It is unusual for Trump to sincerely praise a competitor for gaining in the polls. But there are three reasons that this one makes sense — when considered in the context of Trump trying to mold the field to his liking, writes Philip Bump in Analysis.
campaign last November, it came at a time when he was an unusual focus of criticism. The party’s underperformance in the midterms was laid at his feet, often fairly. But he moved forward anyway, almost certainly to establish a position as the nominating fight’s heavyweight, discouraging other potential candidates from running. That may have worked to some extent; by this point in the 2016 cycle there were far more major candidates in the mix for the nomination.But it didn’t keep everyone out.
First of all, Ramaswamy’s still not getting much support. The trend in YouGov’s polls, conducted for the Economist, Yahoo News and CBS News, shows Trump hovering around 50 percent and DeSantis in the mid-20s. Ramaswamy has gained ground from 1 percent in late March to 4 percent in the most recent YouGov poll, but that’s not a statistically significant difference.
Trump certainly understands that the nominating field largely breaks down along Trump-vs.-not-Trump lines. Republicans who dislike Trump saw the 2016 result, in which Trump managed to secure the nomination in part because the anti-Trump vote never consolidated around someone else. That’s triggered calls to keep the Republican field small, allowing for that anti-Trump vote to aggregate around one alternative more quickly.
The only remaining question is why he’s praising Ramaswamy’s loyalty. In part, it’s probably to highlight how DeSantis went sideways on him. In part, it’s probably about pointing Republicans who liked Trump’s policies but not his presentation toward someone other than DeSantis. That might be overthinking it; it may just be that he hasn’t heard Ramaswamy offer criticism, and he always appreciates that.
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