The best possible outcome for the Republican Party's future is Trump's loss, according to a column.

The best thing for the Republican Party, according to Politico senior columnist Jonathan Martin, is for former President Trump to lose the 2024 presidential election.

Politico Magazine's Martin contended that the GOP can now transition to a "post-Trump party" with Trump's departure.

The ideal result for the Republican Party in November is for former President Donald Trump to suffer a decisive defeat, according to Martin. GOP leaders won't openly admit this, but Martin has stated it in a piece published on Wednesday.

The columnist wrote that Vice President Kamala Harris's better performance in the general election in November would allow the GOP to move on faster. He stated that Trump would never concede defeat, regardless of the thoroughness of his loss. However, the more decisively Harris wins the popular vote and electoral college, the less political oxygen Trump will have to repeat his 2020 antics. Additionally, the faster Republicans can begin building a post-Trump party.

He argued that the GOP would perform better under a Harris presidency than under Trump, predicting that the Republican Party would pressure Harris to be moderate, resulting in a return to normal government gridlock.

"Harris is not a strict progressive, but her liberal policies would be limited by a Republican-controlled Senate. Additionally, if Republicans win the Senate, she would be the first Democrat to hold the presidency without majorities in both chambers since 1884."

In conclusion, the recipe for gridlock may require deal-making to fund the government and prevent across-the-board tax hikes, but it will not result in a Scandinavian social welfare state.

Martin predicted that the GOP would gain ground in the 2026 midterm elections under Harris, stating that it would be a promising opportunity for the opposition. He also believed that the defeat of Trump would make it easier for Republicans to attract Senate candidates.

The columnist argued that the GOP would have an easier time winning back the House majority under Harris and would be more successful in the 36 governors' races in 2022 if they were running against the "six-year-itch."

Martin stated that he conversed with a high-level Republican who, despite calling it "wishful thinking," believed the best-case outcome would be a Harris win followed by Biden granting pardons to both his son, Hunter, and Trump.

According to Martin, the anonymous party member's reasoning was that resolving both cases would relieve Harris of the issue and reduce the energy behind Trump's persecution complex, allowing Republicans to focus on winning elections.

If Republicans want to regain their status as a national party, they must move on from Trump, according to the columnist.

Trump's "down-ballot candidates" have "underperformed" in recent years, and the Democratic Party's strength lies in its ability to unite against Trump as its "common enemy."

After Trump departs, Democrats will lose their strongest unifier, fundraiser, and motivator. However, they will still face the same challenges with the Electoral College, Senate, House, and voter distribution. Additionally, the GOP's electoral prospects will improve once Trump is no longer in the spotlight.

Multiple conservative users on social media ripped Martin's argument.

On X, Joe Gabriel Simonson of The Free Beacon mocked it, saying, "Lmao."

John Carney criticized Martin's argument that Trump has cost the GOP the popular vote twice, stating that the columnist's point that the GOP hasn't won the popular vote in a while is more of the party's problem, not Trump's. He posted, "This is a weird way to follow up a tweet saying the best thing that could happen to the GOP would be for Trump to lose. If the GOP has been losing the popular vote consistently, I’m not sure how getting rid of Trump helps Republicans. They were a broken party long before."

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump staffer-turned-Trump critic and co-host of "The View," commended Martin's column.

She wrote on X, "@jmart⁩ with some truth bombs."