Trump to 2024?: the challenges and controversies that threaten his eventual return to the White House

donald trump seems intent on maintaining attack and provocation as a strategy. After months of jokes and innuendos and with his tongue as sharp as ever, the former president of the United States confirmed on Tuesday that he will seek to return to the White House in 2024 and promised to save the country from the debacle by preventing the re-election of Joe Biden, whose victory in 2020 never acknowledged. “I’ll make sure Biden doesn’t get four more years.”, said the magnate from his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

But, although it sounds very safe, the former president does not have the scenario he wanted. Trump – who is going for his third nomination as a Republican Party candidate – hoped to launch his candidacy after a defeat for the Democrats against a Republican red tide in the midterm elections, something that ultimately did not happen. Republicans failed to win a majority in the Senate and failed in their efforts to fill several seats in battleground states.

LOOK: Donald Trump confirms that he will be a presidential candidate in 2024 in the United States

In fact, the disappointing performance of the Republican Party in the midterm elections included the defeats of several figures that Trump endorsed in states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Hampshire and Nevada.

“After these elections, Trump has weakened because the vast majority of the candidates he had proposed lost, so some criticism has already begun to emerge. We will have to see how much that weakens him”, says international analyst Francisco Belaúnde to El Comercio.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by ALON SKUY / AFP) (ALON SKUY /)

There are also his legal problems. Trump not only faces an investigation for the assault on the Capitol, but also for taking documents from the White House to the same residence where he announced his candidacy. In New York, a civil process for tax fraud threatens his companies.

“There are three complicated fronts for him, of course he can use this to victimize himself and there the Department of Justice must be very careful not to give that impression.”, says Belaúnde.

Battle in the match?

Within his party nothing is said either. Despite Trump’s strong voter base, the recent election result and the court troubles and controversy surrounding the tycoon have fueled the chances that conservative and moderate Republicans will challenge him. For this reason, many see the tycoon’s announcement as a way to get ahead of his competitors.

Belaúnde recalls that there have always been people who are against Trump within the Republican Party, but obviously the defeat in the midterm elections could strengthen the voices of those who criticize him. In an article for Time magazine, the American political expert Philip Elliott emphasizes that “many of the GOP leaders blame him for last Tuesday’s election losses in an environment that should have favored the GOP”.

Supporters of Donald Trump hold flags in front of Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Giorgio VIERA / AFP) (GIORGIO VIERA /)

He adds that Republicans suffered losses in 2018, 2020 and now 2022 under the auspices of Trump. “The only major Republican victory in 2021 came from Republican GlennYoungkin, a figure who found a way to embrace Trumpism but stays away from Trump himself.says Elliott.

Youngkin is considering a career of his own in 2024, as are several governors, including Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who has been triumphantly re-elected and is cited by many as Trump’s strongest threat.

Belaúnde considers that it will be necessary to see how much Trump is really weakened because, finally, the former president “He has a part of his constituents who are very loyal to him, he has an electoral base that persists in his line and that is something that the other Republicans are going to take into account.”.

trump’s strategy

For now, Trump began to reinforce his attacks on Biden, which shows that he is maintaining the style seen in recent campaigns and that he is focusing on the Democratic rival more than on possible rival candidacies within his party. The tycoon was sure that he will get more votes in 2024 than in 2016 and he didn’t even bother to mention that to be a candidate he first has to win the Republican primaries.

Trump could face DeSantis for the Republican nomination. (Photo: Getty Images)

“Trump is going to maintain his speech that the United States is at risk and weakened under the command of Biden. He has sent a message saying that the world is attentive to the crisis in Poland and Biden falls asleep in meetings. For now, it seems that his main angle of attack is to attack Biden and show himself as the alternative to return the United States to the place that he should have.”, says Belaúnde.

What are your chances of winning the Republican nomination? At this point it is clear that the answer depends on whether you are going to have competitors or not. “If it is seen that, despite everything, he maintains control of a large part of the Republican Party, then he will run alone, but if the polls or the voices within the party reflect that he is sufficiently weakened for another to be able to run, that will happen. In that scenario the best chances right now are for DeSantis, at least until another one comes along.says Belaunde.

Elliott notes that while sharp tongue and self-style helped Trump win an unlikely race in 2016 and keep him close in 2020, Republicans haven’t seen him learn any new tricks. “Judging by his all-too-familiar monologue, Trump hasn’t spent any time in the past two years thinking about how he might complete the test differently this time around.“, Add.

Source: Elcomercio