Former President Donald Trump is taking the training wheels off his third presidential campaign weeks after criticism said that he was not taking his third White House bid seriously.
Trump rounded out 2022 by becoming the first top-tier candidate to throw his hat into the 2024 ring, but since announcing on Nov. 15, he only delivered one speech, a virtual address to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference, and held exactly zero public events.
Still, in the past week alone, Trump has previewed multiple campaign events to be held in January and early February, including an “intimate” campaign gathering in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 28. Trump also delivered the keynote address at Judicial Watch’s annual roundtable Thursday and will do the same at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Virginia in March.
"We are honored to have President Trump speak at the CPAC conference," CPAC spokeswoman Megan Powers Small said in a statement. "President Trump has been a featured speaker at CPAC for over 10 years, sharing his love for our great country and the American people. He has always understood the importance of CPAC as a major communications platform to reach millions of Americans and showcase his successful America First policy agenda that made our country more secure and prosperous."
The Trump campaign did not respond to inquiries about Trump's scheduling, but former Trump officials and two Republican operatives familiar with the former president's 2024 plans told the Washington Examiner these announcements were part of a deliberate rollout.
"This is just smart strategy from Trump," one GOP operative said. "Let's be honest, the midterms did not go the way we wanted them to, and people pointed the finger at him. Laying low let him avoid too much public criticism — beyond what you'd usually expect from the media — and now, he's kicking into overdrive with a clear field ahead of him."
"Generally, I think right now we are seeing the 'Trump cycle' as in the 'business cycle.' People soured on Trump post-midterm, articles said he was over, and then nothing really happened. He’s still on top. Back to where he was," a second Republican operative told the Washington Examiner. "This guy’s obit has been written many, many times. Eventually, just time passes, and he is exactly where he was pre-obit."
Four former Trump officials denied that President Joe Biden's legal issues had prompted Trump to expedite his campaign rollout, but all acknowledged the timing only helped Trump move forward.
"It obviously helps. You've even got Democrats like Eric Swalwell criticizing Biden over this," one former Trump official declared.
Though he has yet to host a rally, a staple of past campaigns, Trump is also taking steps to reboot his campaign messaging in other formats.
The former president has escalated attacks on Biden over the classified document scandal on Truth Social, including a video posted Thursday morning.
"We have two standards of justice in our country, one to people like you and me. One was the corrupt political class, of which there are many. At the very same moment when my ultra secure Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI, Joe Biden was harboring classified documents in his China-funded Penn Center and his unsecured garage," he said in the video. "I'm being persecuted by Trump-hating special counsel. I call them special prosecutors, but this one, in particular, is a prosecutor and a Trump-deranged person... Joe Biden, in the meantime, is being given white-glove treatment by an establishment hack who tried to cover up the Russia hoax."
Trump is also mulling his return to traditional social media. His attorneys sent a letter to Meta on Tuesday requesting the company reverse Trump's ban on the platform, and he reportedly is also considering ending his Twitter hiatus. Elon Musk restored Trump's Twitter account after he purchased the company in 2022, but Trump resisted returning to the bluebird at the time.
Meanwhile, Trump's polling is beginning to recover with Republican voters.
The latest survey from Morning Consult showed the former president pulling 48% of likely Republican voters, while Gov. Ron DeSantis, frequently pointed to as the top Trump challenger, though he has yet to launch a campaign of his own, and former Vice President Mike Pence earned 31% and 8%, respectively.
via judicialwatch