Former president Donald Trump’s a “diminished figure,” who — while still dangerous — won’t actually run for president in 2024, according to a former Republican congressman who developed a reputation as a “Never Trumper.”

Meanwhile, even Trumpism will be a losing proposition for the Republican Party, said former congressman Charlie Dent, of Pennsylvania.

While Trump’s making noises — and in doing so, freezing the rest of the potential GOP presidential field — he’s not going to actually pull the trigger, so to speak, Dent said.

“Well, I think what’s happening is you’re right, he has frozen the field. And I don’t think there are many people who actually believe that Donald Trump will run for president again in 2024. He’s a diminished figure. He’s still dangerous, he’s still destructive, but I just can’t imagine him running again,” who retired in 2018 after a career as a moderate Republican. “I think he’ll threaten to run right up until the final hour. And again, I think if these candidates want to become the president of the United States, they need to stand up and offer a vision quite different than what we’re seeing with Trump and Trumpism and this politics of grievance and hostility. There’s no future in it. Everybody understands this.

“I’m sitting here in the city of Philadelphia, you know, the collar counties of Philadelphia, the suburbs have been a killing zone for Republicans. These are areas that we have to win if we ever hope to be a governing party and especially one to win a national election,” he added. “I don’t know how they think they’ll be able to pull this off if we’re just going to continue down this road of political insanity.”

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