OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump, who is said to be heavily considering another presidential run, hasn’t set foot in the nation’s capital since he left office Jan. 20, 2021.
But the 45th president is scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., later this week to attend a conservative event where he will be a keynote speaker.
As reported by Axios, Trump will headline a July 26 event sponsored by the America First Policy Institute.
The former president is slated to deliver the keynote address at 3 p.m. local time on the second day of the AFPI’s two-day, invitation-only policy summit. The event will be streamed live and open to the press, Newsmax added.
A 501(C)(3) non-profit research institute, AFPI says its purpose is to advance policies that put the American people first.
“Our guiding principles are liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers, families and communities in all we do,” the group notes on its website.
Scheduled speakers and participants at the AFPI conference include:
- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
- 13 House members, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
- Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., James Lankford, R-Okla., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Rick Scott, R-Fla.
- Eight former Cabinet-level officials, including former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
- Eight former Trump White House officials including Kudlow, former senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, and Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff to national security adviser John Bolton.
Trump’s reported return to D.C. has angered some, however.
“It would be poetic justice if on his first visit to Washington D.C. since he left Office, Trump would be arrested. Alas, instead he’ll be able to propagate his B.S. to the brainwashed. Will they at least serve the kool-aid?” one Twitter user wrote.
It would be poetic justice if on his first visit to Washington D.C. since he left Office, Trump would be arrested.
Alas, instead he'll be able to propagate his B.S. to the brainwashed. Will they at least serve the kool-aid?— 🖤🦋Rowan Moon🦋🖤 (@oXxRowanxXo) July 14, 2022
Trump returns to DC next week to talk about Fox News punching bags with GOP loyalists
Donald Trump will return to Washington, D.C., for the first time since skipping out on Joe Biden's inauguration, and as polls show Republican voters might prefer…https://t.co/eoJCZX7bIV— tRumplicanssuck (@votebluein2024) July 14, 2022
Trump’s return to the nation’s capital also comes amid continuously swirling rumors that he is definitely planning to run for a second term in 2024.
Political consultant Dick Morris, who was a political adviser to then-President Bill Clinton’s team, believes he knows the answer to whether or not former Trump will campaign for the presidency again in 2024.
“Will he run in 2024? You bet he will. Will he be the GOP nominee? Absolutely. Will he win the election? Yes,” he said in his quick reading strategy book obtained by The Washington Examiner.
“Our candidate in 2024 will be, and must be, Donald J. Trump. Accept no substitutes. Only he can put together the coalition that generated 74 million votes in 2020. And we don’t want a bleached-out, kinder, nicer, gentler Donald Trump, either! We want and need the same Donald Trump who won in 2016, increased his vote share in 2020 by eleven million votes, and in between, was one of our truly great presidents,” he said.’
Morris should know; he was a secret advisor to Trump in 2020 and continues to talk to him.
“I have spoken with the former president dozens of times since he left office, and our conversations were always either about how he was cheated in 2020, or how he would get back in 2024. He has never, for a moment, taken his eye off the ball — getting back in the White House!” he said.
He said that the former president’s biggest mistake was taking on the media.
“His most serious error was to incur the wrath of the media,” said Morris, who added that he believes the former president can win if he reminds people that, before President Joe Biden became president, illegal immigration, crime and the economy were in check.
“Each of the three has the same unique feature: none was a problem under Donald Trump, and all emerged as serious issues on the day that Biden was inaugurated,” he said.
However, he added that there will not be a new, kinder and gentler version of Trump for 2024.
“Trump is Trump. Like it or lump it. He’ll never change, and I came to realize that his manner could not be divorced from his successful outcomes. Change one, and you would forfeit the other,” Morris said.
