According to a new report from Jonathan Allen at NBC News, former President Donald Trump is growing bored as he tries to play (and keeps failing at) Republican Kingmaker as the primary season drags on, and that he is growing anxious to steal headlines by announcing a 2024 Presidential run sooner rather than later.
Covering Allen’s report, Vanity Fair was less subtle with their headline of “Trump to terrorize nation” with announcement of 2024 run.
Allen notes that Trump has two camps surrounding him at Mar-a-Lago who are at odds with each other over Trump’s potential announcement. One side is worried about Trump’s Republican Party rivals already visiting key states and garnering support to primary Trump, while the other side is worried that Trump might jump in too soon and hurt his midterm candidates.
Allen explains:
“While many Trump confidants believe he should wait until after November’s midterm elections — and caution that he has not yet made a final decision about running — some say he could move more quickly to harness supporters and deny fuel to the busload of GOP hopefuls in his rearview mirror.”
One report from inside sources claims Trump wants to make a announcement on July 4, while others say there are no concrete plans currently.
Insiders are also concerned about how it would impact Trump’s ability to fundraise:
“If Trump announces a bid, his campaign committee will be subject to hard-money fundraising limits and a technical ban on coordinating with his Save America SuperPAC. He would also undoubtedly focus public attention away from Republicans running in midterm races, potentially hurting the party’s candidates in swing districts and states. And he might inadvertently aid Biden by giving the president a contrast point.”
Trump is reportedly bored and aggravated with endorsing GOP candidates for the midterms and watching many of them lose their primary elections, which he views as diminishing his importance on the political landscape.
One adviser says that Trump would be better served by waiting, telling Allen anonymously, “If you have that rematch too early, it could actually help [President Joe] Biden a little bit. … Trump in modest doses has been good for Trump.”
The Vanity Fair article was a little more sarcastic and grim, but perhaps correctly pointed out that had congress done the right thing last year, we wouldn’t even be talking about Trump running again:
“no fewer than 827,995,126 reasons why Donald Trump should never be allowed to be president again, including but in no way limited to: his penchant for extortion, his total disregard for human life, his affection for murderous authoritarians, and his history of unleashing fascist mobs on America when things don‘t go his way. Unfortunately, in February 2021, Republican senators chose not to bar him from ever holding office again, despite some of those senators admitting publicly that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the violent insurrection that took place the prior month. Which leaves us in our current hell-state, in which the former guy is apparently planning to announce a bid for 2024 soon.”
