Republicans look to Trump for their future
Almost 100 days after the start of Joe Biden's tenure as President of the United States, his predecessor Donald Trump remains a powerful figure in the Republican Party, and a potential major player in the 2024 presidential election.
Settled in Mar-a-Lago, his luxury Florida hotel residence, the Republican billionaire has recently issued a steady stream of statements to give his opinion on topics such as immigration, or the politics of his party.
On Monday, he used this means to attack Republicans who did not support his baseless accusations that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged."
The real estate mogul offers his support to Tory candidates, including those who challenge Republican establishment officials, and stirs his base by criticizing Biden and the Democrats, a "radical left," he says.
Banned permanently from Twitter, Donald Trump reappeared last week on the conservative Fox News channel, for an interview in which he complained of being indicted before Congress, when he had "done nothing of badness ".
Since the billionaire left office, Republicans have flocked to Mar-a-Lago for his advice or support.
Returning to civilian life, the former commander-in-chief now faces a litany of legal concerns, including investigations into his finances and possible charges of tax evasion and bank fraud.
Donald Trump shows no sign of wanting to step down from the spotlight, however.
At the end of February, the septuagenarian made a triumphant return to CPAC, the Conservative annual convention, where he hinted that he still represented the future of the Republican Party.
After losing the Presidency and the Senate, and failing to regain the House of Representatives, Donald Trump left the White House with an approval rating of 34%, the lowest in his term, and left behind a Republican Party in a clearly weaker position.
But it remains a force some Republicans ignore at their peril.
"Does he represent only one faction of the Republican Party, or is he a dominant force?" "Asked in an interview with AFP Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings Institution researcher working on the US presidency.
Along with other experts, she is watching carefully some primary battles where Trump's influence could be challenged, in the run-up to a possible new presidential campaign for 2024.
"If he loses a primaries, politicians watching this stuff will think maybe he's not that scary," says Elaine Kamarck.
"And if he wins them, he will be a force to be reckoned with," she added.
Internal struggle
Dissent within the Republican Party is intense, and following the assault on Washington Capitol on January 6 by supporters of the billionaire, some Republican figures want the party to move frankly away from Trump and Trumpism.
House representative Liz Cheney warned her colleagues to reject the idea of personality cult, especially after the events of January 6. In response, Donald Trump indicated that he would support any Conservative candidate who rises in 2022 against the re-election of this Wyoming elected official.
But as some Republican officials try to tone down the more extremist voices within the party, they continue to rise.
On Saturday, the elected Marjorie Taylor Greene delivered a speech at an "America First" meeting, where she claimed support for the former president and his unfounded accusations of electoral fraud.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most prominent voices in Trumpism, and along with some of Donald Trump's followers, she's struggling to see the billionaire represent the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, or if not him, l one of his sidekicks, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, or Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.
According to Elaine Kamarck, Republicans find themselves in an internal struggle between "pro-Trump and anti-Trump", while many within the party "are in hiding and hoping not to be labeled on one side or the other."
"We will know better in 2022 how strong (Donald Trump) really is", concludes the researcher.
