• Lucas Walkmeister

  American reporter

• Jesse Nijmegen

  Editor’s Bureau Washington

Rarely in American history does a former president run for president again, but Donald Trump is doing it. And two years before the election and a week after the electoral defeat of his political movement. last night He announced his candidacy.

Trump Picks House Crowd; In his own club, in a golden ballroom with his closest family and political friends. America’s version of his speech is specifically recognized in that room. Outside, very little. While he was president, the country prospered like never before, since then America was “destroyed before our eyes” and war would not have broken out in Ukraine if he were still president, the story goes.

For example, Trump announced that he would run for president again:

He had less energy than the big campaign speeches two weeks ago. He read uninspired, in a low voice, almost on autocue. Or was he being very quiet on purpose? Because he decided on himself Depressed Who will again try to build a campaign from the bottom up.

Trump’s announcement comes at a time when he is not exactly at the height of his power. Since winning the 2016 presidential election, his movement has undoubtedly become more influential in the Republican Party. But it was only after last week that a heated debate broke out in the party over whether Trump was still the dream president.

Doubts have arisen as the expected ‘red wave’ did not occur in the by-elections. Trump’s key candidates fared particularly poorly. In swing position Pennsylvania also lost a Senate seat to Republicans. In another key state, Arizona, all Trump supporters lost their races.

In recent days, the party has been talking about “Trump fatigue”. After previous failures Middle Ages In 2018 and again in 2020 presidential elections, the question arose of whether Trump could win elections as president. People close to him tried to talk him out of applying.

Fox News, media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s conservative television station, benefited heavily from Trump during his 2016 campaign. And Murdoch’s newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, headlined an editorial: “Trump is the Republican Party’s biggest loser.”

So the US media has been speculating about who the other Republican candidates might be. Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentions. Former Vice President Mike Pence released a book today about his ideas for the future. But many Republicans see the biggest challenger in Florida gubernatorial re-electionist Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis helped lead Trump to victory in the 2018 election. But as the power struggle rages on, the former president has turned on him. While DeSantis hasn’t announced his run for president yet, Trump says it’s worth the governor’s attention.

He says he would release “damaging information” about DeSantis if he ran for office. DeSantis first responded to Trump’s attack yesterday. He dismissed it, saying, “It’s part of being in a leadership position and achieving success.”

Trump seems to be trying to divert many forces with this announcement. First, the momentum that Ron DeSantis gained after winning. With this announcement, the former president would like to put an end to the debate in the party and re-assure his colleagues: I am the leader here.

Also, legal investigations are going on in various parts of the country. For large-scale fraud, documents taken after his resignation and his role in efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 elections. Trump has always dismissed these investigations as a political witch hunt. You can expect that argument to become more powerful once you run for president.

The candidacy will again be widely discussed and attract media attention. But as the election is far away, it is not going to change the current political reality. This moment, however, is a watershed moment for the rest of the Republican Party. Now Trump’s candidacy is a reality and other leaders must decide whether they dare to challenge him.