Trump privately plots his next act — including a
potential 2024 run
By
Ashley
Parker and
November 21, 2020 at 3:17 p.m. CST
President
Trump would have the world falsely believe that he won the election and is
preparing for a second term.
In
private huddles and phone conversations, however, Trump has been discussing an
entirely different next act: another presidential run in 2024.
In a
nod to the reality that he is destined to leave office in January, the
president is seriously contemplating life beyond the White House, telling
advisers that he wants to remain an omnipresent force in politics and the media
— perhaps by running for the White House again.
Trump has told
confidants he could announce a 2024 campaign before the end of this year, which
would immediately set up a potential rematch with President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump also has been
exploring ways to make money for relatively little work, such as giving paid
speeches to corporate groups or selling tickets to rallies. In addition, he may
try to write a score-settling memoir of his time as president and appear on
television, in a paid or unpaid capacity.
Though there has
also been considerable chatter among Trump’s associates about his starting a
media company of his own, many close to the president said they believe that
option is less likely, in part because it would be an arduous undertaking
without guaranteed success. These advisers, like some others interviewed for this
story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss sensitive
topics.
There is also
pressure on Trump to monetize his post-presidency in light of his personal debt
and legal troubles. He has payments due over the next
four years of more than $400 million in loans and could incur substantial legal
fees related to a number of investigations and lawsuits.
Trump will “try to
remain a political and media force,” said Christopher Ruddy, a longtime friend
who has been in touch with the president. “He has all these existing
businesses. He’ll have new relationships.”
Whatever platform
he decides to use, Trump plans to seek vengeance against those he believes have
betrayed him — a group that includes Fox News Channel, which Trump had long
praised for the sycophantic coverage on some of its programs but now seeks to
punish.
Trump has railed
privately about the presidential debate moderated by Fox’s Chris Wallace, the
fact that the network was the first major news network to call Arizona for
Biden and that one of Fox’s correspondents confirmed the Atlantic’s reporting
that Trump had called military service members “suckers” and “losers.”
“He is really angry
with Fox,” said Ruddy, who runs Newsmax, a conservative media company whose
cable channel the president has promoted as a Fox alternative.
After Biden’s
inauguration, Trump is likely to retreat first to Florida, where he vacations
in the winter at his Mar-a-Lago Club, advisers said. While in office, he
changed his voter registration from New York to Palm Beach, Fla. People who
have discussed plans with Trump said he is likely to immediately get more
involved in his businesses in which revenue has plunged.
Trump’s daughter
Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and other adult children have been focused
more on their own futures than the president’s, even though their career
options and personal brands are inextricably tied to him, according to a senior
administration official who has spoken with family members.
Even as Trump and
some of his attorneys continue to spread unproven conspiracies and claim he is
the rightful winner of the election, his political orbit has been bubbling in
recent days with talk of how Trump’s post-presidency will take shape — and how
a man obsessed with being seen as a winner might try to fumigate the stench of
being an election loser.
One adviser who
recently spoke with the president said that Trump told him he planned to
announce a new campaign in three weeks, and that he wanted to act quickly to
try to freeze the large field of prospective 2024 Republican presidential candidates. That group includes at least three
people who have served in the administration: Vice President Pence, Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki
Haley.
Trump watches television news programs in the
lower press office of the White House after delivering remarks on Friday.
(Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
But other advisers
cautioned that, as is often the case with the ping-ponging president, Trump’s
views on the matter are constantly evolving and he has made no final
determination.
“It would be a
fool’s errand to declare you’re running for president at the end of this year,
but on the other hand, to keep your hold over the party and fight Republican
legacy hierarchy so that they can’t erase you from history, it’s important to
remain a front-runner in this process,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump
adviser.
“He’s highly
competitive,” Nunberg added. “It’s pretty cool to be elected in 2016 — it’s
historic — but it will be the comeback of political comebacks to regain in
2024.”
Regardless of
whether he actually runs for president again, Trump is likely to try to
dominate Republican politics for years to come.
“Unlike Bush,
unlike Reagan, unlike any of our former presidents, he will be an ongoing
presence,” said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National
Committee and senior adviser to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “He wants the
party to continue to be consumed by him and his madness.”
Trump has been
bragging to confidants that he secured more votes than any Republican
presidential candidate in history — although he trails Biden in the national popular
vote by about 6 million — and that he believes he has
leverage because he thinks anyone who wants a future in Republican politics
will have to “kiss the ring,” said a second adviser.
“His Twitter feed,
as obnoxious as it is, is one of the most powerful tools he has — and he gets
to take that with him,” said Brendan Buck, a Republican strategist and former
senior aide on Capitol Hill who has been critical of Trump. “He’ll still have
that ability to make or break primaries and tank deals on Capitol Hill.”
Through sheer fear
or admiration, Trump could easily be the most sought-after Republican surrogate
in the 2022 midterm elections. But people close to him said the president is
unlikely to play the traditional role of a politician collecting chits to
ensure loyalty in advance of a White House run. He is not expected to spend
much time traveling to early nominating states such as Iowa and New Hampshire
or supporting down-ballot Republican candidates with money and surrogate
appearances, these people said.
Instead, Trump has
shown interest in maintaining a political operation and keeping control of the
party apparatus in other ways. In the past, when presidents left office, there
have been open elections for leadership positions in their party. But Trump
tweeted recently, without being prompted, that he supported his ally, Ronna
McDaniel, serving another term as chair of the Republican National Committee.
“I do think if he’s
not declared the winner he’ll make it clear he’s running again in 2024,” a
senior Trump campaign official said.
“He would be
remaining as the head of the Republican Party, whether there’s a formal title
that goes with that or not,” this official added, noting that there were a few
legal options under consideration to fund Trump’s future political endeavors,
including a leadership political action committee.
Republicans both
privately and publicly worry that Trump — who has shown little affinity toward
his chosen party and largely appears to act almost exclusively in his
self-interest — could be more likely to play a meddling and damaging role than
a helpful one.
“If you let a
sickness continue without treatment, you don’t get better,” Steele said. “You
just get sicker.”
For instance, Trump
has done little so far to help Republicans in two hotly contested Senate runoff
elections in Georgia in early January that will determine which party controls
the upper chamber. And the president’s continued attacks on Georgia Republican
officials and baseless allegations of fraud in the Peach State risk undermining
faith in the election and depressing GOP turnout.
Some advisers have
floated a trip to Georgia to help GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler —
as Pence did on Friday — but Trump has shown little interest in doing so before
the presidential election is finalized.
A senior
administration official who has spoken recently with the president said that
while it was “very difficult” to predict what Trump might do, there is “a very
high percentage chance that he leaves the door open for him to run for a long
time, for the next couple of years.”
This official added
that “you will not persuade him that he should change his time frame on making
any decision based on what’s quote unquote best for the party. He doesn’t care.
We could find ourselves deep into a 2024 election cycle, into mid-2023, and he
still hasn’t definitely said he’s not running and you’re just going to see all
these 2024 potential contenders uncertain about what to do.”
Aides expect Trump
may want to stage rallies in his post-presidency, noting that speaking at
rallies was his favorite part of being president because he fed off the energy
of his boisterous crowds.
“If you can [get]
30,000 people to show up and you charge them $5, that’s real money,” said one
Republican in frequent touch with the White House.
Trump’s influence
over Republican voters is likely to remain strong.
“Let’s not pretend
his sway over the party was based on his governance or his policy views,” Buck
said. “It was his ability to use his voice very loudly and attract attention
for himself, and that’s not going to change.”
