Trump rebuilding 'authoritarian army' to help him steal 2024 election: experts

Donald Trump is getting his band of conspiracy theorists and convicted criminals back together ahead of the 2024 election, and experts say that should send an alarming signal.

The former president is reportedly bringing back some of his former campaign advisers, including 2016 campaign managers Paul Manafort and Corey Lewandowski, after securing the Republican presidential nomination, which could be a preview of shenanigans to come, reported The Guardian.

“Manafort coming back in is to set up control of the convention so that there are no slippages," said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "You’ve got Lewandowski and others who are keen political operatives for Trump that will be out and about enforcing a strategy that will take no prisoners. I don’t think people appreciate exactly what we’re going to be in for. This campaign is going to be very difficult on the country because these folks are all about one thing and one thing only: Donald Trump’s absolute return to power.”

Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles have tried to temper his worst impulses by diverting election denier Christina Bobb to a role with the RNC instead of the campaign and rejected far-right activist Laura Loomer, but the former president's consideration of either signals a problem.

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“In a normal world, a presidential candidate would not get within a zip code of Laura Loomer," said anti-Trump conservative columnist Charlie Sykes. "Now she’s showing up at Mar-a-Lago. And, of course, they can be relied upon to attack any other conservative that does not engage in the kind of rhetoric that Trump engages in.”

Trump continues to speak by phone with some of those fringe figures, and he has hosted right-wing dirty trickster and convicted felon Roger Stone at Mar-a-Lago, all of which experts say suggests he plans to try to seize power by any means necessary.

“These are the foot soldiers in Trump’s authoritarian army," said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. "They will do whatever it takes to win and we’ve seen it; this is not speculation. They put out the playbook in 2020 and we’d be foolish not to expect that playbook to be used in 2024.”