OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
Donald Trump has kept everyone guessing as to his 2024 intentions.
Recently, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) unveiled a poll showing the former president as an ‘overwhelming favorite’ for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Trump captured nearly 70 percent of the ballots cast at the conference. DeSantis was a distant second at 23.7 percent.
Trump, giving the keynote address at CPAC in Dallas, Texas this weekend, blasted President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He argued the nation was facing both domestic and foreign policy crises, stating America lost its ‘prestige’ when Biden withdrew US troops from Afghanistan last year.
‘Our country has never been at a worse point,’ Trump said.
‘They gave away $85 billion worth of equipment, dead soldiers, you still have Americans over there probably as hostages, eventually will be hostages, there has never been a time like this.’
He also claimed the US is a ‘nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse.’
Trump complained that Biden turned ‘the safest border in US history by far’ into ‘the worst border ever in history.’
‘Just last month, an illegal alien here in Texas was indicted for the cold-blooded murders of four elderly women throughout the state. And he’s been linked to the deaths of at least 24 people,’ he said.
Trump also commented on the 2020 election.
‘The election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being systematically destroyed. And everybody knows it. … I ran twice and won twice,’ he declared.
‘America is on the edge of an abyss. And our movement is the only force on Earth that can save it. We have to seize this opportunity to deal with the radical left socialists and fascists.’
The speech came just after a prominent GOP donor who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns told DailyMail.com he does not believe the former president will run for president again.
Instead, the donor said he could see Trump anointing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take on the national MAGA torch.
Dallas businessman Doug Deason spoke to Daily Mail senior political reporter, Rob Crilly, in the offices of his financial empire in Dallas shortly before the former president arrived to speak at CPAC.
Deason said the former president had a lot to lose by running.
‘I think Donald Trump is enjoying life,’ he said. ‘And I think that he is in a position as the power broker.
‘He’s the kingmaker and why would he want to go back and get the crap beat out of him all the time, and have all the responsibility and not be building his empire?
‘He’s had to go back and help rebuild it and you know, why let it deteriorate?
‘Why would it fall apart again? Because he’s just gonna get attacked just like he was.
‘And he can be the kingmaker without being the king.’
Deason’s comments may be seen as a hint to the former president that powerful party backers would rather see him step aside rather than risk defeat.
Deason has held fundraisers for Ron DeSantis as he campaigns for another term as Florida governor.
43-year-old DeSantis’s emergence on the national scene has triggered talk that he could represent a changing of the generational guard.
His efforts to keep Florida open through the pandemic and his leading role in the nation’s culture wars have kept him in the headlines.
As a result, polls consistently place him second to Trump (albeit a distant one) when Republicans are asked who they want as their nominee in 2024.
Deason, who advised Trump on criminal justice reform, said DeSantis would be a more inclusive leader.
‘He’ll sit and listen and let people engage, and he won’t dominate a conversation,’ he said, contrasting that approach with Trump. ‘I think Ron would be a wonderful president.’
Dropping his strongest hint yet that of a potential 2024 presidential bid, Trump proclaimed in his speech, ‘What we do in the next few months and the next few years will determine whether American civilization will collapse and fail or whether it will thrive, frankly like never before.’
He added: ‘We’ll be making an announcement in the not too distant future.’
The former president told fellow Republicans ‘the time is coming’ for him to make a formal announcement about his next bid for the White House, Daily Mail reports.
Trump said he believes ‘people are going to be very happy’ with his decision while noting that America has ‘lost everything’ under Biden’s leadership.
‘It’s certainly not a very long period, the time is coming,’ Trump said Saturday when Fox News asked when Republicans could expect a formal announcement.
‘I think people are going to be very happy, our country has never been in a position like this, we’ve lost everything,’ Trump declared.
Source: The Republic Brief