What has Trump been doing since we lost him

On January 20, Donald Trump boarded Air Force One for the last time to leave Washington, the city where he had lived for four years as President of the United States. A few days ago, some of his supporters They attacked the US CongressIn a few minutes, his successor, Joe Biden, will be installed. In the following months, Trump did not talk about himself much, and the suspension of his personal accounts from major social networks after the attack did the rest.

But for a time, Trump became increasingly visible in the national debate, and he resumed insistently talking in the newspapers about his candidacy in the 2024 presidential primaries, which many submitted. certainly.

Donald Trump and Melania Trump board Air Force One on January 20, 2021 (Pete Marovich – Pool/Getty Images)

American newspapers reported that at first, after leaving the presidency, things were not easy for Trump: the attack on Congress prompted many Republican politicians to distance themselves from him, fearing to suffer the repercussions of the consensus. At the time, Trump spent his days calling people in his inner circle to complain about the treatment he had received from the media and the numerous judicial investigations into his wealth. “After a period of boredom listening to”, Tell a friend of his inAtlantic.

Things started to change around mid-February. Tells CNNWhen Trump reorganized his “political machinery” with the goal of holding mid-term elections in November 2022 (when all House seats and one-third of the Senate seats would be renewed).

On the advice of his aides, Trump began compiling a list of Republican candidates to support, drawing on the huge number of followers he still had in the party. The political committees associated with his name also managed to make a fortune: 82 million dollars In the first six months of 2021; In August they had over $100 million in their accounts.

The one that Trump adopted was a very reasonable strategy, which in the short term would allow him to tangibly exploit his followers — no Republican could be against his party base, or refuse to fund his political committees — and in the medium term would allow him to elect more and more members of Congress who They owe him part of their political life.

These are commitments, including small election events and donations, that go almost unnoticed in the national media, and also because Trump is not yet an official candidate for any office. “Trump has adopted a winks and winks strategy: He’s acting like a candidate, making it clear he’ll be soon, but he hasn’t officially announced it,” note The Washington Post.

The fact that he is not at the center of the political debate has also secured him less interest in the papers than his legal woes and the lies he keeps repeating about the 2020 presidential election, which he said he lost due to a very extensive conspiracy, there is no evidence.

Trump continued to have political meetings with his co-workers all summer, alternating between work and past hours Among the golf courses in his club in Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, and then among other clubs he owns, in Bedminster, New Jersey. In the past few weeks, he’s come back to be seen a lot and in front of an ever-growing audience.

A Trump-owned golf club in Briarcliffe Manor, New York (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In October, he was several times in Iowa, the state where the first presidential elections are traditionally held and where he once again began organizing his usual gym rallies, asking for small donations from his supporters. With pressure and aggressive tactics Typical electoral machine.

The success of his strategy was seen during a recent rally in Iowa in mid-October.

During a packed political event in Des Moines, the state capital, in front of an audience of adoring fans, Trump called the podium Chuck Grassley, an 88-year-old historic senator, who will run for another term in 2022. Trump announced that he would support him in his campaign: something that was not It’s conceivable a few months ago, given that Grassley had condemned the attack on Congress as an “attack on American democracy” and distanced himself from Trump.

Trump and Grassley at a rally in Des Moines (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

All of these moves make it inevitable for Trump to be re-nominated in the Republican primary for the presidential election scheduled for 2024. It seems that Trump wanted to make it official. in AugustAfter the numerous criticisms Biden received for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which Trump himself decided.

according to Axios In recent weeks, “Trump has more or less told anyone who wants to listen that he’s really going to reintroduce in 2024.” His intentions also appear to have been bolstered by some circulating polls, which show a sharp drop in Biden’s approval nationally and hold on to Trump’s support in the Republican base. according to A very recent survey by the Quinnipiac Institute8 out of 10 Republicans would like Trump to resubmit, and if no huge surprises happen, it looks like he’ll satisfy them.