Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, announced his support for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, insisting that Mr. Trump is the best person to lead America and tackle challenges facing the country.
“Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You [Republicans] should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election,” Mr. Marcus wrote in a Nov. 9 op-ed at RealClear Politics. “I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says. I, too, have been frustrated at times.” However, “we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office.”
“I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America,” he wrote.
Mr. Marcus pointed out that the “new war in the Middle East” will pose massive challenges for the free world for some time as it tackles terror groups and nations which aid and sponsor their activities.
This will require an American president who has the “judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage” that President Trump exhibited when he ordered a strike on top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020. It is these characteristics of President Trump that deterred Russia from invading Ukraine during his term, Mr. Marcus said.
The Home Depot co-founder speculated that Hamas would not have carried out the massacre of Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 if President Trump was still in office.
“The reason is America’s enemies respect and, more importantly, fear Donald Trump’s judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage,” he wrote.
“It is critical that America’s next leader have these attributes in the face of Hamas murdering innocent babies, old people, including Holocaust survivors, entire families; burning alive innocent people; raping women and young girls; and other unspeakable acts.”
Mr. Marcus pointed out that three years of “bad government policies” under the Biden administration has had a negative effect on America.
As examples, he cited the lawlessness within cities; millions of illegal aliens, including criminals, migrating via the southern border; the decline in reading, writing, and math standards of school children; and families struggling to make ends meet.
The billionaire also highlighted the danger posed by certain politicians who wish to replace America’s free market system with “big government socialism.”
The Home Depot founder said that he would not have succeeded if he had faced the high inflation, government overregulation, and the problems created over the last three years during his time.
“For these reasons, I endorse Donald J. Trump as the nominee of the Republican Party and as our next president,” he wrote. “We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years.”
Trump vs. Biden
Mr. Marcus’ op-ed comes as President Trump is leading the polls in both the GOP primaries and the 2024 presidential elections.According to a Nov. 7 update from Morning Consult, President Trump had the support of 63 percent of potential Republican primary voters, which is a 48-point lead over second-placed GOP candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who received only 15 percent support.
In addition, “Trump leads Biden by 2 points in a hypothetical general election matchup—44 percent to 42 percent. This past week marks the longest period in which the former president has held a continuous, albeit narrow lead over the Democratic incumbent.”
A recent poll by The New York Times found that President Trump has an advantage over President Biden in most of the key battleground states.
Out of the six such states, President Trump led by substantial margins in five—Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. In Wisconsin, President Trump slightly trailed President Biden.
The administration tried to downplay poll results, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying during a briefing that “we have to really take these polls with a grain of salt.”
“We should really be very mindful here and one of the reasons why is, just a year ago, back in 2022, there was the red wave that never materialized.”
A late October survey by Gallup showed that President Biden is losing the backing of even his own party supporters. Only 75 percent of Democrats approved of President Biden in October 2023, which is the worst reading of his presidency. This is down 11 percentage points from September.
Gallup speculated that President Biden’s “immediate and decisive show of support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas appears to have turned off some in his own party, resulting in Democrats’ worst assessment of the president since he took office.”
Overall, only 37 percent of U.S. adults approved of President Biden, matching the low registered in April this year.
“After ranging from 49 percent to 57 percent during the first eight months of his presidency, Biden’s approval rating has been mired in the low 40s for much of the past two years … Biden’s approval has fallen below 40 percent four times in the 33 readings Gallup has taken since he took office,” it said.
