Despite President Joe Biden just having been sworn in to office a mere six weeks ago, Americans are already looking wearily ahead to the 2024 election, wondering if Donald Trump is going to return to the political main stage and run for office yet again.
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Trump has certainly left the possibility open. Though it isn’t the first he’s hinted at a future run, he alluded to a 2024 run during his recent CPAC speech, lying with the suggestion that he might “beat [Democrats] for a third time.”
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But his niece, Mary Trump, believes that Donald will likely just continue leading his supporters on, when in actuality his fear of another loss will prevent him from taking the leap.
Letting his fanbase believe he’s going to run again serves two of Trump’s biggest priorities — his ego and his money.
There’s no question that his loyal supporters are loud about their love for the disgraced ex-president, and to constantly get those affirmations without having to put it to a vote after his recent landslide loss is undoubtedly something Trump revels in.
But there’s also the grift.
“I think he’s made more money in the last several months since promoting the big lie than he maybe has ever,” Mary said on CNN. “And he’s not going to turn away from that opportunity.”
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She made the same point when speaking to MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan, blatantly acknowledging her belief that her uncle will merely “pretend to” run for president.
“There’s no way that he is going to put himself in the position of losing again,” she said. “The problem is that the Republican Party seems determined to continue to keep him legitimate, which is the really scary part.”
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What something like this could mean for the Republican party is unclear. His time at CPAC suggested Trump’s determination to continue naming and shaming Republicans who aren’t loyal to him, who wanted him held accountable for his part in the insurrection, who are trying to move the GOP back into a general political party rather than a Trump cult could prove problematic for Republicans as a whole.
Even if he doesn’t run for another term, the impact he’s had on the party and the types of candidates that are now coming up in the ranks is undeniable — and it’s not over, whether he takes another swing at the presidency or not.
“The…thing that I think we’ve seen with Donald for decades is that the more room you give him to transgress, the more room he’ll take,” Mary suggested. “And the Republican party had several opportunities to take an off-ramp as soon as President Biden was elected, and they’ve refused to do it. And Donald is going to make the most of that.”
*First Published: March 3, 2021, 7:39 am
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