USA: Trump is considering a bid to return to the White House after the midterm elections

The former US president Donald Trump is considering a third run for the White House and is talking with confidants to hash out possible scenarios as he looks to capitalize on expected Republican victories in midterm elections next week, as three of his advisers said today.

“Like a butterfly attracted to the light, Trump will be a candidate in 2024”, said one of those advisers, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. “I think he wants to get down to the polls and announcing it before Thanksgiving will give him an advantage over his (political) opponents and he understands that,” he added.

An announcement within the next few weeks would clip the wings of potential rivals for the party’s nomination, advisers said. However, they did not rule out the possibility of the former president delaying the announcement or even changing his mind.

A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment on those statements.

A img with knowledge of Trump’s plans said he plans to announce he is launching a re-election campaign after Tuesday’s election and is contacting officials who could join the effort.

Polls as well as neutral observers estimate that it is very likely that the Republicans will win the majority in the House of Representatives while they also have a chance to put the Senate under their control. In that case they could block President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda for the next two years.

Democrats’ electoral hopes are being hit by voters’ concerns about high inflation. At the same time, President Joe Biden’s approval rating has remained below 50% for more than a year. In a recent poll by the Reuters agency and the Ipsos company, it is at 40%.

But after a divisive four-year term that ended on January 6, 2021 with his supporters storming the Capitol and continuing to falsely claim that his election loss was the result of fraud, Trump remains just as unpopular. In the same poll last month, only 41% of Americans said they had a favorable view of the former president.

Two-week “window” for Trump

THE Thanksgiving this year falls on November 24, which means Trump has one at his disposal two week “window”. after the election to make his announcement, if he so decides.

Trump has kept up a steady pace of political rallies since leaving the White House, openly flirting with a second term. He is expected to host family and friends at his club in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., on Tuesday night to celebrate the expected victories of the candidates he supports in the midterm elections.

Trump is also currently facing multiple legal investigations, including one by the Justice Department into classified documents he took with him from the White House. Prosecutors say some of those documents have not yet been recovered.

Directly challenging Trump’s primacy, many top Republican politicians are considering a run for the party’s nomination for the 2024 election. Trump is closely watching the moves of Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who is expected to be up for re-election on Tuesday against Democrat Charlie Christ. His potential opponents are also Virginia Gov. Glenn Young and his former vice president, Mike Pence.

Other people in Trump’s inner circle, however, express doubts about whether he intends to announce his intentions soon. “He’ll want the speculation to continue for months” and “will enjoy the stories about when he does,” one of those imgs said.