Trump will begin his life as former president with a question in the air: 2024?
42% of Republicans said they would vote for him in four years
A Donald Trump about to end his turbulent Presidency and deprived of his weapons of mass dissemination will arrive this Wednesday in Palm Beach (Florida) to settle in his Mar-a-Lago club with a question hovering in the air: Will he try the conquest of the White House in 2024?
Trump is scheduled to arrive at Palm Beach International Airport at 11:00 a.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT), about an hour before Democrat Joe Biden takes office as the 46th president of the United States at a ceremony in Washington that he decided not to. assist.
The Republican preferred to meet with his people in Florida, a "very important" state for his future political aspirations, Republican strategist Alfonso Aguilar told EFE on Tuesday.
"Those who write the political obituary of President Trump are wrong," Aguilar emphasized.
He stressed that his achievements must be recognized despite the "deplorable and embarrassing" events of January 6, in which his supporters stormed the Capitol.
Hours before the assault, Trump told his supporters that he never intended to acknowledge Biden's victory in the November 2020 elections, because they were a "robbery," an accusation without evidence that he continues to repeat today.
The welcome to Florida is expected to be massive, although for the moment its supporters remain silent on social networks, the same ones from which, after the assault on Congress, where there were five deaths, Trump was expelled as an instigator of violence with his messages.
Aguilar said that "it must be recognized that the president created the environment for the assault to take place, but emphasized that" he has been the most consistent president of a term in modern United States history, if we consider his achievements, the economic miracle before the pandemic, which had a great impact on the middle classes. "
Mar-a-Lago, from vacation residence to permanent home
His previous trips to Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago, the "Winter White House," as he pompously called it, were almost always on vacation and usually between Thanksgiving (November) and Easter (spring). .
Playing golf was his main activity, according to the journalists who accompanied the Republican president on those trips, reported in thousands of reports.
But this time he comes to stay. Mar-a-Lago, an ornate late 1920s mansion converted by Trump into a private club in the 1990s, has been his home since the end of 2019.
Before being president, Trump was dedicated to directing his group of companies, but after his arrival to the Presidency he delegated that task to his children, who, according to various media, are also going to settle in Florida .
Although when he announced that he was leaving New York, where he was domiciled in Trump Tower, he spoke of New Yorkers treating him badly, the media mentioned that Florida has an advantageous tax policy for large fortunes.
But he also says that in Florida he enjoys sympathy among a significant percentage of the population, as evidenced by his comfortable victory in this state in November, against the prognoses of the polls, and with loyal congressmen who have continued to support him even after the assault. to Congress.
Thirteen representatives and senators from Florida opposed Biden's certification in Congress, including Mario Díaz-Balart, Rick Scott and Carlos Giménez.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won the job with Trump's backing and has been aligned with his policies throughout.
In four years everything can happen
Before leaving the Presidency, Trump announced his aspirations to be a candidate for the White House in the next elections and flags and other paraphernalia with the inscription "Trump 2024" have already been seen at rallies and other meetings and millions of dollars have been raised for that end.
But it remains to be seen if he will be able to do so, as he can still be impeached in the Senate as an alleged instigator of the violence unleashed by his followers in Congress and if found guilty, he could be disqualified from elective office.
As explained by Gregory Koger, professor of Political Science at the University of Miami in an article published this week on the website of that center, if the Senate opens his impeachment before the end of his term, the process can continue even after the assumption of Biden.
Two-thirds of the votes are needed to remove him from office, and to disqualify him for elective office, a simple majority in a second ballot.
The takeover of Congress caused support for a possible Trump candidacy in 2024 to drop sharply, according to a poll conducted by Politico / Morning Consult from January 8 to 11, but it still remains the one with the most hook in the Republican ranks.
42% of Republicans said they would vote for the outgoing president within four years, while at the end of November the percentage was 54%.
Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence is second with the most support, at 16%.
The Argentine journalist and writer based in the US Andrés Oppenheimer, who supported Biden in the last elections, does not believe that Trump, whom he accuses of having attempted a "self-coup" on January 6, will succeed in reaching the presidency again.
The obstacles he must face to achieve this are "formidable", including from his age -78 years in 2024- to trials for some of his performances and possible new revelations about his behavior and also the "fear of losing" again, he wrote in a recent article.
However, for Aguilar "people do not forget his economic achievements" about him. "Although his legacy has been sullied by what happened on January 6, it seems to me that he is still a very relevant figure in the conservative movement and in the Republican Party (...) and if he is going to be the candidate from here to four years, who knows? That is a very long time in US politics, "he added.
