud what many fans of the former president are whispering: Donald Trump should step aside and help elect another Republican who supports the MAGA agenda as the 47th president of the United States.
“Be the kingmaker, pick a successor, get behind the successor, and hopefully pick someone that actually is electable,” said Sondland.
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While he expects his former boss to get into the 2024 GOP primary, and likely win, he said even if Trump beats President Joe Biden, it will be a controversial and potentially lost four years as Democrats again gang up to take Trump down.
“I don’t think he’s going to be elected, and if he was lucky to be elected, I think he’s going to be so busy fighting off every investigation, litigation, the press. He’s going to be so busy doing everything but governing in that last four years of his term, I don’t think he’s going to have the time and the bandwidth to do it. Because people are going to want to take him down like nobody’s business,” said the top GOP donor in an interview.
Sondland should know. He was a star witness in the first impeachment trial of Trump, and while he didn’t say the former president did anything wrong in the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he was fired for being part of the process.
But that’s not why he’s soured on Trump. That happened on Jan. 6, 2021, when he felt Trump should have done more to stop the Capitol riot and also welcome Joe Biden into the presidency.
In a new book about his work in the administration, The Envoy: Mastering the Art of Diplomacy with Trump and the World, Sondland wrote, “What really disappoints me is that President Trump did massive damage to the United States’ ‘brand.’”
He added, “The United States is admired around the world by those living in both autocracies and in democracies for the way we pass the baton to the elected successor.” But, he wrote, “Trump really damaged this important and aspirational tradition. I wished he had not, and I believe that his presidency would have been more highly regarded by history if he had bowed out, shaken Joe’s hand, and wished him well — and then beat him in the next election.”
In calling on Trump to step aside, Sondland said that several MAGA candidates stand out, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Govs. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Ron DeSantis of Florida.
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Once elected, he said Trump could help guide policy to them. “He would have extraordinary sway over policy because he could use the bully pulpit,” said Sondland.
And that influence could last generations, he added. The reason: One day, the nation could see a President Ivanka Trump or President Jared Kushner.
“I would never rule it out,” said Sondland.
