President Trump
Donald Trump Senators reach agreement on Fed powers, setting the stage for the rescue of the coronavirus Nearly 200 organizations allegedly hacked by Russia: cybersecurity company Trump has left naming Sidney Powell as special lawyer for the investigation of electoral fraud : report MORE he will probably never admit that he lost the 2020 election, but the political world is turning its attention to what he will do after leaving the White House.
It is a difficult issue among those close to Trump, who do not want to get angry because they have admitted that he was defeated by President-elect Biden, who will take office on January 20.
Trump will clearly try to maintain his relevance after leaving office. There are a number of overlapping roles he could play in doing so: likely candidate in 2024, a GOP “kingdom” for that race if he fails to run, and a major media presence.
“I would definitely expect to see him continue to hold some kind of rally and I expect to see him try to make the news,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant. “He will certainly try to advance the controversies, which he did before becoming president and which there is no reason not to be able to do after he was president.”
Conant added with a laugh that he did not expect Trump to retire in order to enjoy a quiet life. “I don’t think he’ll start painting,” he said, referring to the hobby former President George W. Bush took up after leaving the White House.
Trump is expected to keep alive the possibility of running in 2024, whether he eventually does or not.
Floating the idea of a Trump campaign in 2024 is the easiest way to keep your political capital. It’s also a way he easily has enough funding – in the month following the election, Trump raised about $ 170 million.
It is also in the interest of Trump’s various aides and friends to discuss an offer in 2024. Since launching his first presidential candidacy in 2015, Trump has attracted a number of figures to his circle who were on the periphery of Republican politics. Their relevance is linked to the idea of a future campaign at least as much as the president.
There has been some speculation that Trump might even announce a campaign in 2024 on the day of Biden’s inauguration. The gambit would be meant to steal some of the spotlight from the incumbent president, and Trump has never been worried about his behavior violating established rules or etiquette. Trump submitted documents for his 2020 re-election effort on the day of his inauguration in 2017.
However, a real campaign in 2024 is far from certain. Prior to his 2016 campaign, he had flirted with presidential bids in 2012 and, for the Reform Party, in 2000, before retiring. A GOP source put his chances of running again for “70 to 80 percent,” but said Trump’s real goal was to “control the conversation.”
The most obvious way to do this, at least in the short term, is to find a media platform beyond his Twitter account.
He will not be short of willing participants. One of his better-founded praises is that he is good for TV ratings, especially among conservative viewers.
Rumors that Trump will start his own press burned at the end of 2016, at a time when he was expected to lose that year’s election. This time, much of the speculation is about whether to join an existing network.
Fox News would seem like an obvious choice given its audience. However, Trump recently sought to promote two smaller rivals, Newsmax and One American News (OAN). Trump and Newsmax Media CEO Chris Ruddy are friends.
“The president understands that he must continue to commit to his base, and the best way to do that is with a media platform,” said Brad Blakeman, a former White House member of President George W. Bush and a strong supporter of the White House. to Trump. “So, I suspect that the short-term plan is to get a house, a platform for it to have regular contact with its base.”
The right kind of media platform would also be profitable – always a consideration of Trump and likely to remain so big, given that he faces potentially worrying debt. The New York Times revealed in October that Trump had personally secured more than $ 400 million in debt from his companies and that about three-quarters of that debt was owed over the next four years.
Trump referred to his duties as a “peanut” during a televised town hall shortly before the election.
One of the key questions – still unanswered – is the extent to which Trump’s presidential controversies have affected his business brand.
In the years leading up to running for the White House, his business was increasingly built around licensing his name – a process aided by his fame in NBC’s “The Apprentice” – rather than building himself buildings. Any reputational damage it has suffered in the last four years is likely to have a negative impact.
A presidential memorandum is another possibility for Trump.
In the political arena, no one doubts that Trump’s influence over the GOP will remain deep.
Despite his defeat – and his division into the nation in general – he is the most popular Republican in the country. Even if he doesn’t run again, any competitor in 2024 will not want to let his hair stand on end.
If he runs again, GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said “he is undoubtedly the favorite” to become a nominee.
For now, O’Connell added, “he’s essentially freezing the field in 2024, because everyone is wondering what he’s doing.”
Memo is a column reported by Niall Stanage, focusing primarily on Donald Trump’s presidency.