Former President Donald Trump received mixed reactions from the political Right to his announcement Tuesday night that he was launching a third presidential campaign.
Trump made the announcement in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate in front of a crowd of supporters after he filed the federal paperwork required to run for president. His announcement came despite calls from top former aides, including Kayleigh McEnany and Jason Miller, to postpone his election announcement until after the U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia.
“My fellow citizens, America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump declared to a cheering crowd. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”
The reaction from Democrats, Left-wing activists, and the mainstream media was predictable: pandemonium, outrage, and panic.
However, this report focuses solely on the reaction from conservatives, which was fairly split between two main camps: Die-hard Trump supporters who are ready for more and a growing number of people who are ready for change.
One of the surprising chief complaints of Trump’s speech was that he seemed to have lower energy than he has in the past.
When Trump announced his first campaign for president in 2015, he had just turned 69 years old, and he immediately directed his attacks at the front runner at that point, Jeb Bush, who he labeled “low energy.” Trump, now 76 years old, would be going on 78 years old by the time he would be inaugurated if he were to win the 2024 presidential election.
Others criticized things that Trump said, things that Trump left out of his speech, or just indicated their desire to move on:
Others liked some of the things that he said during his speech:
Others cheered on the former president:
Trump’s new campaign comes after two years of Democrats controlling the White House and Congress, a unified government that helped fuel decades-high inflation and gas prices and historic levels of illegal immigration on the southern border. The Biden administration, notably, botched high-profile foreign policy decisions, including the withdrawal from Afghanistan — which fell to the Taliban almost immediately — and failed to completely end the COVID pandemic after promising to shut down the virus.
Trump’s allies say he is the best choice for the party’s nomination because he has already held the office and accomplished numerous feats during his administration, including strength on foreign policy, energy independence, a strong economy, a military that was being revamped and retooled for the wars of tomorrow, and his success in getting three conservative justices on the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court justices have been a particular high point for conservatives, particularly following the demise of Roe v. Wade in the summer.
Trump was largely considered to be the favorite for the Republican nomination heading into the 2024 cycle, and the day before the midterm elections — when Republicans were largely expected to easily ride a red wave into the majority in the House and Senate — he strongly hinted that his 2024 announcement would come the following week.
But a poor showing by Republicans and some of Trump’s high-profile handpicked candidates, combined with Trump’s subsequent attacks on fellow Republicans, has led to some in the party cooling on him in post-election polling.
One poll, commissioned by the Club For Growth, found that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had overtaken Trump 48% to 37% in Iowa, 52% to 37% in New Hampshire, 56% to 30% in Florida, and 55% to 35% in Georgia. Trump had previously led DeSantis in all of those states, as recently as just a few months ago, in that same poll.
A separate poll, conducted by CWS Research, found that DeSantis is now up over Trump in the state of Texas by 11 points. Last month, Trump led DeSantis by 17 points.
Only one former president, Grover Cleveland, has won the presidency for two non-consecutive terms, and it’s unclear what kind of primary field Trump might face. Speculated primary opponents include DeSantis, as well as some who served in the Trump administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. None of them have said whether they plan to run for president.
Trump’s announcement also comes amidst a criminal investigation into the way he handled U.S. government records after leaving the White House. A former employee of Trump’s reportedly told federal investigators that Trump instructed him to move boxes of records “within his Florida residence after receiving a government subpoena demanding their return,” Reuters reported.
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