Maybe the 2024 GOP hopefuls want ex-president Donald Trump to go to jail?

That’s what CNN host Michael Smerconish theorized on Saturday, saying perhaps the primary field is so large because candidates like Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, and the rest are counting on Democrat prosecutors to get rid of front-runner Trump for them, clearing the way to fight for his voters.

On Saturday’s Smerconish on CNN, the host posed the rhetorical question, “Why are so many Republican candidates now challenging Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination?”

He answered his question with one possible explanation: criminal prosecutions.

Most of the candidates, including not just the still Trump-friendly such as Vivek Ramaswamy but contenders like DeSantis, have spoken out against “Soros DAs” across the country — meaning Democrat prosecutors who, like Alvin Bragg, were funded in small or large part by organizations tied to billionaire leftwing activist and big money donor George Soros.

But, Smerconish theorized, the candidates in the primary may actually be hoping for or counting on the many criminal investigations and pending prosecutions against Trump to see him locked up and unable to run for office at all, thus leaving the field and the party to those who remain.

Why are so many Republican candidates now challenging Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination? Think about it. He’s a former president, essentially a GOP incumbent who’s consistently polling around 50% of the GOP vote in the polls.

And we learned in 2016 that given the hardcore support that Trump enjoys from some, he’s the beneficiary of a large field. Remember, in that cycle, there were so many running that debates, they had a kids table.

This time Trump announced first and then Nikki Haley and then Vivek Ramaswamy, Larry Elder, Asa Hutchinson, Tim Scott, and now Ron DeSantis, who, by the way, is only 44 years old. By Biden-Trump standards, he’s got three more decades to run for president.

So why run now? Why get into the steel cage with a wrestler who always carries a foreign object? Mike Pence said he’ll soon make a decision. Chris Christie sure sounds like a candidate. Sununu might get in. Even Glenn Youngkin, according to Axios, is taking a second look.

So what’s going on? Maybe that they don’t think they’ll have to beat Trump, that that work will be done by a combination of Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Jack Smith, and Merrick Garland.

Before wrapping the segment, Smerconish also pondered whether any such incarceration for Trump would also mean the end of President Joe Biden’s 2024 prospects.

“And if they’re right and Trump isn’t the candidate, does that put more pressure on President Biden to step aside, where in the face of polling showing that even Democrats want a change in their ticket, his retort is to suggest that he alone can defeat Donald Trump?” he asked, again rhetorically.

His conclusion was that nobody knows what will happen.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

The post ‘Maybe They Don’t Think They’ll Have To’: CNN Host Suggests DeSantis, GOP Contenders Want Dem Prosecutors to Get Rid of Trump FOR Them first appeared on Mediaite.

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