OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump has made his decision about the 2024 presidential election, he said during a podcast this week.
Speaking to hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton from his Bedminster golf club the former president said it would be “very hard” for him not to campaign for the presidency, presumably against President Joe Biden, Mediaite reported.
“Knowing what you know and seeing what you see of Joe Biden, how do you not run in 2024?” Travis said.
“Very hard for me not to run, to be honest,” the former president responded. “And also, the polls indicate that, from the Republican standpoint, it would be easy.”
“There are some things we just have to ask you, Mr. President. If you’re gonna announce, when are you gonna announce? Can you tell us that?” Sexton said.
The former president said it all comes to two words: “Is it before or after?”
The “before or after” refers to the midterm elections, and his answer indicated that he is going to announce his candidacy and the only question is when.
“Well, if I’m gonna announce, I’ll have to make a decision, is it going to be…? You know, two words: Is it before or after? And there are reasons for both. Some very good things about earlier. There’s some very good things about later. The way I look at it is if I announce early and we do well, I’ll get credit for having done well — as much as you’ll get ’cause the press won’t give you credit anyway. If I do poorly, I’ll get absolutely… It’ll be horrible. But if I announce later and we do well, I won’t get any criticized,” he said.
“In fact, if I announce later and we don’t do well, whether it’s before or after, they’ll blame me. In other words, if we do badly, they’ll blame me no matter what even if I had nothing to do with it. So I don’t know. I will make a decision,” the president said.
“I’ll make a decision fairly soon,” he said. “And my… I must tell you — and I think I can say this — in my mind, I’ve already made the decision.”
One recent report speculated that New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely a frontrunner, CNN reported.
While talk about a 2024 vice-presidential pick is of course premature, conversations about adding Stefanik to a future Trump ticket have gained steam in recent weeks at Mar-a-Lago and in other Republican circles, sources said. Current and former advisers and others in Trump’s orbit have privately argued that the New York Republican, who replaced Rep. Liz Cheney as the no. 3 House Republican last year, is a fierce and loyal attack dog, and Trump would benefit from tapping a woman for vice president should he run again.
Two people familiar with the matter said Trump has been surveying close friends and allies on what they think of Stefanik, one of several Republican women he is possibly eyeing for the potential VP slot, though he has not ruled out a few male contenders, too. One of these people said the former President believes Stefanik has undergone a genuine transformation – leaving the moderate wing of the party to join its increasingly powerful “America First” flank.
“There is a part of Trump who thinks he needs a female VP. He definitely likes her, likely because of how effusive she is to him,” an adviser to the former president said.
“President Trump thinks very highly of Elise Stefanik. … She has been talked about in circles close to him as a potential vice president,” Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend of the former president, said. “And there’s a feeling among a lot of people on the Republican side that they need to have a woman on the ticket this time.”
Look at this news article from The Daily Caller: ’An Attack On All Trump Voters’: Elise Stefanik Unloads On ’Sham’ Jan. 6 Show https://t.co/kakr43kYoU
— Jack Banker (@Jabanker) July 19, 2022
Another name floated in the media is South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem.
However, said that she will support Trump if he runs again in 2024 but declined to say if she wants to be his running mate.
“I think that there’s a lot of people out there who would like his running mate. I’m focused on getting reelected,” Noem told CNN’s co-anchor Dana Bash.
“I don’t operate in that hypothetical either,” Noem continued. “I would be shocked if he asked. And right now, I’m just so focused on South Dakota. We’re doing great things, and we’ve got a lot more to do the next four years.”
