A SPLIT is emerging among Republican anti-Donald Trump groups desperate to prevent the former president, who is dominating the party's presidential nomination battle, from reaching the White House again.
Some are still spending to stop him becoming the Republican candidate, and others have concluded it is inevitable he will be the nominee and have moved on to try and prevent him from winning the November 2024 general election.
Trump is ahead of his nearest rival by almost 40 points, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, with only four months remaining until Republicans hold their first nominating contest in January in Iowa.
Despite that overwhelming lead, some deep-pocketed anti-Trumpers, including the conservative political network led
by billionaire Charles Koch, are continuing to pay for ads aimed at convincing Republicans in
early nominating states to
ditch Trump.
But some smaller groups have called it quits. After spending roughly US$1 million on anti-Trump ads in Iowa, the Republican Accountability PAC, for example, concluded in August their money wasn't making a difference.
"We decided we needed to hold our powder for the general election," said PAC president and Republican strategist, Sarah Longwell.
That decision is another sign Trump's candidacy is being seen as inescapable by some of his opponents in the party.
Trump remains loved by a large swath of the Republican voting base, despite his falsehoods about his 2020 election loss, and the federal and state criminal cases he faces.
Continuing to spend on the primary is essentially a waste of money, said Reed Galen, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.
"You could throw suitcases of cash at Iowans and they'd still go to the church and vote for Trump," Galen said.
The Lincoln Project, founded by former Republican strategists, also decided to halt spending on the primary this spring, although it had not spent much by that point.
"The general election has begun," Galen said. The group is now targeting independents and Republicans unconvinced by the party's direction, especially upper-income suburbanites, in general election battleground states, including Wisconsin.
It hopes to spend US$50 million next year to support Democrat Joe Biden. The group will back Biden's economic record and argue that Trump poses an "existential" threat to American democracy.
Longwell's PAC is also planning to try to weaken Trump with Republicans unsure or displeased by Trump, as well as right-leaning independents. Independents in battleground states can be crucial in tight elections.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said "no amount of Never Trump money" could match the enthusiasm Trump is generating among grassroots voters.
So far, anti-Trump ads by business-friendly Republican groups in early primary states have argued Trump would be weak against Biden, in part because of his four indictments.
About half of Republicans would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a felony, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in August. However, polls also show Republican voters continue to overwhelmingly support Trump despite his mounting legal problems.
Tim Miller, a former aide to 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush and a Trump critic, said: "There are a lot of donors wasting money on strategies that have proven to fail."
Super PAC Win It Back has reported spending US$2.8 million opposing Trump this year in filings to the Federal Election Commission. Anti-tax advocacy group Club for Growth did not respond to requests for details on its campaign.
A source said, however, the group would not oppose Trump should he become the party's nominee in the presidential election.
AFP Action, part of the Koch network that advocates for lower taxes and less regulation, says it raised more than US$70 million in the first half of the year with the goal of preventing Trump from clinching the nomination.
It has spent around US$11 million in seven primary states. One ad, titled "Unelectable", urges voters to move away from Trump to better defeat Biden.
* The writers are from Reuters news agency