Trump had hoped to use the GOP’s expected gains in last week’s election as a springboard to shore up his party’s nomination, locking in support in time to keep potential challengers at bay. Instead, he now finds himself blamed for backing a string of losing candidates after disappointing results in which Democrats retained control of the Senate and control of the House remains too early to tell. “Let’s hope tomorrow will be one of the most important days in our country’s history!” Trump tweeted on his social media network on Monday. An announcement was expected at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday from his club in Palm Beach. Another campaign is a remarkable turnaround for any former president, let alone one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the US Capitol in a deadly bid to stop peaceful transition of power in January. 6, 2021. Only one president in US history has been elected to two non-consecutive terms: Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892. Trump also faces a series of intensifying criminal investigations, including a Justice Department investigation into the hundreds of classified documents discovered in boxes and drawers at his Mar-a-Lago club. Aides and allies had urged Trump to wait until the end of the midterms — and then until the Dec. 6 Senate runoff election in Georgia — to announce his plans. But Trump, eager to get back into the limelight, also hopes to fend off a long list of potential challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who won re-election last week and is now being called by many in his party to run for president a well. Trump sought to blame Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for the GOP’s performance — and McConnell’s allies criticized Rick Scott, the Florida senator who heads the Senate Republican campaign committee. But Trump has taken the brunt of criticism for elevating candidates in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona who were unappealing to general election voters because they embraced his lies about the 2020 election or held hard-line views on issues like abortion that was out of step with the mainstream. While Trump has the support of the No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, others were already moving forward. Asked if she would support Trump in 2024, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming told reporters Monday: “I don’t think that’s the right question. I think the question is who is the current leader of the Republican Party?’ Asked who it was, she replied, “Ron DeSantis.” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a longtime Trump critic, compared Trump to a pitcher who keeps losing after GOP disappointments in 2018, 2020 and now 2022. “He’s been on the mound and he’s lost three games in a row. If we want to start winning, we need someone else on the mound. And we have a very strong bench that can come out,” Romney said. “I know, there are some fans who love him. Like, you know, an aging pitcher, they’re always fans who want to keep them there forever. But if you keep losing games, try to put some new players on the pitch.” Others expressed concern that Trump’s announcement would distract from the Georgia race and urged potential candidates to focus there. “What’s really important for anyone who wants to run in 2024 is to help us right now in 2020 to come full circle by winning the state of Georgia,” said Sen. John Thune, RS.D. “We obviously had higher expectations in the Senate, which didn’t pan out. I think there are a lot of different things that contribute to that,” Thune added. “But I think that, you know, people being unduly focused on the 2020 election, that’s not a winning strategy with independent voices.” Even the former president’s right-wing allies on the House Freedom Caucus distanced themselves before Trump’s announcement. “I’m focused on what’s going on here,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said as lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday. “I just don’t pay attention to any of that stuff, so I don’t want to comment on it.” Meanwhile, in Utah, 86 Republican lawmakers on Monday sent out a press release urging DeSantis to run, reflecting their displeasure with Trump as their party’s standard-bearer. The state’s Mormon majority has long been skeptical of Trump’s isolationism and dirty work. And in Michigan, Paul Cordes, chief of staff for the Michigan Republican Party, wrote a four-page internal memo criticizing Trump-backed candidates for “national sweeps” that would give Democrats complete control of state government for first time in 40 years. That includes Tudor Dixon, who lost the governor’s race to Democrat incumbent Gretchen Whitmer by double digits. Trump, Cordes wrote, was “popular with our base and a motivator for his supporters, but he provided challenges on a statewide ballot, especially with independents and women in the midterms.” __ Associates Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking in Washington, D.C., Samuel Metz in Salt Lake City and Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.
