WHEN WILL TFG ANNOUNCE HE'S RUNNING?

According to Rolling Stone, Donald Trump has been telling confidants in recent months that he may launch his 2024 presidential campaign early. The word is he’s considering launching it in Florida to stick it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Rolling Stone reports that according to three sources familiar with the matter, Trump has kicked around staging a large, flashy launch rally with fireworks, to announce his White House bid before the 2022 midterm elections. One of the sources said Trump’s motivation is to show the governor “who the boss is” in the modern-day GOP.

Trump, the sources say, has commented on how terrible DeSantis is at public speaking (talk about the pot calling the kettle black), believing that Florida Republicans would leave DeSantis immediately for Trump in a 2024 match-up. There is polling showing that more Florida Republicans would back DeSantis over Trump in a hypothetical primary.

Though Trump has mostly stayed publicly coy about his intentions, he has privately told many associates, political allies, and advisers that he intends to run, or wants to run, against Joe Biden. Obviously, he is interested enough in the prospect of reconquering the White House, to the point that he’s actively brainstorming on different campaign-launch schemes.

Various Republicans in his orbit have pleaded with him to hold off on a formal announcement until after the 2022 midterm elections have wrapped, on grounds his announcement could push Democrats to the polls in greater numbers. They have also repeatedly reminded Trump that, due to campaign-finance law, actually announcing a run would immediately evaporate the current fundraising and financial advantages that he and his political operation currently enjoys while he’s a non-candidate. But the former president’s recurring desire to declare earlier than that is largely motivated by an urge to throw a Trump-sized wrench into the shadow-campaigns of his fellow Republicans.

While announcing early won’t do anything to really propel him ahead of DeSantis, it can serve him well with another problem that’s becoming bigger and more probable. Trump is about to become the target of several criminal allegations. He faces a grand jury in Georgia. He faces a federal grand jury in Florida over the classified documents that he brought to Mar-a-Lago. There are possible referrals tothe Department of Justice arising out of the Select Committee hearings. And New York Attorney General Letitia James is now interested in looking into that $250 million he raised for the non-existent legal fund to fight the “stolen election” that has ended up being spent for things other than he promised the donors of that money.

If he has already announced he’s running, it’s far easier to point at the charges and say, “They’re trying to keep me out of the White House. They know I’ll win, just like I won in 2016 and 2020. This is all political, I told you!” There is also the likelihood that if he were a declared candidate DOJ institutionalist Attorney General Garland might conclude that prosecuting him was interfering in an election, something the DOJ is not supposed to engage in.

The DOJ’s lackadaisical pace in prosecuting Trump’s crimes has now created the opportunity for him to make a stronger-sounding claim that it’s all about keeping him out of office in 2024. Some of us have been pointing this out for over a year.

Mitch McConnell’s plans could go sideways if Trump’s need to be the center of attention makes 2022 another Trump referendum and leads to a Republican loss in an otherwise winnable senate. The economic hardship voters are enduring and Biden’s unfavorable should make this fairly easy for McConnell. But Trump’s endorsements have been terrible. Vance, Oz, and Walker, are currently at least five points behind their Democratic opponents, with Oz nine points down against Lt. Gov. Fetterman. If the loonie he has backed in Arizona wins, that changes things there. A Trump announcement allows the Democrats to point directly at Trump and McConnell and say “Trump will be running the Congress if you vote Republican…”

Of course, if we’ve learned nothing else about Trump, it’s that he doesn’t care about collateral party damage, because everything is always - always! - about him. We have also learned that Trump’s habit of defying convention in reckless power grabs is starting to catch up with him.

I would just love it if the Committee has sufficiently powerful evidence that all but proves Trump committed treason, that our last Trump sighting will be him walking out into the sea, in the dark, no fireworks… or, he might do the fireworks, either way he can’t Make America Great Again without his permanent departure too soon.

And not all Republicans are ready to cede the race to him. Politico's Alex Isenstadt scooped that Tom Cotton, the possible Republican candidatre most in need of having been fragged back when he was serving in Iraq, has told his top donors Monday he's prepared to run for president in 2024, and that he would not defer to former President Trump in a potential primary. Cotton is at least the fourth Republican considering a 2024 presidential run to claim a Trump comeback bid would not factor in their decision-making.

Former Vice President Mike Pence: "We'll go where we're called."

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: "I've never walked away from an argument, no matter who stood on the other side."

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson: "I think he did a lot of good things for our country, but we need to go a different direction. So that's not a factor in my decision-making process."

Personally, I hope the fat old traitor announces, so we can point out to all those Dimmycrats who still seem to think elections are only held every four years, for president, that a Republican victory in 2022 is a guarantee they will steal the election in 2024 and flush us all down the tubes by returning the Worst Person In History to the White House where he can continue taking his sledgehammer to our constitutional democratic republic.

Fear of Trump worked in 2020, and I am sure with the way the Committee hearings are going, that Fear of Trump can work again. So please, El Jefe del Mar A Lardo, announce already!

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