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- Rep. Matt Gaetz said Trump will probably run in 2024 because he "wants to throw punches as a combatant."
- Politico reported that Trump's leadership PAC is steadily laying the groundwork to support a 2024 bid.
- Gaetz added that "a good rule in politics is to be a candidate for as short a time as necessary."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida thinks former President Donald Trump will run for president again in 2024 because he "wants to throw punches as a combatant, not a heckler from the stands," the GOP congressman and top Trump ally told Politico.
Politico reported that Trump's Save America PAC, which he formed after leaving office, is making big moves to lay the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid should Trump choose to run, including building up a physical staff presence in the key caucus state of Iowa and setting up a more steady stream of regular media interviews for Trump.
A number of Trump allies like his former top adviser and spokesman Jason Miller and GOP Reps. Ronny Jackson and Jim Jordan have said publicly that they believe Trump will most definitely run again in 2024.
Gaetz added that Trump, unlike other prospective 2024 candidates, has more flexibility in when he can announce because "the base is rightly loyal to him. And a good rule in politics is to be a candidate for as short a time as necessary."
While the PAC can't officially raise funds for a 2024 run yet (or coordinate with the Trump campaign if and when he does run), its structure as a leadership PAC gives Trump lots of flexibility to raise and spend funds for political purposes – and wield significant influence over the rest of the prospective 2024 field, who have to carefully advance their own potential campaigns without drawing Trump's ire.
The PAC, flush with cash, is also throwing a much-needed lifeline to the Trump Organization by renting out a nearly $40,000 a month office space in Trump Tower, which has lost several high-paying tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Post reported.
A number of sources close to Trump said the US' at-times chaotic exit from its military mission in Afghanistan, fulfilling a withdrawal agreement that the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban in early 2020, has reignited Trump's desire to take on Biden.
"You would think his [Trump's] attitude would be, 'I told you so.' But instead, he is angry because he believes rightly or wrongly that the election was stolen from him and that all that has happened under Biden could have been avoided," Trump's longtime pollster Tony Fabrizio told Politico, saying Trump is keeping a close eye on Biden.
Still, the sources who spoke to Politico cautioned that no final decision had been made and if Trump does announce a presidential bid, it likely won't be until after the 2022 midterms.
"President Trump doesn't do misdirection, he wears it on his sleeve," Miller, the former spokesman, told the outlet.
