According to three people familiar with the plan, Trump will soon begin to examine candidates in Mar-a-Lago who are eager to fulfill his promise of revenge against the Republicans who despised him and to secure all open seats in the Republican Party in 2022 midterms has a MAGA approved candidate competing for him.
Trump has already received dozens of requests from potential candidates seeking to present themselves and obtain their endorsement, and formal meetings with them may begin as early as March. Now that Trump has survived his second Senate impeachment trial, he has shifted his focus to post-presidential activism – an undertaking funded primarily by his new PAC leadership, Save America, which had $ 31 million in its coffers earlier this month.
Earlier this week, Trump met with his former campaign manager Brad Parscale to discuss the components of online fundraising to support his efforts and how he can use social media despite his ban on popular sites like Twitter. Trump also met Steve Scalise (R-La.) From the House minority, and his eldest son, Don Jr., earlier this week.
“We are preparing a more formal schedule for candidates who want to get their endorsement,” said Jason Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, noting that Trump’s meetings so far have been limited to friends of golf, members of Mar-a-Lago and ” people with the ability to contact him “.
Planning for Trump’s next revenge tour comes as other high-ranking Republicans try to persuade him to work with the party apparatus before next year’s midterm elections, rather than recruiting rival candidates whose proposals may complicate and cost critical seats to the Republican Party. Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) is scheduled to meet Trump over the weekend to discuss his future plans, including the former president’s desire to push for electoral reforms at a time when the issue of electoral integrity has created a major division between elected Republicans.
Others in Trump’s orbit encouraged him to wait and see if the Republicans who crossed him and are running for re-election next fall, like the governors. Mike DeWine, from Ohio, and Brian Kemp, from Georgia, attempt a peace offer before he begins a serious search for possible primary opponents.
“I am more concerned with 2022 than ever. I don’t want to eat our own, ”Graham told Fox News in the wake of a blunt Trump statement, released this week, accusing Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Of harming Republican Party candidates with his “lack of political vision, wisdom, skill and personality. ”
In the statement, Trump pledged to recruit insurgent candidates “who will defend Making America Great Again and our America’s policy first” whenever he feels that such challenges are necessary. The former president has already decided to remove deputies Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House’s third Republican, and Fred Upton of Michigan, if he resigns from retirement. Both Cheney and Upton voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 riot on the United States Capitol. Congressman Peter Meijer, a second Michigan congressman who voted for impeachment, already faces the main adversary of an Afghan veteran and elected Trump supporter.
Whether Graham can make the bitter ex-president a team player depends a lot on who else Trump is in contact with and how often. He still speaks weekly to his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and continues to seek advice from a number of former advisers and political confidants whose appetites for revenge and disdain for the political establishment reflect his own. Trump recently hosted former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and former campaign advisers Corey Lewandowski and Dave Bossie for dinner, all of whom remain influential figures within the MAGA movement.
“If you’re Trump, you don’t have to be nice to these people anymore. You don’t have to do all that fake political stuff of pretending you like people you don’t really like, ”said a person close to the president, suggesting that Trump is unlikely to seek feedback from Republicans who disagree with his approach.
Some ordinary Republicans have encouraged party leaders to act cautiously when trying to distance the Trump party, while it remains extremely popular with Republican voters. A POLITICO / Morning Consult poll conducted after Trump’s acquittal in the Senate found that nearly six out of 10 Republican voters want him to maintain a powerful role in the party that moves forward.
“A Republican Party that seeks to wipe out President Trump and fails to understand its appeal to working-class voters is destined to lose elections in 2022, 2024 and beyond,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), President of the conservative study Republican Committee, tweeted on Wednesday.
So far, Trump’s support has been for two of his most loyal allies, Arizona Republican Party President Kelli Ward, who received a registered endorsement for his candidacy for re-election, and former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a candidate for the Arkansas government who received a brilliant seal of approval through her PAC Save America. He has since used the political arm to attack McConnell, share a voting memo publicizing his popularity and provide a reading of his recent meeting with minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy.
He refrained from endorsing other Trumpian candidates who have already entered the races, hoping instead to launch a series of endorsements later this spring and summer, according to a person familiar with the timeline.
In the meantime, Trump seemed to enjoy making the transition to his post-president life. He reveled in the splash of news that his rare statements made, according to aides, but otherwise, he is spending his days like many of his wealthy Palm Beach colleagues: catching up on the news, making calls, eating meals unhurried and playing golf with friends.
“He’s really doing what all the other guys his age do with that kind of heritage,” said a Florida Republican agent close to the Trump family. But then, the person noticed, Trump was spotted on his golf course on Wednesday with Kid Rock.