Former President Donald Trump finds himself on the run while in political exile. And Republicans, and even some allies, say he is disorganized, playing the role of antagonist and party leader.
“There is no apparatus, no structure, and part of it is due to a lack of political understanding on behalf of Trump,” a person close to the former president said, noting that Trump had struggled to get the ropes of post. to learn presidential politics.
‘It’s like political phantom members. He does not have the same political infrastructure as he did three months ago as president, ”added GOP strategist Matt Gorman, who previously served as communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The version of Trump that has appeared in the month and a half since he left office is far from the political godzilla that many expected of him. He was supposed to unleash hell on a party device that fell backwards when his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 and refused to defend during his second indictment. Instead, Trump maintained close ties with GOP officials who pledged to support the incumbents, remained almost completely out of the spotlight, the one time he came forward, made fairly anonymous remarks and only sparsely criticized his successor, Joe Biden, delivered.
The cumulative result is political whiplash, as the former president no longer wants to support the IDP with his resources, and the grassroots level wants to concentrate on his own brand one day and the next thirst for revenge. Just last week, Trump threatened the party institutions for using his name and parable in their fundraising efforts to host his Mar-a-Lago estate as a host ground for some of the Republican National Committee’s spring donors. He brutally attacked veteran GOP operator Karl Rove for criticizing his first post-presidency speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee, endorsing Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Who repeatedly examined Trump’s own trading practices while was in office.
And within the span of 24 hours this week, Trump urged NFL running back Herschel Walker to make a primary bid against Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to an outspoken opponent of rebellious primary challenges, Senator Rick Scott, R -Fla, to present. , for dinner at Mar-a-Lago. In his role as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott promised to stick with the GOP’s incumbents – including Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who voted in her Senate hearing last month to convict Trump on charges of inciting an uprising. The Republican in Florida said he had a “big meeting” with Trump in a tweet he shared Friday.
“To any normal politician, it would seem like he’s trying to do it both ways, but he’s really trying to have it on his own,” a former White House official told Trump. “He only cares about maintaining his power and his stranglehold on the Republican Party, and it does not matter to him how any of the movements he makes affect the long-term success of institutions or individuals other than himself.”
Trump has always been an impulsive figure who demanded loyalty from those around him. But these qualities come with positions of power: whether it is a real estate empire, as a media celebrity, or – in its latest version – as president of the United States.
If you no longer hold a powerful office, the task is made more complicated. The former president apparently went to live outside the West Wing wing and even undertook his first trip to New York earlier this week. He continues to hold court on the patio of his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he is greeted by a standing ovation from members as he and the former first lady walk by. He spends his days monitoring the news, calling and playing golf at his club of the same name, just a few miles away.
He has put together a staff member of paid and unpaid advisers who say they are veterinarian primary candidates seeking his support and getting his fundraising operation off the ground. But the factions that have already formed among those around him point to possible turmoil ahead. Three veterans of Trump’s 2020 campaign – Brad Parscale, Bill Stepien and Justin Clark – are investigating primary recruitments and brainstorming sessions to relocate his online presence, while Dave Bossie and Corey Lewandowski are in talks with the former president to launch a new fundraising entity to send. on behalf of people, according to people who have been informed about the recent discussions.
At the same time, Trump continued to call friends from his real estate days and former White House officials. They ask for their advice on the Republicans he should try to evict and whether they approve of the primary challengers he is considering. One former administration official who was in contact with Trump described him as a ‘pinball machine’, noting that his tendency to suddenly change direction or seize on a new idea after talking to a friend or an outside adviser – a habit that their aides helped during his time in office – took over his life after the presidency.
“You made Trump approvals without going through the process he agreed to three days ago,” the former White House official said. “It’s really disorganized.”
The fear among Republicans is that Trump’s indecision will also extend to his personal political future. Trump continued to hang a 2024 run over the party, and the want-he-not-he-guessing game kept presidential hope in limbo.
“Politics is his hobby and he has golfing fun with his hobby between his rounds,” said a former Trump adviser. ‘His big test is that he’s running again? Because if he does not do this, you will see in the next hour that people lose interest in the man. As long as he plays the plays again, he still attracts attention and creates uproar. ”
But deprived of a social media platform like Twitter, the former president had to rely on issuing statements – some of which mimicked the tone and length of his previous tweets – via his office to the presidency or political press lists of the PAC. So far, he has issued more than two dozen signatures and declarations since leaving the White House. The more recent Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has violated and sought credit for the current distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.
And while Trump, an avid cable news consumer, has avoided publicly reacting to TV segments critical of him, or the flurry of recent headlines of ‘cancel culture’, he has been tempted. Before a Wednesday appearance by his senior adviser Jason Miller in the podcast “War Room” hosted by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, Trump told Miller he could make some news through the thoughts of the former president about the oprah of Oprah from last Sunday. interview with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.
“When I spoke to the president this morning … he was like, ‘Yeah, she’s not good. I said it and now everyone sees it. But you realize if you say something negative about Meghan Markle, you’ll be canceled. Look at Piers, ” Miller said of his conversation with Trump, referring to Piers Morgan, the polarizing ‘Good Morning Britain’ host who parted ways with the show this week after dismissing Markle’s revelations as lies.
Some close aides described Trump’s interruption of Twitter as a welcome interruption with which his rare statements carry more weight than the thought bubbles he would release on the internet.
But so far, many of his recent political maneuvers have been met with a shrug by the IDP. Trump’s public controversy with the Republican Party over fundraising and the use of his name and parable in appealing for money apparently thwarted after lawyers for the Republican National Committee denied Trump’s cease-and-desist demands. By the end of the week, the RNC not only continued to use Trump’s name to solicit fundraising, but also offered it as a seduction.
“Do you want to meet President Trump?” read a fundraising appeal, which provides the opportunity to dine with the former president during an upcoming spring retreat and even take a photo ‘with him.