An insider attorney who has contacts inside 'Trumpworld' made a stunning announcement earlier this week about the former president.
Not only is Donald Trump running for a second term in 2024, but he's going to take another popular GOP figure and rising party star with him: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to Robert Barnes.
In an appearance on The Alex Jones Show this week, Barnes laid out the details he's been privy to.
"My understanding, it's going to be DeSantis," Barnes declared. "DeSantis is not gonna challenge or contest Trump."
"That's huge, that's what I've heard," Jones added. "So, DeSantis is ready to get behind Trump."
"Oh yeah. That agreement has already been made," Barnes responded, adding that Trump can only serve one more term, setting DeSantis up in a "unique position" to be a vice president who could actually win two consecutive terms himself.
A report earlier this week also reflected on when Trump might actually officially announce his candidacy.
Last week, Trump told New York Magazine, “Well, in my own mind, I’ve already made that decision, so nothing factors in anymore. In my own mind, I’ve already made that decision.”
That statement was taken by most political observers to mean that Trump is definitely going to run again, leaving only the matter of making it official.
The former president is now eyeing a September announcement, according to two Trump advisers, who like some others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. One confidant put the odds at “70-30 he announces before the midterms.” And others said he may still decide to announce sooner than September.
Trump has begun talking with advisers about who should run a campaign, and his team has instructed others to have an online apparatus ready for a campaign should he announce soon, two people familiar with the matter said. He also has begun meeting with top donors to talk about the 2024 race, one of these people said, while on trips to various places across the country.
“It’s actually him pushing his advisers to get him ready to announce before or shortly after Labor Day, is the latest timing I’ve been told,” CNN’s Gabby Orr said during a panel discussion over the weekend. Labor Day is Sept. 5.
“If Trump is going to run, the sooner he gets in and talks about winning the next election, the better,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who recently played a round of golf with Trump in New Jersey, told the Post. “It will refocus his attention — less grievance, more about the future.”
Graham also said he thinks Democrats will try to use Trump as a motivator to get their own base to turn out for the midterm elections whether he makes a formal announcement before the midterms or not. Graham also believes, like other GOP strategists, that an announcement before the midterms will drive Republican voter turnout.
“You might as well get the benefit if you’re going to take the lashes too,” Tony Fabrizio, a Trump pollster working for multiple Senate candidates this election cycle, told the Post. “If you want to energize the base and get the base out, no one does it better than Trump.”
Meanwhile, his staunchest allies in Congress see the Jan. 6 Committee's sham hearings as little more than an effort to keep Trump from running again.
