Does Trump seek a big tent Republican Party? 2024 presidential nominee sends mixed signals

The question isn't just whether Donald Trump can expand his base but whether he wants to.

Trump's brand of brass-knuckle politics is beloved by his Make America Great Again following, but has turned off broad swaths of the Republican base. It is based on hardnosed rhetoric that denounces political rivals as "enemies," labeled people seeking refuge in America as violent "criminals" and derided electric vehicles while praising the prowess of U.S. global adversaries.

It also touts uncompromising stances on policy, including a vow to conduct the largest deportation program ever in the United States, challenge U.S. allies on trade and defense spending and launch an all-out assault on a "deep state" within U.S. federal government agencies.

It's won the undying loyalty of the MAGA electorate, but can he win over more skeptical voters?

Here are a few points to consider:

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Does Trump want to broaden his base or not?

The former president who is the 2024 Republican Party presumptive nominee has sent mixed signals.

For example, in his widely reported "bloodbath" speech in Ohio, Trump made a call to Americans of all political stripes.

"To all Republicans, independents and disillusioned Democrats, of which there are many, I invite you to join our movement to save our country," Trump said at the start of a rally in Vandalia.

But then he added.

"We campaigned for a year and I obliterate our competition and they say, 'Sir, please don't talk about these people like that. They're Republicans'" Trump said about his primary rivals. "I said, 'I don't give a sh--. They're terrible. I said, 'I don't care.'"

In previous speeches he has blasted his critics within the GOP ranks as RINOs, a derogatory acronym that stands for Republicans in name only, and has called Democrats "radical leftists," "Marxists," "communists" and "fascists."

Almost every Republican on the party's tickets this century has distanced themselves from Trump

Conservatives and moderates, Christian and Mormon, southern and midwestern — the Republican Party's presidential and vice presidential candidates have been a varied lot in the 21st Century. But they share one reality: They have distanced themselves from Donald Trump.

Former President George W. Bush made clear in a Boca Raton talk last December that he is not a fan of 45. His vice president, Dick Cheney, called Trump a "coward" in a political ad for his daughter, former congresswoman and Jan. 6 panel member Liz Cheney.

The 2008 GOP presidential nominee, the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, and Trump loathed each other. The 2012 ticket of U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and then-U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan have also been sharply critical of Trump.

Even Trump's own vice president, Mike Pence, has said he will not support Trump in this year's election, which elicited this retort from Trump on March 19: "I couldn't care less."

The lone supporter has been former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential candidate.

Republican voters have picked Trump, but sizeable minorities are disgruntled

Trump, indeed, "obliterated" his GOP primary opposition. He won almost every primary and caucus and now has more than 1,600 delegates. His next closest rival, Nikki Haley, has just 94 delegates and won only two primaries.

But significant portions of the GOP electorate have rejected Trump.

Haley won 43% of the vote in New Hampshire, which does allow non-GOP voters to cast ballots in the party selection election. She also won 40% of the vote in her South Carolina home state, a quarter of the votes in Michigan and North Carolina, and 13% of the ballots in Michigan and almost 15% of the votes in Trump's home state of Florida.

In a March 6 speech announcing she was suspending her campaign, Haley said Trump has to "earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support" him. Trump's immediate was less than big tent-gracious: "Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record-setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries."

Can Biden-Harris campaign make inroads into disaffected Republicans?

That's far from clear.

But exit polls from the North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio primaries showed Haley voters expressed high levels of unhappiness when asked if they would be pleased if Trump won the nomination. In North Carolina, 87% said they would be dissatisfied with Trump as their candidate while 73% in Ohio and 95% in Virginia said the same.

The Biden campaign is making a pitch as the president travels to swing states. On Tuesday, the campaign issued a statement that read: "Donald Trump and his campaign have made it clear: If you are not part of the MAGA disciples then you aren’t welcome in his campaign. For independent, moderate, and Nikki Haley voters who all care about protecting democracy and lowering costs for families, President Biden is reaching out his hand to welcome them into his coalition while Donald Trump is slamming the door in their face.”

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump and big tent GOP: 2024 presidential nominee sends mixed signals