Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a pre-election rally to support Republican candidates in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 5, 2022.
Mike Segar | Reuters
WASHINGTON — After weeks of intensifying speculation, former President Donald Trump said Monday that he’ll make a “big announcement” on Nov. 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he’s widely expected to announce the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign.
“I will be making a really big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump said at a Save America rally in Vandalia, Ohio on the eve of the midterm elections.
Trump was reportedly considering whether to launch his third presidential campaign on the Ohio rally, but national Republicans reached out to him and urged him to carry off, fearing that his announcement could energize Democrats and potentially alienate independent voters.
“We wish nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow,” Trump said.
Trump’s line about Nov. 15 got here near the tip of a greater than 90 minute speech, during which he railed against Democrats, judges who’ve ruled unfavorably in cases against his family, run down U.S. airports and above all, President Joe Biden.
A Trump spokesman didn’t reply to a request from CNBC to substantiate that his Nov. 15 event shall be a campaign launch.
But Trump is desirous to jump start his third campaign for president, and preparations for a campaign infrastructure and staffing conversations have ramped up significantly in recent weeks. An early list of potential top aides has already trickled out.
Trump’s speech in Ohio included relatively few mentions of the Republican candidates he was within the state to advertise, although several of them were invited up on stage for transient remarks with Trump.
A clumsy moment occurred when Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine was booed by the group as he got here on stage. DeWine is taken into account an institution Republican who didn’t endorse one in every of the animating principles of Trump’s MAGA movement: The false claim that Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.
As a substitute of specializing in the Republicans up for election on Tuesday, Trump’s remarks sounded more like a tailor-made rally speech for his own upcoming presidential campaign, with strong echoes of his 2016 campaign speeches.
Trump leaned heavily into themes from his successful 2016 presidential run like illegal immigration and crime. He claimed Democrats had allowed undocumented immigrants to enter the country and commit violent crimes, exactly as he did six years ago, in his first run for public office.
As an example his point on Monday, Trump told an anecdote concerning the sentencing earlier this yr of a gang member within the brutal stabbing of a teenage boy.
However the crime for which Trump was blaming Democrats actually took place in 2018, when Trump was in office.
“These individuals are animals,” Trump said of those involved within the 2018 murder, before noting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had previously objected to his referring to human beings as “animals.”
“After all, I believe she’s an animal, too,” Trump said of Pelosi, pausing to let the group cheer his remark.
Trump then quickly pivoted to how the news media would surely say, “Oh, what a horrible thing he said about Nancy!” Nevertheless it was justified, Trump said, because “She impeached me twice for nothing. Nothing!”
The Democratic House Speaker has long been a goal of fierce verbal attacks from Republicans. But those words were forged in a latest light two weeks ago, when a conspiracy theorist broke into Pelosi’s San Francisco home and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.
The attacker, identified by police as David DePape, said his goal was to kidnap the House Speaker and break her kneecaps.
As Trump inches closer to formally kicking off the 2024 presidential race, polls show he enjoys unparalleled support amongst Republican voters.
Trump averages greater than 20 percentage points over his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the one other Republican presidential prospect whose support is consistently within the double digits.
Trump would also enter the race with greater than $60 million in money held by his leadership PAC, Save America, and a prodigious fundraising operation that vacuums up small dollar donations from the Republican base.
Should Trump seek and win the Republican nomination, he’ll likely face President Joe Biden in a rematch of their 2020 presidential contest.
Biden has yet to formally launch his reelection campaign, but plans for it have reportedly solidified in recent weeks.