“With Biden we have experienced two years of pain, the return of America begins now”. It’s official, Donald Trump is running for the White House. The former president made his third candidacy official in an hour-long speech from his residence in Mar-a-Lago, while the votes of the Midterm elections are still being counted, which sanctioned the “non-victory” of the Republicans and control of the Senate by Joe Biden’s Democrats. “There has never been a movement like ours”, repeated Trump triumphantly: the tone of the announcement was that of a Maga rally and the scenario was that of great occasions: the ballroom of the super villa of The Donald, 2,000 square meters of white and gold stucco, 514 seats, 33 American flags to frame the presidential box. But if in 2015 Trump had launched his electoral campaign descending the golden escalator of the atrium of his New York tower, surrounded by his entire family, in Mar-a-Lago there were only Melania and her son Barron, together with some very loyal friends and advisors, Roger Stone, Kash Patel, Sebastian Gorka, Mike Lindell.
In short, the new race for the White House of the former president does not start as he would have liked: investigations into the assault on Congress, classified documents hidden in his Florida residence and charges of tax fraud are looming over him. Even the conservative media seem to have turned their backs on him. Last Rupert Murdoch, tycoon of an empire that goes from Fox News to the Wall Street Journal and up to the New York Post, who yesterday would have clearly told The Donald not to support his re-candidacy. He prefers the Republican rising star, that Ron DeSantis that Murdoch himself would have renamed “Ron DeFuture” and who now threatens to break his eggs in his basket.
But Trump does not stop: “With my leadership they were a great and glorious nation, now we are in decline”, while Russia launches missiles in Poland “we have a president who falls asleep” at international summits. As for the “disappointing” Midterm result for the Republicans (to use DeSantis’s words), Trump denies: “We have reconquered Congress” and “fired Speaker Nancy Pelosi”. The defeat of 2020? Blame Chinese interference and early voting which must be abolished. The announcement had been planned for months. Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles should manage his campaign with the collaboration of Brian Jack who was his political director in the White House and who leads the political operations of Kevin McCarthy, just confirmed GOP leader in the House. Even Ivanka Trump, daughter of the tycoon, will not be involved in the race for the White House: “Although I will always love and support my father, in the future I will do it outside the political arena,” said Ivanka
For the first time, The Donald’s headquarters will not be in New York but in Florida, the new center of gravity of American politics. In US history, only one other president has run for re-election 4 years after leaving the White House, Democrat Grover Cleveland who won re-election in 1892.