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Tag: trump campaign 2024
2020 Million MAGA March

‘Elephant In The Room’ Is How Trump Harms Republican Prospects

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

As the Republican Party looks to restructure after former President Donald Trump's damning defeat in 2020, many leaders and lawmakers within the party are setting their sights on the White House. However, there is just one problem: they are ignoring the big 'elephant in the room,' according to author Ben Jacobs in New York magazine.

Since his departure from the White House in January, Trump has remained relatively mum about his future political aspirations. But he and some of his allies have hinted at the possibility of another presidential run in 2024. Could it really happen? It's still possible.

However, the former president's lurking presence may cast a dark cloud over the party and its future. Despite being exiled from social media, Jacobs acknowledged Trump's political influence and how he remains a key figure for the Republican base. Although the former president has mostly stayed out of the public eye, he has still endorsed candidates during this year's special election and maintained some form of relevance among voters.

So, how would Trump's presence impact the Republican Party's chances of regaining control of Congress? It's a critical situation GOP leaders need to address before they officially begin campaigning. However, some Republican strategists aren't so sure Trump's Republican popularity, alone, is enough to win another presidential election.

"Even the base that loves Trump is not so sure he should run," said Iowa Republican leader Bob Vander Plaats. "I don't know that he's going to be able to win. He'll be able to win the primary but will he win the general? And the calculation of so many of the base is that we love what President Trump has done … but we need to win."

John Brabender, a veteran Republican strategist also put the United States' voter demographic into perspective. "The group of people who believe wholeheartedly in the Trump agenda and thought his style and manner was exactly what we needed to have happen, versus the group that was wholeheartedly in support with his agenda but uncomfortable with his style and manner."

Based on that assessment and the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the latter may outweigh the Trump base making it far more difficult for him to win another presidential victory. But as his presence continues to loom, he could make it more difficult for other Republican presidential hopefuls to prevail in 2024.

Former President Trump

How Trump Plans To Defame New York Prosecutors Probing His Business

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

While the criminal investigations of former President Donald Trump often make the news with fresh developments, many of these revelations don't truly amount to much. On Tuesday, though, there was a significant exception to this pattern when multiple reports found that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who is working with the state's Attorney General Letitia James, has impaneled a special grand jury of his investigation of Trump and the Trump Organization. This suggests that serious charges may be on the horizon.

After the news broke, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, a longtime close observer of the president, explained how he will fight back against the investigations as it threatens to ensnare him or his interests.

"Trump is going to use talk of running again as a way to tar the Vance/James probes," she wrote on Twitter. "From his latest statement in response to the grand jury being empaneled: 'Interesting that today a poll came out indicating I'm far in the lead for the Republican Presidential Primary…'"

He has already suggested that he intends to run for president again in 2024 (even as he insists that he really won in 2020 and thus should be president now.) It's one way he can maintain power in the Republican Party and at least some level of attention from the media.

But Haberman is right that dangling a run — genuine or not — can be helpful in his effort to tar the investigations that target him. As long as he remains a potential candidate, he can say that criminal charges are just an effort to keep him out of power by his political enemies. Of course, that won't make an indictment go away — but it will likely be a potent message for his fans.

Since many are already primed to believe the 2020 election was stolen from him, it's not hard to imagine the prospect of his facing serious criminal charges could inspire more dangerous and lawless actions from his supporters like those seen on January 6.

In the case of Letitia James, the criticism that she's a political enemy of his does have some genuine force. She explicitly campaigned in 2018 on investigating Trump, and she has used her investigation of him to elevate her profile. Vance is a more complicated story though. A ProPublica report actually found that Vance went easy on the Trump family as his office prepared to indict two of Trump's children in 2012. After Trump's lawyer Marc Kasowitz donated $25,000 to Vance, he reportedly overruled his own prosecutors and declined to bring the charges.

Party Over Country: McConnell Says He Would Support Trump In 2024

Party Over Country: McConnell Says He Would Support Trump In 2024

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that he would support Donald Trump for president if Trump won the GOP nomination in 2024.

McConnell made the remark during an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier. McConnell dodged when asked whether he thought Trump would be the nominee in 2024, saying that he thinks four Republican senators may be running and that "a lot could happen" in the next four years.

Yet when Baier asked whether McConnell would back Trump if he won the GOP nomination, McConnell replied, "The nominee of the party? Absolutely."

McConnell's comments come after the Kentucky Republican blamed Trump for the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

McConnell voted to acquit Trump on the one impeachment charge of inciting violence based on a technicality. But in a speech after the vote, McConnell said Trump was responsible for the attack.

"Former President Trump's actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty," McConnell said on February 13.

He added, "There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day."

It's unclear whether Trump will run again in 2024.

Trump has told his allies that he wants to run, but has left wiggle room to decide against another bid, Politicoreported in December, before the insurrection.

If Trump does choose to run, he would start as the presumptive favorite, with polls showing he still has broad support from the GOP base.

A majority of GOP primary voters would vote for Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released February 16.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Trump victory center

Trump Schemes To Launch 2024 Campaign At Biden’s Inauguration

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

President Donald Trump may be leaving the White House in the very near future, but it does not look like he will be going away, as promised, anytime soon.

The lame duck president is already strategizing for a 2024 presidential run to regain control of the White House, according to The Daily Beast. The publication reports that insiders close to the situation have revealed details about the president's latest plot.

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