OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Donald Trump has cast a tremendous shadow on the 2024 presidential campaign for other possible Republican nominees and that shadow is set to grow larger.
The 45th President of the United States is headed to Iowa, generally, an early state for potential candidates to visit as it is one of the first to vote in the primaries, The Daily Mail reported.
But Trump is not simply visiting to meet and greet possible voters. He is holding one of his famous rallies.
He will arrive at the Iowa County Fairgrounds in Des Moines following his best ever polling numbers in the state.
The latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 53 percent of Iowans have a favorable viewing of the former president.
Sam Nunberg, the property magnate’s first political hire in 2011 when he began thinking about a possible run, said Iowa was crucial to Trump’s victory in 2016, when he became the first Republican to win the state since George W. Bush in 2004.
“I think he is going to run but even if he doesn’t it’s important for Trump to keep a strong presence in that state because in the Iowa caucus you can organize to victory,” he said.
“And if he doesn’t preempt the other people, they may see a path,” he said.
And not only did he win the state in 2016, his popularity has grown in Iowa since he left the White House, a poll published this week in The Des Moines Register said.
“From March it was 45/53 — so a majority of independents saying they had an unfavorable opinion of former President Trump,” pollster J. Ann Selzer said. “In this poll, it was 48/49. So he’s evened out the edge that was there as a problem with independent voters in Iowa.”
Simpson College political science professor Kedron Bardwell said that Trump has frozen the field for possible Republican candidates in 2024.
“It doesn’t mean they’re not testing the waters,” he said. “But I don’t think people want to go through the amount of work it would take to build the infrastructure and get, you know, the donations lined up, ready to go, if they know that in a few months, he’s just going to drop his hat in the ring anyway.”
What is tougher for Biden is that not only is Trump popular in Iowa, Biden is not.
“By coincidence Biden’s numbers are terrible in the state. Horrendous,” Nunberg said.
“So this is really a perfect opportunity to stick it to Biden and also remind those 2024 potential GOP prospects that Trump still holds the crown, sits on the throne and, no matter, what everything runs through him,” he said.
Mark Meadows, the former White House Chief of Staff under the Trump administration, said in July that the former President and his allies are looking to “move forward in a real way.”
Speaking to Newsmax’s Cortes and Pellegrino, Meadows said that both he and Trump were meeting with “some of our Cabinet members” as recently as that day, but he added that he was not “authorized to speak” on behalf of the former president to divulge too many details about the meeting.
According to Meadows, the meeting would not have happened at all if there were no plans to “move forward in a real way.”
“We met with several of our Cabinet members tonight. We actually had a follow-up … meeting with some of our Cabinet members. And as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next,” Meadows said.
“I’m not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this, Steve: We wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way, with President Trump at the head of that ticket,” he added.
Although Meadows’ remarks were vague, it does suggest that Trump may have intentions to run for office in 2024 or assume some other position in Republican politics besides acting as the de facto kingmaker for the party.
