Trump’s circle says disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal ‘convinced’ him that he ‘WILL run in 2024’

Advisors to former President Donald Trump are talking up his growing interest in a bid to recapture the White House – now that rival Joe Biden’s approval ratings are experiencing a drop after the chaotic Afghanistan pullout and spiking coronavirus cases.

Former campaign spokesman Jason Miller called a Trump re-run a near certainty in comments last week to Cheddar.

 ‘I would say somewhere between 99 and 100 percent. I think he is definitely running in 2024,” Miller said. “I had a good conversation with him last night. I’m going to go see him in another couple days here,’ he said, as key Trump allies in Congress make comments promoting a potential run.

Trump, 75, made numerous feints toward a White House run before finally committing for the 2016 election. He has taken a series of steps that indicate he is keeping his options open – establishing what Politico calls a ‘turn-key’ operation.

Advisors are talking up former President Donald Trump making another run for the White House in 2024, after the chaotic troop pullout from Afghanistan

‘Trump sees Biden is on the ropes. He wants to throw punches as a combatant, not a heckler from the stands,” said Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. Then he cautioned that Trump was not in a hurry to announce because ‘the base is rightly loyal to him. And a good rule in politics is to be a candidate for as short a time as necessary.’

But a former senior Trump administration official said the news out of Afghanistan didn’t ‘intensify’ Trump’s desire so much as ‘it did convince Americans about the choice.’

Another Trump loyalist, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who spoke to Trump the day of the Jan. 6th Capitol riot, was captured on video last week saying ‘I know so’ when asked if Trump would run again. ‘I talked to him yesterday. He’s about ready to announce after all of this craziness in Afghanistan.’ 

Both men would have an enhanced ability to try to use their positions in Congress to probe or muddy the Biden administration should the GOP take over the House in November, an increased possibility as Biden’s support slips in key districts. 

Trump said back in April that he was ‘100 per cent thinking about running again.’ 

Trump’s positioning for a potential run began when Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after being acquitted in his second impeachment trial, which could have barred him from future office had he been convicted. 

Days after losing to Biden, Trump said ‘the election was rigged.’ He has ignored precedents set by many former presidents of focusing on legacy building and avoiding direct attacks on their former opponents.

President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have tumbled amid the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and surging coronavirus cases

A member of Taliban monitors the protesters during the anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 7, 2021

Polls show disapproval with Biden’s handling of Afghanistan amid the chaotic pullout

Trump’s attacks on Biden have gone with regular fundraising appeals, and his PAC has raised a stunning $82 million. 

Trump didn’t respond directly on a recent interview with ‘The John Fredericks’ when Fredericks told him ‘you won in 2020’ and said information is ‘going to prove that you were the duly-elected.’ 

He told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo in one of his numerous appearances bashing the Afghanistan pullout that ‘stupid’ election laws don’t ‘allow’ him to say whether he is running.

‘If I tell you that a whole host of things happen, which are bad. So I can’t tell you. I can tell you this. I love our country and you’re going to be very happy,’ Trump added. 

Now, the former president is editing web ads to make them ‘harder hitting,’ according to one detail put out by Politico. 

A sudden drop in Biden’s approval ratings may have grabbed Trump’s attention. A calculation by fivethirtyeight that fuses numerous tracking polls has Biden underwater, with 46 per cent approval and 48 per cent disapproval, with 46 per cent approval.

According to Politico Trump is ‘paying attention to the finer details behind the scenes, such as making editing suggestions to his web ads to make them harder hitting against Biden.’

A release from Trump’s ‘Save America Pac’ Tuesday read: ‘ICYMI: “Poll: Majority Blame Joe Biden for Deaths of 13 U.S. Servicemembers and 170 Afghans.” 

It all comes as coronavirus cases continue to surge, amid steep national divides over mask mandates and other control measures. To Biden’s frustration, health officials point to a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ – with many of the holdouts coming from among the ranks of Trump supporters in rural or Republican-leaning counties. 

Biden and the White House have sidestepped their occasional reluctance to bring up Trump – noting during repeated public events that it is Trump’s administration who negotiated with the Taliban and negotiated an agreement with a deadline to withdraw US troops, while pressuring the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

If Trump does run again, one person who might have less than a starring role is former first lady Melania Trump. She is cool to the idea, according to a CNN report over the weekend. 

Said one source who was close to Melania while she was in the White House. ‘Being first lady again is not what she wants. For her, it was a chapter — and it’s over, and that’s that.’