Trump’s paperwork to establish his candidacy landed at the Federal Election Commission shortly before he delivered his announcement at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate. Trump’s much-anticipated campaign comes as the former president tries to regain the spotlight after the GOP’s lackluster performance in the midterm elections — including the losses of several Trump-endorsed no-choice voters — and the ensuing blame game played out by on election day. Republicans have failed to win a majority in the Senate, failed to pick up enough statewide seats and have yet to secure a majority in the House, with only 215 races having called so far out of the 218 required, developments that forced Trump and other party leaders on the defensive as they face criticism from their ranks. But Trump is also betting that his “first out of the gate” strategy will fend off potential primary challengers and give him an early advantage with deep-pocketed donors, aides say. He is widely expected to be challenged by both conservative and moderate Republicans, though the calculus of some presidential candidates could change now that he is running. Others — like his former vice president, Mike Pence — may move on anyway. Trump’s third presidential bid also coincides with a period of heightened legal risk as Justice Department officials investigating him and his associates reconsider the prospect of charges in the Trump-related probes. The former president is currently being investigated for his activities before and during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and the retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office. While Trump is counting on an easy path to the GOP nomination with the continued support of the party’s base, his announcement is likely to dash the hopes of party leaders who have longed for new talent. In particular, top Republicans paid close attention to the next moves of Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who won re-election by a 19-point margin and significant support from minority and independent voters. Some Republican leaders may try to derail Trump’s campaign by promoting or encouraging alternative candidates, including DeSantis, who is quietly laying the groundwork for a possible White House bid. Of course, any counterattack to block Trump’s path to the nomination is likely to prove difficult. Despite his myriad legal entanglements and the taint of Jan. 6, the twice-impeached 45th president remains extremely popular among most Republican voters and boasts a deep connection with his core supporters that could prove difficult for other GOP candidates to match. reproduce or weaken. Even leading conservatives who disliked Trump’s aggressive and unorthodox policies stuck with him as President because he helped solidify the U.S. Supreme Court’s turn with his nominations — one of the most far-reaching aspects of his legacy, leading to conservative the deeply polarizing decision of the June judicial majority to end federal abortion rights. In fact, while Trump finished his first term with the lowest approval rating of any president, about 8 out of 10 Republicans viewed him favorably, according to an NBC News poll in May. That alone could give Trump a significant advantage over primary rivals with whom voters are still getting familiar. Among those potential rivals is Pence, who will likely benefit from high name recognition due to his role as vice president. Pence, who has been preparing for a possible bid for the White House in 2024, is sure to face an uphill battle with Trump’s most loyal supporters, many of whom have lashed out at the former vice president after he refused to exceed his authority in Congress and block his certification now. -President Joe Biden wins in 2020. Trump could also face DeSandis, who has emerged as a hero among cultural conservatives and is widely seen as a more sophisticated version of Trump. Even some of the former president’s advisers have made similar remarks to CNN, noting that DeSantis also made inroads with major Republican donors during his re-election bid and built a mountain of goodwill with GOP leaders by campaigning for federal and state Republican candidates in the midst of his own race. Beyond his potential challengers, Trump has another roadblock in his path as a select House committee continues to investigate his role on Jan. 6, 2021, and Justice Department officials consider whether to issue criminal charges. The committee, which subpoenaed him for testimony and documents in October and which Trump is now fighting in court, held public hearings throughout the summer and early fall with testimony from Trump’s White House inner circle — including of his family members – – detailing his public and private efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election through a campaign of sustained pressure on numerous local, state and federal officials and his own vice president. But Trump’s desire to announce his campaign early can be traced in particular to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago investigation, which advisers say further fueled his decision to make what he believes will be a triumphant political comeback. The day after the investigation, the former president fielded calls from allies advising him to speed up his 2024 timetable. That evening, he gathered with House members at the Republican Study Committee and told them he had “decided” to launch a bid, though some of the same House Republicans later persuaded him to wait until the midterm elections to announce a next move.
PREPARATION FOR 2024
From the moment Trump left Washington, defeated and disgraced, in January 2021, he began plotting a return to power — devoting most of his time to building a political enterprise meant for this moment. With the help of several former aides and advisers, he continued the aggressive fundraising tactics that had become a hallmark of his 2020 campaign, amassing a colossal war chest ahead of the 2022 midterm elections and worked diligently to elect staunch allies in both Congress and in state legislatures across the country. While he maintained a home base in Florida, he regularly jetted across the country for campaign rallies that bought him crucial time with his base and with candidates he was betting would become valuable allies in the U.S. Senate and House. Through it all, Trump has continued to falsely insist that the 2020 election was stolen from him, indulging in widespread conspiracy theories about voter fraud and pressuring Republican leaders across the party’s electoral machinery to support changes that would limit voting rights. Trump’s aides were pleased earlier this fall when his public appearances and rally speeches gradually focused on rising crime, immigration and economic woes — key issues throughout the midterm cycle and issues they hope will give him allow him to make a fascinating contrast with Biden. this next chapter begins. Allies of the former president have long said he sees the 2024 contest as a chance to reclaim what he believes is his: another four years in the Oval Office. But there is no guarantee that Trump will easily slide into a non-consecutive second term. In fact, it can be quite difficult. Not only does history offer only one example of such a feat (defeated in 1888 after his first term, President Grover Cleveland was re-elected in 1892), no previously impeached president has ever run again. Trump was first impeached in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and then again in 2021 for inciting riots at the US Capitol. Although he was acquitted by the Senate both times, 10 House Republicans broke with their party the second time to join Democrats in a vote to impeach him. Seven Republican senators voted to convict him at his Senate trial. Trump has also been the subject of a series of lawsuits and investigations, including a New York state probe and a separate Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation into his company’s finances, a Georgia county probe into his efforts to sway the election Biden’s victory in the state and a separate Justice Department investigating his campaign’s plan to field bogus voters in battleground states and his decision to bring classified material to Mar-a-Lago with him after leaving office. Trump’s actions since leaving Washington have, for the most part, signaled his interest in an eventual return. While most former presidents retire quietly — emerging to help their parties during the midterms or to open their presidential libraries — Trump broke with tradition to instead plan the comeback he now hopes to do. Despite its distance from Washington, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has become a new hub for Republicans and a base for his political machine. Aided by a small team of paid executives, he has hosted numerous candidate and committee fundraisers and seen a rotating cast of party leaders and congressional candidates pass through his gilded corridors, hoping to grab his support or re-evaluate his base. . Trump’s schedule has allowed him to build close relationships with party leaders and fringe figures — from House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia — whose support in contested primaries elections could finally help him clear the field. Many of the aides who have been with him since he left the White House are expected to…
