By Jill Colvin —
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump started 2022 on a high.
Primary candidates were lining up to go to Florida to woo the former president for a coveted endorsement.
His political acts drew thousands.
A group of investigations against him remained partly under the radar.
A year later, Trump is facing a very different reality.
He is mired in criminal investigations that could end with indictments.
He has been blamed for the disappointing performance of the Republicans in the November elections.
And although he is now an outspoken presidential candidate, the six weeks since he announced it have been marked by self-inflicted crises.
Trump hasn't staged a single campaign rally and barely leaves the confines of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Instead of avoiding challenging him, his potential 2024 rivals seem increasingly emboldened.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, fresh off a resounding re-election victory, is increasingly seen as Trump's most formidable competition.
[A Chinese Bank Account and Celebrity Payments: What Trump's Tax Returns Reveal]
Trump's dovish campaign ad has even
his former stalwarts wondering if he's serious
about another White House run.
Former President Donald Trump spent New Year's Eve at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, where he hosted a celebration.MARCO BELLO / REUTERS
“There was a movie called
Failure to Launch
.
I think that defines Donald Trump's candidacy thus far.
He had the ad and hasn't done anything to support it since," said Michael Biundo, a Republican operative who advised the Trump campaign in 2016 but is staying away this time.
"What campaign?"
asked former Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who gave $100,000 to Trump's 2020 re-election effort but is now gravitating toward DeSantis.
"Trump's early release seems more like a reaction to DeSantis' superior performance and
a legal strategy against prosecution
than a political campaign," he said.
Trump campaigners insist they have spent the weeks since his Nov. 15 announcement methodically building a political operation.
Trump, they point out, announced it just before the holiday season, when politicians tend to fly under the radar, and he did so unusually early, giving him plenty of time to rally supporters.
“This is a marathon and our game plan is rolling out as designed,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.
[The lies with which Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024]
“We are also assembling high-level teams in early voting states and expanding our big data analytics operation to ensure we dominate on all fronts,” he said.
“
We are not going to play the media game that tries to dictate how we campaign
,” she remarked.
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Trump also defended criticism of the slow start to his campaign.
“Campaign rallies will be bigger and better than ever (because our country is going to hell) but it's a little early don't you think?” he wrote on his own social media platform.
While he has avoided campaign events, the former president
has generated controversy
.
There's her dinner with a white nationalist and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has sparked controversy and anti-Semitic conspiracies;
as well as his suggestions that parts of the Constitution be repealed so that he can take power again;
and the “big announcement” he pushed for, which turned out to be the release of his own $99 digital cards that don't benefit his campaign.
Since running for office, he has also faced a series of legal losses, including the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee the Justice Department's investigation into the presence of classified documents in Trump's Florida estate, as well as key aspects of a separate investigation involving the former president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump's namesake company was convicted of tax fraud last month for helping executives evade taxes by obtaining extravagant benefits.
In Georgia, a special grand jury appears to be wrapping up its investigation of his efforts to stay in power.
Trump's potential rivals
have spent months laying the groundwork
for their own campaigns, visiting early-voting states, speaking to conservative groups and building the kinds of relationships that could benefit them in the future.
Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative group, pointed to Republicans such as former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who have made repeated visits to the state.
[Five keys to the expected report on the role of Donald Trump in the assault on the Capitol]
“They've done the legwork that's needed to get in front of Iowans and they're very well received,” he said.
He then noted that the period since Trump announced his candidacy has been "unusually quiet."
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“In many ways, it feels like it's the announcement that didn't even happen or doesn't feel like it happened because there wasn't an immediate buzz.
… I don't hear people on the ground saying, 'I can't wait for Trump to be on the campaign trail,' or something like, 'Did you hear Trump's announcement?'” he explained.
He called the poor performance of some Trump-backed candidates in the 2022 midterm elections a "cautionary flag" and said even Trump supporters are open to backing someone else in the 2024 race.
“This former president, I think it will definitely be up to him to win the candidacy,” he said.
[They report the discovery of more secret White House documents in a Trump warehouse in Florida]
Despite his vulnerabilities, Trump remains a top Republican candidate.
While it is considered that he could possibly lose in a one-on-one matchup, it is also likely that he will benefit from a crowded field of options that divides anti-Trump votes, just as he did when he ran and won in 2016.
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But Biundo, the former Trump campaign adviser, said that after seeing potential candidates like Pence make visits to early voting states, he, too, believes the field is open.
“I don't think Donald Trump has it locked up.
I don't think Ron DeSantis has it locked up.
I don't think anyone has it locked up,” he said.
“
At this point it's an open primary
,” he concluded.