Donald Trump – who finds himself more and more isolated, with his quixotic quest to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory squashed at every turn – is openly musing about a second run at the presidency in 2024.
“It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years,” he told guests at a White House Christmas party.
The event, attended by several Republican Party power brokers, was closed to the media, but a video of the outgoing president’s speech quickly went public.
Nearly a month after the November 3 election the 74-year-old Trump still refuses to acknowledge that he lost and has not conceded to his Democratic rival, who is busy building his incoming administration.
Shuttered in the White House, Trump has limited his public appearances to the bare minimum but has not shied away from spewing furious tweets about alleged election fraud – which his own attorney general says is not evident.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Bill Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Given the curious political climate, in which the president-elect is busy introducing his cabinet nominees while the current president spreads conspiracy theories, speculation in the nation’s capital is running wild.
According to NBC News, Trump has discussed the possibility with his close aides of launching his 2024 campaign on January 20 – Inauguration Day for Biden, which clearly the Republican does not plan to attend.
As he has admitted publicly in the past, the Manhattan real estate mogul-turned-president is a bit superstitious.
In 2017, he filed the paperwork for his 2020 campaign on January 20, the same day he took the oath of office.
Trump loves nothing better than being a provocateur, and should he stage a rally to rival the pomp and circumstance of the inauguration, he would embrace one of his favourite political manoeuvres: counter-programming.
The formal launch of a Trump 2024 campaign would allow him to stay center stage, at least in the short term. But his path to victory would be strewn with obstacles, to say the least.
From January 20, he will be the former president, and the political calculus will change dramatically.
The sway he holds over Republican lawmakers and the round-the-clock media attention he commands (and on which he thrives) will both taper off considerably.

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