This week’s expansion of the Republican presidential primary field will generate two of the most direct internal challenges to date to Donald Trump’s leadership of the White House.

It could also further solidify Trump’s chances of winning another GOP presidential race.

The first will be former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was once a close ally of Trump but has since riled up to the former president and plans an all-out campaign against him. On Tuesday, he will launch his second bid for president at a New Hampshire town hall.

A day later, former Vice President Mike Pence, who competed with Trump for two presidential bids, will also announce his candidacy. (On the same day, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum will also launch his candidacy.)

The latest round of growth shows dismay with Trump as the frontrunner on the one hand, and on the other doubts that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, consistently the No. 2 challenger behind Trump, could be the person to I defeated him.

But as many Republicans see it: The more people in the race, the better for Trump.

Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican and NBC News contributor who is also an adviser to No Labels, a group considering backing a third-party ticket, said the more, the merrier for Trump.

I think there is a lane [for the others]but now it may be so divided that [it’s] single digits or slight double digits to figure out who gets that,» he said. «And I think everyone is going to try to find that.»

Yet as Pence, Christie and Burgum chart their paths in the race, another potential candidate removed his name from the race this week, explicitly saying he didn’t want to make it harder for Trump to be defeated. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Monday: «The stakes are too high for a packed field to hand the nomination to a candidate who gets just 35 percent of the vote, and I will help ensure that doesn’t happen.»

«We must not be complacent, and candidates must not enter this race to promote a vanity campaign, sell books, or audition to serve as Vice President of Donald Trump,» he added.

On the surface, Pence’s offer looks like it could be the most significant. Since Vice President John Nance Garner, a Democrat, challenged President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, no vice president has run against the president he served under. By running, Pence implicitly suggests to Republican primary voters that Trump does not deserve four more years in office.

Most importantly, Pence is a rebuke to Trump’s belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. On January 6, 2021, he refused to go along with Trump’s effort to halt the counting of electoral votes to certify the votes. results, and the pro-Trump mob that ransacked the US Capitol could be heard chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”

Pence has occasionally distanced himself from Trump on other policy issues, but has still remained relatively silent in his explicit criticism of him.

However, don’t expect Christie to hold back.

At an April town hall in New Hampshire, Christie, who announced his support for Trump in 2016 after he dropped out of the presidential race, devoted his entire opening speech to criticizing him.

“Tonight is the start of the case against Donald Trump,” Christie said. “You’re not going to beat someone by closing your eyes, clicking your heels three times and saying, ‘There’s no place like home.’ That’s not going to work.

Former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., said Christie’s offer has the most impact, «because he’s coming to play and tell the truth about Trump and the threat he poses to democracy, the country and the party.»

«Pence can be used as evidence for Christie of Trump’s crimes, the things that Pence won’t say,» said Comstock, an anti-Trump Republican, adding that candidates should not accept the Republican National Committee’s pledge of allegiance to support the eventual candidate. , which the party announced on Friday as one of its requirements to access the first debate stage of the primaries this summer.

As for how they would campaign, Pence, a longtime advocate of social conservative priorities, is expected to court the religious right and seek to boost his candidacy in Iowa, where evangelical voters make up a large part of the primary electorate. . Meanwhile, Christie is prepared to target voters who may be wary of Trump’s temper as they seek to use New Hampshire as a vehicle to launch their candidacy.

However, both seem to need a miracle. The RealClearPolitics Average of various presidential primary polls shows Trump with over 53%, followed most closely by DeSantis, with around 22%. Pence is at just 3.8%, while Christie is further behind at 1%.

At his town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity last week, Trump welcomed more challengers to the race, saying, «That’s a good thing, isn’t it?»

But, he added, «I don’t think it matters.»

A Trump campaign spokesman suggested that the soon-to-be-announced candidates were not bad news for Trump but for DeSantis.

«This week’s additions to the presidential race come together only because Ron DeSanctimonious has proven himself an inept activist and his opponents smell blood in the water,» the spokesperson said. “The race for second place is about to heat up!”

In response to the pending announcements, Jess Szymanski, spokeswoman for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, said the primary race “is a two-man race between Governor DeSantis and Trump, with increasing momentum behind the governor and the former president who is running. scared.» She touted the number of door knocks the super PAC made to push their bid.

Like allies of Trump and DeSantis, aides from other campaigns weren’t worried about the Pence and Christie entries.

“No impact,” said a rival campaign aide when asked how his bids would affect the main campaign.

More significant may be the charges that Trump could face in Washington, DC, where a grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the investigation of his handling of classified documents will convene this week.

Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, said the expansion of the Republican field is a sign: «More and more people are convinced that President Trump cannot weather the storm ahead.»

«If that becomes a reality,» he added, «our party will have what Reagan called ‘a choice moment.'»