Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “Outnumbered,” former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany gave Trump some advice on how he should handle his widely expected 2024 announcement given the state of the runoff in Georgia and the need to prioritize on winning the legislature.
In McEnany’s view, though Trump shouldn’t necessarily decide not to run in 2024, he should wait until after the Georgia Senate runoff has concluded and Walker has won to involve himself in any 2024 race or announcement, as right now winning the Senate is more important than sorting out 2024.
Speaking on that, McEnany said, on the topic of Trump running in 2024 and what he and the other potential contenders should do:
“[Trump] will make that decision, he’ll make his own decision. But I’m advising any contender– DeSantis, Trump, whomever, no one announces 2024 until we get through December 6.
“[…]I think we’ve got to make strategic calculations. Governor DeSantis, I think he should be welcomed to the state given what happened last night. You’ve got to look you got to look at the realities on the ground and Herschel Walker. We’ve got to win the Senate. That’s it guys. Gotta win the Senate.”
Watch her here:
Trump press secretary turned Fox host Kayleigh McEnany says Trump should put his campaign declaration on pause until after a Georgia Senate runoff, pointedly does not recommend he go campaign for Walker but says DeSantis should. pic.twitter.com/bklkjUxqa1
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 9, 2022
She also said, when discussing moving on to the 2024 race or sorting out the Senate first, “I know there’s a temptation to starting talking about 2024 — no, no, no, no, no,”
Trump, for his part, patted himself on the back after the midterms, saying that though they were someone disappointing,those candidates that he had selected had generally done well. In his words:
“While in certain ways yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal standpoint it was a very big victory – 219 WINS and 16 Losses in the General – Who has ever done better than that?”
The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, however, claimed that Trump was furious at how the midterms went and was blaming those who pushed him into making certain endorsements, such as Melania pushing him to endorse Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania. Tweeting about that, Haberman claimed:
“Trump is indeed furious this morning, particularly about Mehmet Oz, and is blaming everyone who advised him to back Oz — including his wife, describing it as not her best decision, according to people close to him.”
“There are people pushing Trump to reschedule his announcement next week, and several Rs have texted asking whether he will, but it’s risky and would be acknowledging he’s wounded by yesterday, something that some of his advisers insist is not the case.“
McEnany’s advice will likely be tough for Trump to follow, given his love of the spotlight and his hints that an announcement about 2024 would be coming on November 15th, something that would be hard for him to get out of at this point.
However, he potentially still could do so, and doing so might be good for the GOP as it fights for the legislature after a disappointing set of midterm elections.
On the other hand, Trump announcing his 2024 run could fire up the base and lead to heightened turnout among the sort of people who got him elected in 2016, so maybe his announcing wouldn’t be the worst thing. In any case, we’ll likely find out soon whether he goes full steam ahead or backs off for now.
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