The rumor comes from some fairly unreliable sources but nothing is out of the realm of possibility with Donald Trump. He’s been hinting and teasing for months at every rally that he “might have to do it again,” an obvious nod to another presidential run.
The rumors floating around GOP presidential circles is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting too popular to the point that Trump is feeling pushed out of the spotlight. The two men have remained fairly cordial, but there has been a cold war brewing between the former president and the current Florida governor for months now.
As Salon reports, take this with a grain of salt that’s unlikely to happen, but don’t say we didn’t warn you if it does:
Infowars host Alex Jones claimed on Wednesday that a source close to former President Donald Trump told him that Trump is planning to declare his candidacy for a 2024 White House bid on Monday, July 4th.
“Donald Trump is set to announce his run for 2024 on Monday, which is a very special day. We’re shooting this right now during a break during my live show on June 29th, Wednesday edition. That means in five days, on July 4th, President Trump is gonna announce he’s running for his second term,” Jones said. “Imagine the explosive political, cultural, economic, medical, financial implications of that.”
Alex Jones is often notoriously wrong in making predictions like this, and the source is apparently Roger Stone, a Trump friend who claims to have inside knowledge or at least claims to know what Trump is thinking.
There are pros and cons to announcing a run this early. First of all, it immediately means back to the grind of financial reporting and running a campaign that can no longer coordinate with Trump’s Save America super PAC, the organization that’s been funding all his rallies. A divergence would have to occur legally and logistically.
DeSantis would be a fool to pass up a 2024 presidential run, especially if he wins big this November for his second term as Florida governor. His time would be now and in politics, timing is everything, just ask former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
In 2012, Christie would’ve been at the peak of his popularity but he passed on running against President Obama. As a result, Christie’s political career basically ended and his spotlight fizzled out.
DeSantis seems bent on not letting that happen, and with big names like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan saying nice things about him, there’s no reason to wait.
If Trump truly wants to run in 2024, it looks like it could shape up to be a primary battle between him and DeSantis.
Announcing in July of 2022 would have downfalls in that there would be almost two and a half years before America votes in November of 2024. That’s a lot of time and Trump’s flame could also fizzle out between now and then.
If Trump announced in July, would DeSantis be pushed to announce earlier? That would be unlikely since he’s already running for governor meaning he’s locked out from a presidential run until at least after the midterms.
The bottom line is that the field remains open until after November which means Trump could take the opportunity to get in early and muscle out the competition. The other alternative is to wait until right after the midterms and try to tamp down DeSantis’ presumed re-election victory momentum.
The odds of Trump announcing on July 4 are slim, but not impossible. Trump just announced a rally on July 9 in Alaska to benefit Sarah Palin and a few others. Would he really launch a presidential campaign on Monday and then jet off to the great white north by Saturday? Maybe, but probably not.
