Irish Examiner view: Trump chances

US general election

Some Republican insiders reckon Trump’s bid to be re-elected is already in trouble because of the sheer toxicity of the man. Picture: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File

As Donald Trump belatedly took to the campaign trail at the weekend with untypically low-key rallies in the early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, he was already looking over his shoulder at a slew of potential rivals for the Republican presidential candidate nomination.

The fearsome grip Trump once had on the GOP has slipped — alarmingly, in his view, but unsurprisingly in the minds of many others — in recent times to the point that emboldened potential candidates are lining up to take him on in what, just a short time ago, would have seemed like sure-fire political suicide.