Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to run for president again in the 2024 election, shortly before he was set to make an announcement from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump’s candidacy comes as national Republicans contemplate their alliances on the heals of midterm election where a “red wave” for GOP candidates running for Senate and the House of Representatives did not materialize. Instead, Democrats will hold the Senate while an expected narrow majority in the House is yet to be reached a week after the election. Some in the party have blamed the lack of quality and extremism of the candidates, most of whom won their primaries after receiving an endorsement from Trump.
Despite looking like the leader of the party before the midterm, Trump’s hegemony is being challenged by other prospective candidates.
The conservative Club for Growth released internal polls of potential GOP candidates in the first two primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as Florida and Georgia. The results showed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leading Trump in both states for the first time in Iowa in New Hampshire—as opposed to the same poll in August showing Trump leading by wide margins—while extending his lead in Florida and Georgia.
Another survey of likely GOP voters in Texas conducted by CWS Research between Nov. 12 and 13, showed DeSantis leading Trump by 11 points. Other potential candidates polled included former Vice President Mike Pence, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
On Sunday night, Trump received the Zionist Organization of America’s (ZOA) Theodor Herzl Medallion for his achievements on behalf of Israel and world Jewry, including signing an executive order to extend protection under Title IX of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (banning discrimination based on race, color or national origin) to Jewish and pro-Israel students on college campuses; signing into law the Taylor Force Act, which reduced financial aid to the Palestinian Authority so long as it continued to pay stipends to terrorists and the families of slain terrorists who murdered Israelis or Americans; allowing Americans born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their place of birth on their passports; moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal; forging the Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab nations: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan; and being the first U.S. president to pray at the Western Wall.
At the ZOA event, Trump called for increased efforts to persuade Jews to vote Republican.
“We have some people in this country that happen to be Jewish that are not doing the right thing for Israel, you know that, too many,” he said. “Just as you [ZOA National President Mort Klein] were saying how much we’ve done, as you know the Democrats get 75% of the [Jewish] vote, which is hard to believe, right? We can’t let that continue. I think we’re going to have to listen to Mort and David [Schoen, Trump’s personal attorney]…do a little speaking I think, we’re going to have to give a little a lecture…you understand what I mean…when you see all of the horrible things that have taken place with [President Joe] Biden and [former President] Barack Hussein Obama, and then they get 75% of the vote. What the hell is going on here, Mort?”
