Former President Donald Trump is set to make a “big announcement” on Nov. 15, just one week removed from Election Day when Republicans vastly underperformed expectations. The assumption is that Trump plans to formally announce his intention to run for president in 2024.
Several of Trump’s handpicked endorsed candidates are at the forefront of the recent midterm losses this week, such as Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. However, some Trump-backed candidates have fared better. The results aren’t yet available in Arizona (which is insane) but it appears that Blake Masters, another Trump-endorsed candidate, might also be headed for defeat.
Suppose the scenario comes down to a Senate of 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats assuming Adam Laxalt wins Nevada and Blake Masters loses Arizona. In that case, the Georgia runoff election on Dec. 6 will be the deciding race for Senate control.
According to reports, Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former press secretary, has gone on the record urging the former President to delay his inevitable 2024 announcement to keep the focus on the task of helping Herschel Walker win the December runoff:
Fox News contributor and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says former President Trump should hold off on his expected announcement of a 2024 White House bid until after next month’s Georgia Senate runoff election.
“I know there’s a temptation to starting talking about 2024 — no, no, no, no, no,” McEnany said on Wednesday’s edition of “Outnumbered.” She added, “2022 is not over. Every Republican energy needs to go to grinding the Biden agenda to a halt, and that could go straight through the state of Georgia.”
Pressed by co-host Harris Faulkner if that should include Trump, McEnany responded, “I think he needs to put it on pause, absolutely.”
Is that a good idea? In the grand scheme of things, Trump might not care. He stayed patient and decided not to announce before the midterms so as to avoid creating a distraction. Assuming it once again comes down to a Georgia runoff for Senate control, Republicans will start getting testy if Trump begins taking oxygen away from Walker’s chances.
Every conceivable effort should be made to unify the party in Georgia and push Walker over the line and put the GOP back in charge of the Senate. Trump is already taking a lot of heat for a perception that “candidate quality” hurt GOP chances in midterm races that could have been “slam dunks” in this environment. Instead, in each of the major Senate races, with the exception of Nevada, Trump’s candidates look to be going down in defeat.
McEnany isn’t the only Trump-ally to call for a delay in the original plan. Jason Miller, a longtime advisor to Trump, is also floating the same idea:
“Everything is about Herschel. I’ll be advising him to put it off until after the runoff,” said Jason Miller, a longtime adviser and sometime spokesman for Trump. “I’m not alone when I say President Trump’s best moves are to put all his efforts to get Herschel Walker elected.”
Miller said Trump would decide soon, and that he was not aware of anyone in his orbit who wanted him to stick with the original plan. Five advisers in regular touch with Trump said they hoped he would wait until after the runoff.
A Trump spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Given the intensity of most of Trump’s inner circle orbit to urge a delayed announcement, it seems like it may be the most likely outcome moving forward. The original intention, no doubt, was to get in very early and start solidifying GOP primary support which might make DeSantis, and others, think twice.
Now that it’s DeSantis that won his race by nearly 20 points as the GOP swept Florida, Trump is playing defense in trying to maintain an argument and a grip on the GOP base.
Those 2024 Republican primary polls coming out soon should be interesting.
