(Columbia, Wash.) A ‘angrier than ever’ Donald Trump returned to campaign rallies on Saturday, hoping to boost his bid for the White House with a speech in the swing state of New Hampshire before a trip to South Carolina, 1500 km away.
Two and a half months after entering the race for the 2024 election, the former American president left the gilded salons of his Florida residence for visits that owe nothing to chance.
These two states will be among the first to organize their Republican primaries in early 2024. A victory would guarantee Donald Trump the winner a precious – and necessary – momentum for the future.
“We need a leader who is ready to take on the forces that are ravaging our country,” he told hundreds of people in Salem, a small town in New Hampshire where the Republican Party holds its annual convention. .
“Corrupt Establishment”
But after reigning for years over the “Grand Old Party”, Donald Trump, 76, will not necessarily be on conquered ground.
In this border state of Canada, many local elected officials criticize the billionaire for having sealed the chances of the Republicans in the recent mid-term elections by supporting candidates deemed too extreme.
“Personally, I think he has lost a lot of his appeal and his aura,” Mike Bordes, elected to the local parliament, told AFP, who had nevertheless supported him in the 2020 election.
If this official will be present in Salem – “he is the former president, so we must welcome him” – he also says he is “ready to move forward and consider other options” for the Republican nomination.
On Saturday, Donald Trump played his usual score, repeating that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and giving his rivals contemptuous nicknames.
He also touted his record on public safety and immigration, promising to save the country “from destruction by a corrupt, radical and selfish political establishment.”
I’m angrier now and more determined today than I’ve ever been.
Donald Trump, former President of the United States
Hassle
But in South Carolina too, a state bordered by the Atlantic where he will unveil his campaign team at 4 p.m., he could face resistance.
Because if officially, the former president is the only declared Republican candidate, several suitors in this state also seem ready to launch.
Starting with its former governor, Nikki Haley, who promised her supporters a very soon announcement.
PHOTO TAYLOR GLASCOCK, NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina
Donald Trump has also seen several of his major donors publicly announce that they would not support his candidacy in 2024, in favor of Ron DeSantis – governor of Florida and rising star of the party, also not officially launched in the race.
Political worries which the ex-president, already surrounded by a myriad of investigations, would have done well.
In December, a parliamentary committee investigating the responsibility of the Republican in the attack carried out by his supporters against the American Congress recommended that he be prosecuted criminally. A judge in Georgia has also promised an “imminent” decision regarding the political pressure he exerted in that state.
“These are far-left, radical prosecutors who are absolutely horrible people,” Trump said.
And Biden?
Despite these setbacks, beware of burying Donald Trump too quickly, repeat his supporters.
The tribune, whose fall has been announced a thousand times, has so far survived all the scandals. He could also greatly benefit from the upcoming lifting of the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts, finding there a sizeable megaphone.
Donald Trump, or another… The candidate chosen by the Republican camp at the end of these primaries will face the one nominated by the Democratic Party in November 2024.
President Joe Biden says so far he “intends to run again”, and has promised to make his decision public early this year.
PHOTO SUSAN WALSH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
United States President Joe Biden
The architecture of his possible candidacy is also beginning to take shape.
The octogenarian leader will be in New York next Tuesday, then in Philadelphia on Friday, meeting wealthy supporters to fill his party’s coffers.
Political experts are predicting a possible announcement after his State of the Union address, the traditional policy address of presidents given to parliamentarians – and scheduled for February 7.