GOP mega donor calls on Republicans to get behind Trump for 2024

Major Republican donor and co-founder of Home Depot Bernie Marcus is calling on the GOP to unite behind former President Donald Trump for 2024. 

"First, the different factions of the Republican Party must unite behind Trump and participate fully in the presidential election," Marcus wrote in a piece published by RealClear Politics. "Put another way, no one should sit out the presidential election or withhold their financial support to our nominee."

Trump has been leading in multiple polls and is the presumptive GOP nominee for 2024 since former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley dropped out of the primary race earlier this month.

In his piece, Marcus says that for the first time in his life, he fears "for the future of our democracy. I see the federal government using its enormous powers with contempt for the governed instead of with the consent of the governed as our founders envisioned."

"I fear that free market capitalism may be replaced by big government socialism. I also fear the erosion of our rights and freedoms, including parental rights, freedom of speech and religion, and due process," he also writes.   

Marcus saves some of his harshest criticism for the media. "In the past, I always had the confidence that a president who was a threat to democracy could be voted out of office in the next election. I am no longer that confident today. My lack of confidence is because the media today is not the watchdog over government that our Founders intended it to be. It is instead the lapdog of government, shielding the public from the entire truth about the policies and actions of the current administration."

Marcus offers advice to Republican donors to fund election strategies for upcoming elections. 

"...conservative donors should fund efforts to fill holes in Republican election strategies," he wrote. "There are, for example, gaps between Democrat and Republican efforts on early voting for low-propensity voters. Democrats have a tremendous advantage here."

Republicans historically have been slow with early voting strategies, unlike their Democrat counterparts, but as of late have been embracing it. 

"It's important that we get out, especially with low propensity voters, to make sure that they vote early," former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show last month. "If they legalize ballot harvesting, Republicans need to ballot harvest better than the Democrats to the extent that the Democrats end up regretting legalizing it in the first place."

Marcus concluded by saying, "America is worth saving!"