In Tennessee in June, he asked a crowd: “Would anybody like me to run for president?” Then in Nevada in July he remarked: “We have a president who ran twice, won twice and may have to do it a third time. Can you believe it?”
In Pennsylvania earlier this month, he vowed that “in 2024, most importantly, we are going to take back our magnificent White House”.
Donald Trump – former US president and architect of the big lie that he was robbed of victory in the 2020 election by electoral fraudsters – is now finding fresh political utility in the big tease.
For more than a year he has tiptoed up to the line of declaring his candidacy for the White House in 2024 but never quite crossed it. It is a rare show of self-discipline from a man notorious for saying the quiet part out loud.
It is also a strategy that yields benefits. The coyness about his intentions ensures a steady stream of coverage for his rallies and keeps potential Republican primary rivals guessing. He avoids a conflict with party leaders who fear that an official Trump candidacy would overshadow their midterm elections campaign. And it keeps money flowing to his Save America political action committee, which has raised more than $100m since it was formed after the 2020 election.
“He’s an attention whore and everything always has to be about Donald,” said the Democratic National Committee adviser Kurt Bardella. “He has to make himself the centre of the universe so he goes out there and plays this little flirtatious ‘will he, won’t he?’ card and it’s just designed to continue to keep that conversation going.
“It’s also designed to try to keep his would-be competitors like Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence or Mike Pompeo at bay.”
When Trump suffered a crushing defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 race, many observers expected him to follow the example of previous one-term presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, accept that his political career was over and contemplate a presidential library and museum.
But Trump has never done anything by the book. He pushed the “big lie” that culminated in his supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021. Six months later he resumed his raucous campaign rallies with an event in Ohio, and he has since held a further 20 in locations that include Alaska, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.
At every one of them supporters have thronged in expectation that this might be the day that Trump declares he is staging a great political comeback and running for president again. Invariably he drops a hint or two in that direction, generating headlines that he is “floating” or “teasing” a run, but he never makes it explicit.
The closest he came was not an adoring rally but when pressed by a journalist from New York Magazine over what would factor into his decision. Trump replied: “Well, in my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in any more. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision.”
But one factor, perhaps, does give him pause. If and when Trump formally declares, he will trigger Federal Election Commission requirements about financial disclosures and limits on how much money he can raise from individual donors. The 76-year-old’s reticence may ultimately be about financial – rather than political – expediency.
Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington, said, “It’s a matter of federal law: once one says one is a candidate for the presidency, certain attachments take place with respect to what you can and can’t spend money on and with respect to any committees organised.”
This is why candidates typically announce an “exploratory” rather than…
Read More: Will he, won’t he? Trump’s big tease keeps 2024 election rivals guessing | Donald Trump