Former United States President Donald Trump reportedly held secret donor dinners where he discussed his plans for the 2024 election period as he struggles to shore up support among his base and colleagues.
The Republican businessman quietly convened some of his wealthiest and highest-profile supporters for intimate dinners in recent weeks. The gatherings have taken place in Houston, Nashville, and Las Vegas. Longtime Trump friend and billionaire casino mogul Phil Ruffin imported the former president to launch another presidential campaign.
Trump's Secret Donor Dinners
The consensus has been that Trump should run again in the 2024 elections but the only question that remains is when he should announce his plans to the public. Many of the donors echoed Ruffin's view but others said that the former president should wait until after the November midterms.
The dinners, which were previously left unreported, were described by four attendees and provide a window into Trump's deliberations and show how he has quietly begun to reassemble the political network that he cultivated while in the White House. It comes as other Republican candidates circled and held their own donor meetings to make plans for the 2024 election, as per Politico.
The informal, off-the-record dinners were not designed to talk about the 2024 race and typically focused on other issues. In one instance, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham got into a contentious back-and-forth with country music star John Rich over coronavirus vaccines and the Las Vegas group discussed the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The meals were known to be hosted by Save America, which is the former president's leadership PAC, for the purpose of briefing on Trump's endorsement record in the midterms and his plans for the fall election. The Republican businessman has frequently pointed to political adviser Brian Jack to run through his successes in primaries.
According to CNN, a new national poll showed that Trump led a hypothetical 2024 GOP field with 49%, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 25%. There was no other potential candidate among the others, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who received double-digit support.
Presidential Elections
Despite this, nearly half of the Republicans who said they plan to vote in the 2024 Republican primary preferred a candidate other than Trump. The poll noted that the numbers suggest Trump would not necessarily enter a primary with an insurmountable advantage over rivals like DeSantis.
The former president's share of the Republican primary electorate is less than Hillary Clinton's among Democrats was at the outset of the 2016 race when she was viewed as the inevitable frontrunner, but ultimately found herself embroiled in a protracted primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
The situation comes as Trump is facing legal controversies, primarily due to the House Select Committee's Jan. 6 hearings, accusing the former president of pushing election fraud claims and urging his supporters to storm the Capitol.
The hearings have included testimony from a variety of close sources of Trump, including former aide Cassidy Hutchinson and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. The answers to the panel's questions reinforced their theory that Trump wanted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Yahoo News reported.
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