NEW YORK (Dagbladet): In mid-November, the ex-president announced that he planned to stand for election again in 2024. This coming Saturday, he has announced the first campaign event in South Carolina, which is one of the early primary election states.
But so far he is struggling to get support from central parts of the Republican party, reports say Washington Post.
Ever since Trump announced that he will try to run for president again, he has mostly stayed at home at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, only interrupted by a few trips to his own golf course not far away.
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At the same time, the legal problems have only continued to grow around him, while other potential Republican candidates have begun to stir.
Still the favorite
Several polls have shown that support for Trump among Republicans appears to have weakened after the poor result in the midterm elections in November.
However, in the latest poll conducted by Harvard University, Trump still appears to be the favorite to become the Republican nominee. There, he receives support from 48 percent of those who plan to vote in the primary elections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis comes in second with 28 percent. Former Vice President Mike Pence gets 7 percent.
Recently, Trump’s associates have tried to get politicians and other conservative leaders in South Carolina to support his presidential election campaign. So far it hasn’t gone particularly well. Many of the politicians and other leaders in the state do not seem to be ready to choose one candidate, writes the Washington Post.
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Several still support Trump, but many also want a competitive primary election campaign. South Carolina also has at least two political figures who may have ambitions to challenge Trump in 2024. It is former governor, Nikki Haley, and senator Tim Scott.
– Nikki Haley is probably the first person from South Carolina since we voted for George Washington who has a real chance of becoming president of the United States. I think Trump’s people are going to run into that narrative, says former leader of the Republican Party in South Carolina, Katon Dawson, to the newspaper.
– There is more than a little softening in the support for Trump in South Carolina. Many of those who recognize the importance of Trump’s presidency are now taking a step back and saying: Is it another standard-bearer for the party and the causes we believe in? Someone who can take us forward not just for four years, but for eight years and create momentum, says the head of the influential evangelical organization Palmetto Family Council, Dave Wilson, to the Washington Post.
Neither the party’s leader in South Carolina, Drew McKissick, nor Congressman Ralph Norman will attend Trump’s campaign rally on January 28. The director of the state party, Hope Walker, recently turned down a position in Trump’s campaign organization.
Several other politicians have also said that they do not have the opportunity to participate, according to the Washington Post.
At the same time, it is expected that Senator Lindsey Graham and Governor Henry McMaster will attend the meeting and give their support to Trump’s candidacy.
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However, Trump’s own election campaign organization believes that Trump will receive strong support at the upcoming election meeting.
– President Trump is traveling to South Carolina to show off his leadership team, which will show the significant support he has across the state, from grassroots leaders to elected officials, says spokesperson Steven Cheung.
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Now, however, Trump’s possible rivals are also trying to do their bit to stick sticks in Trump’s wheels. His own Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, recently published a book about his time in the Trump administration. He himself has been on tour in the state recently and is running an advertising campaign on Facebook in the state. Pence and Haley have also made their mark in the state in recent weeks.
Scaled down
Last year Trump held a very public meeting in Florence, South Carolina with thousands of spectators. This time the ex-president is going to a much smaller room inside the state assembly in Columbia with room for around 500 people.
Trump is currently struggling on several fronts. Many Republicans blame him for the disappointing midterm elections where Trump-backed candidates lost in states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona and cost the party control of the Senate, writes USA Today.
After the election, he also ended up in bad weather to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago with the anti-Semitic rapper Ye and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.
In addition, he is surrounded by legal trouble on many sides.
