How to run against Trump? GOP considers lessons from 2016 | NASCAR & Racing News

Trump’s unrestrained and norm-busting style carried him from reality TV to the White House, transforming the Republican Party in his image along the way. But his style has befuddled those who try to compete against him, especially now as they seek to win over some of his supporters rather than draw their ire.

Some in 2016 tried to ignore Trump, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who treated the celebrity businessman like a sideshow. Some tried to figuratively wrestle with him in the mud, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who traded insults with Trump by mocking his hair and the size of his hands.

“I think most politicians are not used to playing the game in such a pugilistic fashion as Trump and not as good at it,” said Jason Roe, a Michigan-based Republican political strategist.

As the 2024 field takes shape, candidates and potential contenders are struggling with how to make the case that the party needs to move on from Trump without alienating his influential “Make America Great Again” loyalists.

Most of Trump’s rivals or those who are eyeing a 2024 campaign have largely avoided talking about those scandals, instead opting for more shrouded criticism. Even with Trump becoming the first former president to be charged with a crime, his GOP rivals were quick to echo Trump’s complaint that the case is politically motivated.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce a campaign and is seen as Trump’s top rival, accused prosecutors of stretching the law to target an opponent. But his remarks came a week after DeSantis took a shot at the tawdry circumstances underlying the case when asked to comment on it.

“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” DeSantis said.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who launched her campaign in February, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is considering a presidential run, both avoided criticizing Trump by name in speeches last month at a conservative gathering and instead noted how the GOP had lost so many elections in recent years.

Haley told the crowd, “If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation,” a remark seen as a jab at the 76-year-old Trump. Pompeo said Republicans cannot follow “celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics,…