The Club for Growth, a leading conservative campaign group, will host a donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida this weekend. Most of the 2024 potential or declared Republican candidates are invited and will be there, all except for one noticeable exception – Donald Trump. Though the retreat will be held near Mar-a-Lago, Trump is not invited. He and the group had a falling out during the 2022 midterm cycle and apparently that has not been repaired.

Trump has worked with the Club for Growth in the past. However, the two found themselves at odds during the 2022 midterm elections on candidate endorsements. And, Trump was angry about the group’s publishing its internal polling showing Trump falling behind DeSantis prior to his November campaign launch. Trump responded to the snub in his usual fashion on Truth Social.

“The Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers, fought me incessantly and rather viciously during my presidential run in 2016. They said I couldn’t win, I did, and won even bigger in 2020, with millions of more votes than ‘16, but the Election was Rigged & Stollen (sic),” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Conservative Political Action Coalition conference (CPAC) is meeting in Washington, D.C., this week. Trump will be attending that to court the Republican Party base. It’s a busy time for donor retreats and gatherings with potential Republican primary candidates. Some top traditional Republican donor groups, such as Americans for Prosperity Action, are looking for alternative candidates to support in 2024.

Newly minted candidates Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the former pharmaceutical magnate turned conservative influencer, will headline the meeting in Palm Beach. The top Republicans seriously eyeing bids — including making all the moves of a shadow campaign — are also expected to attend the event, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.

Trump and Club for Growth have had an on-again-off-again relationship. In 2022, the group helped Trump select prospective Senate candidates in key races, including Ted Budd, but the two split over the Ohio Senate primary. The relationship has been off again since then. Trump reportedly told McIntosh, “Go f*** yourself.”

Last weekend there were two other big donor events that Trump was not invited to attend. One was in Palm Beach at the Four Seasons resort, a few miles from Mar-a-Lago hosted by DeSantis for about 150 of his top donors. He was expected to share data from his overwhelming re-election victory last November and discuss his agenda going forward. Also, some of the likely or declared Republican presidential candidates gathered in Austin, Texas last Friday to headline a conference of top donors hosted by Karl Rove. Nikki Haley was a speaker at that event, which helped raise money for a registration initiative known as the Texas Voter Engagement Project. Others present were Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Chris Sununu, and Chris Christie. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was also a speaker.

An important takeaway from all the chatter about big donors and the decision-making process they go through to choose a candidate (s) to back as the primary season ramps up is that the Republican Party has an embarrassment of riches. The bench of potential candidates is deep. At this point in the discussion, there is someone for everyone. There is the Trump wing, the Establishment wing, and even the potential for outsiders, like Vivek Ramaswamy. Compare all those to the choices the Democrats will have whether or not Joe Biden runs for re-election.

Update, 3/5/23 (Ed): Americans for Prosperity Action did not engage in presidential races in 2016 and 2020. We have removed a phrase which suggested that they supported Trump in those cycles. We thank AFP Action for the clarification.