Ed Kilgore wrote that the Democrats would have had a traditional primary in 2024 had Trump won in 2020
Political columnist Ed Kilgore contends that former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election may have caused more lasting damage to the country than if he had won a second term.
In a provocative opinion piece published Sunday in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer, Kilgore writes, “A Trump reelection in 2020 would have made the 2024 election in whose shadow we stand a very different proposition. There would have been no Trump campaign of vengeance to rouse the MAGA faithful and desensitize the public to his failings.”
While Kilgore acknowledges the argument may seem counterintuitive, he says a Trump win in 2020 could have changed the course of the Democratic Party and the political environment as a whole. He notes that Trump would have faced serious challenges had he stayed in office, but that some of the turmoil now facing Democrats might have been avoided.
No Jan. 6, No Biden Reelection Bid?
Kilgore argues that a Trump win in 2020 might have prevented the January 6 Capitol riot and likely would have led to President Biden retiring after a single term. “A defeated Joe Biden would have gracefully ended his political career in 2021,” Kilgore writes.
He further claims that Vice President Kamala Harris would not have been a contender in 2024 after “two debilitating losses” during the 2020 election cycle. Without Biden or Harris, he argues, the Democratic Party might have conducted a normal and competitive primary, free from the internal divisions that have plagued the party this year.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Biden’s Presidency
Kilgore believes a Trump victory in 2020 would have spared Democrats from having to defend the difficulties of the Biden administration, including inflation, immigration challenges, the Afghanistan withdrawal, and concerns about Biden’s age and leadership.
“Democrats could have managed a fresh start and a likely 2024 win without losing ground with key constituencies or earning the bitter enmity of so many unhappy young people,” he writes.
Trump’s Comeback and Its Fallout
Instead, Kilgore says, Trump’s 2024 political comeback has resulted in what he calls “horrific policies” and a Republican Party “devoted to hatefulness and extremism.”
He also argues that Biden’s decision to seek reelection—despite questions about his age and approval ratings—has left Democrats without a clear successor and “in a state of disarray.”
“Would it have been worse had Trump won in 2020? I don’t think so,” Kilgore concludes.
