Trump’s expected 2024 run elicits disdain, apprehension, relief and elation

WASHINGTON - No, America, there will be no break from politics after Tuesday’s results.

That was the takeaway from Mr Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he would be making a “very big announcement” – almost certainly of a third White House run – next week at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida.

“I am terrified,” said Ms Liz Lambert, 57, a marketing manager in Scottsdale, Arizona, clutching a coffee cup as she headed to work after casting her ballot at a polling site in Phoenix on Tuesday. “This country has been through enough. We need stability and maturity and leadership.”

Walking out behind her just a few minutes later, Mr Vito Corso, 58, a retired business owner originally from California, said he saw the announcement coming and believed another Trump run for the White House will be “a good thing”.

Mr Corso said: “I think he did a good thing the last time, and I think he’ll do the right thing this time – again.”

At polling sites across the country, voters on Tuesday reacted with a polarised mix of apprehension, disdain, relief and elation at the news.

In Warren, Michigan, Mr Mike Smith, 58, who voted for Mr Trump in 2016, said he has been anxiously awaiting his return to office.

“I hope he comes back sooner than 2024,” said Mr Smith, who votes Republican.

“I still don’t accept 2020. Don’t call me an election denier, either. Like the man or not, this country was cruising on all cylinders when he was in office. And if you do, that’s your right, but I don’t think it’s intellectually honest.”

Mr Rick Lombardo, a member of the Democratic State Committee in the Wissinoming section of northeast Philadelphia, said part of him would be indifferent to an announcement that Mr Trump was running again. But he also argued that Mr Trump had damaged the country.

“He unleashed the dogs of hate, and now we’re dealing with that,” Mr Lombardo said. “If he wants to run, that’s his perfect right, but I hope he loses and loses bad.”

In Haymarket, Virginia, Ms Gloria Ugbaja, 47, who works in health care management, called the news a simple distraction. She declined to identify her political leanings, only saying that she votes for “the lesser of the two”, a reference to the phrase “lesser of the two evils”.

She said: “Whether he tries to run or not, it indirectly does not affect what the average American has to do on a daily basis.”

Mr Trump has long teased a potential third campaign for president.

At recent rallies for Republican candidates in heated battleground races, he has spent much of his time talking up his achievements as president, painting a picture of a nation in chaos since he left office and denouncing the handful of investigations now underway against him.

In Ohio on Monday, Mr Trump foreshadowed his announcement and overshadowed Mr J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate candidate he was there to promote.

“I’m going to be making a very

big announcement on Nov 15

at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” he said in the final minutes of his 100-minute speech.

Throughout the midterm campaign, Republican candidates have been running in Mr Trump’s mould across the country, advancing his claims that the 2020 election was stolen – despite no evidence of that standing up in numerous lawsuits – and ratcheting up his rhetoric against immigrants as well as racial history, gender and sex education in schools.

Many hard-fought races could prove a test of the endurance of his brand of no-holds-barred politics.

Amid this landscape, some advisers urged the former president to wait on announcing his run until after Tuesday’s election. Other Republicans have expressed support for other potential presidential contenders, including Govenor Ron DeSantis of Florida and former vice-president Mike Pence.

Back outside a polling station in northeast Philadelphia on Monday, Mr Dennis Maragliano, 81, said he voted for Mr Trump in 2016 and 2020, and would do so again in 2024 if Mr Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president.

But Mr Maragliano said he would prefer that Mr DeSantis become the GOP nominee because he has concerns about Mr Trump’s political style.

“I like the kid from Florida – DeSantis,” Mr Maragliano said. “He might be a junior Trump, but he’s got a little bit more decorum.” NYTIMES