On Thursday, POLITICO reported that former President Donald Trump is kicking off a new phase of his 2024 presidential campaign with an "intimate" gathering in South Carolina intended to roll out his election apparatus.
Such an event would contrast with the former president's usual style of holding grand, rock-concert like stadium rallies for his supporters — a practice he has had since the kickoff of his 2016 campaign.
"Trump is slated to make an appearance in late January in Columbia, S.C.," reported Alex Isenstadt. "It will not be a rally, his advisers said, but will be a more 'intimate' event where he will roll out his leadership operation in a state which hosts a key early Republican primary contest. Trump’s advisers are casting the plans as part of a gradual build-out of the former president’s campaign, following a relatively private month-and-a-half since a November launch that coincided with the holiday season."
The move comes as Trump, so far the only GOP candidate to have formally announced his campaign for president, has been accused of phoning in his candidacy, using the campaign as more of a shield to make a potential indictment against him look political than a sincere effort to take back the White House. The declaration of Trump's candidacy, which came after years of speculation he would run again, created some logistical problems for Trump from the outset, including the end of Republican National Committee funding to aid his legal battles.
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"During a Wednesday interview with POLITICO, senior Trump advisers Brian Jack, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles pushed back on the idea that Trump had so far run a low-energy effort, pointing to his opening of a campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla., his activity in key primary states over the course of the 2022 midterm election and the initial build-out of senior staff," said the report. "They said the forthcoming South Carolina event, among other moves, was evidence that the former president was taking important steps to set himself up for the GOP nomination during the opening days of the race."
While no one else has declared yet, there has been speculation around other Republicans who could possibly step up to challenge Trump, or at least fill the void if his campaign collapses — particularly Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A recent series of polling seemed to suggest Republican voters were coalescing behind DeSantis against Trump, but a Morning Consult poll released this week suggests that momentum may have peaked early, with Trump posting a 13-point lead over DeSantis in a hypothetical primary.
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