Conservative calls Trump 'weak' for announcing his 2024 candidacy so early

Former President Donald Trump announced on his social media site that he was going to make a big announcement this week. It comes after he already made a big announcement that he was running in 2024, but failed to get any real traction. While it's unclear whether he'll be announcing again, his announcement about a big announcement has already drawn ridicule that he might start announcing every week.

Writing for Politico, National Review editor Rich Lowry, an anti-Trump conservative, called the early announcement just another example of Trump's "flagrant political misjudgment." If Trump was announcing to show his strength it hasn't worked. In fact, Lowry thinks it's been the opposite, calling him "weak."

There was no big endorsement rollout, media blitz, national rally tour, policy announcements or anything else. There is no difference between Trump before the announcement or after. He's still sitting around Mar-a-Lago begging for guests to clap for him when he walks into the dining room.

It was "a move that was meant to keep other candidates out of the race is an invitation to other candidates to get in; a move that was supposed to serve notice of his continued dominance of the party is pointing toward its potential end," he said. "He’s been eclipsed as an internet troll by Elon Musk, and as a vote-getter by Ron DeSantis. He’s managed to get the worst of both worlds — he’s been largely invisible at the same time that he’s been involved in several damaging controversies. His midterms got even worse, with the final thudding defeat of one of his prized political projects, Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate run-off."

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Meanwhile, his poll numbers aren't all that impressive either, with a USA Today/Suffolk poll showing him losing to Gov. Ron DeSantis 56-33. It prompted Lowry to speculate on ways Trump's month could get worse. One might say that things could falter for Trump if he had dinner with a Nazi but he's already done that.

Sure, it's too early to count anyone out, but there's no real incentive for anyone to declare they'll run against him if he's capable of destroying his own campaign.

All of his problems would be there whether he announced or not. But as Lowery explained, "if he hadn’t gotten in, people would have wondered if he’d instantly look stronger once he was actually in the race. Now, he’s answered that question for his adversaries decidedly in the negative."

Read the full column at Politico.