Has Donald Trump secretly told advisers he wants to run in 2024? He may announce bid before Biden's inauguration
President Donald Trump, who has not conceded in the 2020 presidential elections nearly a month after his projected loss, has remained largely quiet about a possible 2024 presidential run to reclaim the White House. While addressing the voters on Thanksgiving, he had said, "I don't want to talk about 2024 yet." However, it appears that the Republican has been discussing another White House run with his advisor after four years, and could even announce his bid before or during Biden's Inauguration on January 2021, Fox News’ chief White House correspondent John Roberts has stated.
If Trump makes an announcement of a potential third run for 2024, it could discourage other prominent Republicans to run for the White House in the next election cycle. Republican strategist and GOP presidential campaign veteran Alex Conant, while talking to Fox News, said that an announcement by the president for a 2024 run would "absolutely" change the dynamic of the next White House race, “at least at the outset.”
Conant said: "Nobody wants to be the first candidate to challenge Trump in 2024. If it were truly an open race, you’d see a lot of potential candidates making some aggressive early moves, going to Iowa, New Hampshire. You would normally see candidates going through the early states before the end of this year. 2024 candidates don’t want to talk about Donald Trump. They want to talk about themselves. But so long as he is making noises about running again, the race will be all about him. And these candidates will be less inclined to do the early state travel because it will all be in the shadow of whether or not Trump runs again."
The report of a potential Trump 2024 run comes days after a poll showed that a significant percentage of Republican voters would support President Trump backing his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., or his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, for the presidential run in 2024. However, most would want Mike Pence as their presidential pick for the next polls. Although Trump has still refused to concede in the 2020 presidential elections to President-elect Joe Biden despite the latter winning a clear majority, speculation has mounted that the Republican is planning to make another run for the presidency in the next polls.
Speculations of one of his children, either Trump Jr or Ivanka, running for the 2024 presidential run has also increased. Polling suggests that although many Republicans would prefer Trump to run for another term, the notion of one of his children running for the presidency is not entirely opposed by the party voters. A Seven Letter Insight poll, which surveyed 1,500 voters in 2020 between November 10 to 19, stated that over half of the respondents, 52 percent, who identified as Republicans said they would support Trump endorsing one of his children for the 2024 run. However, a greater percentage of Republican voters, 66 percent, stated that they would support Trump running for the presidency again in four years.
A prominent donor and bundler for Trump and other Republicans, Dan Eberhart, however, told Fox News that Trump's clout is waning. "Whether he likes it or not, the Trump ice cube is melting. He can announce a 2024 bid but the enthusiasm with donors is likely to fund the coffers of people like Cotton, Haley, (Sen. Josh) Hawley (of Missouri), or (Florida Gov. Ron) DeSantis to do battle with Trump."