President Trump is openly floating the idea of running again for president in 2024 if he loses his current legal fight in the courts.
While some are excited, that plan could complicate the lives of other Republicans with their eyes on the White House and the party as a whole.
Many experts agree Donald Trump is unique in the strength he would have as a one-term president. The question: Will he use it to pursue the Oval Office again should efforts to claim the 2020 election fall short?
“He controls the loyalty of a large portion of the electorate. He obviously has the ability to finance a race,” said Republican strategist Tom Rath.
Since Election Day, the president and his allies have seen dozens of legal cases tossed out of court for procedural reasons.
Despite reassurances about ultimate victory, the president is already hinting he’s ready to run again, from an aggressive fundraising effort to remarks at a White House Christmas party.
“It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years,” Trump said at the event.
While the idea may delight the base for the moment, there’s concern it will freeze the GOP field of potentially strong up-and-comers.
“He sucks the energy out of the room for every other candidate whose thinking about running, Mike Pence obviously, Nikki Haley. Tom Cotton was thinking about getting in, the governor of South Dakota, and there’s a whole long list, said CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody.”
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Instead of the usual activities like planning fundraisers, building support, and courting early voting states, GOP hopefuls would have little choice but to wait and watch for fear of turning away Trump’s large and loyal base.
But Rath says there is an appetite within the party for new blood. “I think there’s built-up energy in the Republican Party to move generationally. But also, ideologically,” he said.
Still, under the Constitution, Trump has the right to pursue the Oval Office for a second term no matter what.
How much of the spotlight and influence a former President Trump can keep remains to be seen.
“I think Democrats are going to see Donald Trump running in 2024 as a sideshow, I really do. I think they are not going to pay much attention to it until they have to and that could be in 2024,” Brody noted.
And as Joe Biden prepares to take the helm next month, Democrats insist they are too disciplined to be distracted.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, they are walking into a really challenging situation with the economy with this pandemic. I think they have so much on their plate, the last thing they are going to be worried about is what Trump is tweeting from Mar-a-Lago,” said Democrat Strategist Doug Thornell.
There’s talk that Trump will try to steal some of Biden’s Inauguration Day thunder by skipping the swearing-in and announcing his bid on Jan. 20.
If he does pursue that path and win, he wouldn’t be the first president to win a second non-consecutive term. That honor belongs to the 22nd and 24th President of the United States Grover Cleveland.
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