Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spent months struggling to get the campaign donations, attention and support he needed to keep his long-shot quest for the Republican presidential nomination alive.
That ended Tuesday, when Suarez announced he would be suspending his campaign, making him the first Republican to drop out of a nomination contest that is both crowded and heavily favoring former President Donald Trump.
“While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains," Suarez said in a statement.
“I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans’ trust in our institutions and in each other, and win.”
Suarez did not offer his endorsement to any of the remaining candidates.
Suarez failed to make the debate stage in Milwaukee, despite having reached, he claimed, the threshold for 40,000 individual donors. In his quest to get more donations, Suarez offered people a chance to get front-row seats to see legendary Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi in his first game playing for Inter Miami.
But with dismal polling numbers – the last three major surveys had Suarez with zero support of GOP primary voters – Suarez did not qualify for the debate stage. While campaigning in New Hampshire weeks ago, Suarez said that candidates who did not meet the thresholds for the Milwaukee debate should drop out.
As the only Hispanic in the GOP presidential race, Suarez – the 45-year-old son of Miami's first Cuban-born mayor – at first appeared to be someone who could build on the party's inroads among Latino voters. Exit polls show that Hispanics – especially in Republican Florida – are moving more toward the GOP, although Democrats still hold a commanding lead among the voter group nationally and in battleground states like Arizona and Colorado.
Suarez was also an early proponent of vaccinations for COVID-19. He has clashed with his state's GOP governor, Ron DeSantis, criticizing his foe for the GOP presidential nomination for the expansion of the "don’t say gay" law in schools and the handling of the slavery curriculum in classrooms.
Nor has Suarez been a reliable enemy of President Joe Biden. At an event at the White House in early 2021, Suarez said he spoke with the president about the pandemic and climate change, adding that he had more communication with the Democratic president than with Trump, when he was president.
"I've spoken to the president and vice president more times in the short period that they have been in office than I had spoken to the prior administration entirely," Suarez said at the time. "To me, that's an intentional desire on their part to really plug in with the mayors."
In the months he has been campaigning, however, Suarez – who did not support Trump in 2016 or 2020 – has shied away from criticizing the GOP's front-runner. In June, Suarez hinted he would pardon Trump, saying the tool is useful for presidents to “heal the country.”
B | 某种意义上，这种柔和的姿态，更像是一场经过深思熟虑的政治铺垫。毕竟，中美关系的走向，影响着全世界的神经。
如果说记者会上那些赞美只是铺垫，那么他喊出“中美可以联手解决世界上所有问题”这句话，无疑是一颗投向国际舆论场的重磅炸弹。这不仅是他对中美关系的直接喊话，更是在向全球释放一个明确信号：中美合作的未来，或许正站在一个关键的重塑起点。
特朗普心里再清楚不过，中美关系这些年虽波折不断，但依然是全球舞台上无法回避的核心支点。你要经济复苏？少不了中美这两个最大经济体的一起发力。你要全球安全？中美的协调能决定整个棋盘的平衡。你要气候治理、贸易规则、技术创新？没有中美的合作，世界只会乱成一锅糊粥。而特朗普喊出中美“联手”，正是点到了关键的命门。
然而，不要被特朗普的“友好”表态迷惑。他抛出“联手”这张牌，既是为了吸引全球的关注，更是在试探中国的态度和立场。
C | 尤其是在王毅外长明确表示，“希望美国新政府做出正确抉择，同中方相向而行”之际，特朗普选择抛出橄榄枝，这一举动更像是一场精心设计的外交谈判前奏。
特朗普深知，继续与中国对抗不仅会加剧美国国内经济的困境，还可能进一步削弱美国的国际影响力，让其他盟友在夹缝中难以喘息。面对中国强硬而坚定的立场，特朗普试图通过“示好”试探中方的态度，同时也为接下来的博弈积累谈判筹码。他这一“转向”，本质上是希望在对抗与合作之间找到一个既符合美国利益、又能缓解压力的平衡点。
不过，特朗普的示好虽然动听，但中方可不会轻易接招。
D | 中国早已不再是那个在国际舞台上任人摆布的“沉默大国”，如今的中国，有能力、有底气、有智慧应对任何挑战。从中美贸易摩擦到南海问题，从芯片封锁到台湾议题，中国一直在用实际行动告诉世界：捍卫主权和核心利益，不容妥协。
E |
特朗普的言论在美国国内必然会引起不小的争议。鹰派们早已对中国“磨刀霍霍”，特朗普这番话或许会让他们感到愤怒，甚至觉得他背叛了“强硬立场”。但对于特朗普来说，舆论早已是他手中的一张工具牌。树立一个“建设性”的总统形象，给美国经济找到突破口，这才是他真正的盘算。
F |
“中美联手”，听起来像一份沉甸甸的礼物，但要真正实现，需要双方拿出诚意、智慧和行动。这不是特朗普一个人的独角戏，也不是靠几句漂亮话就能轻松解决的现实问题。中美关系的未来，终究还要看双方如何“相向而行”。
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