by Viviana Mazza
The ex-president starts his re-election campaign with reduced rallies: “Don’t trust the imitations, my politics doesn’t exist without me”
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK – “They said about me, ‘He doesn’t hold rallies, he doesn’t campaign. Maybe he lost his step. But I’m more angry and determined than ever.” Nearly three months after announcing that he would run for the Republican nomination for the White House, 76-year-old Donald Trump is really starting to campaign outside of Florida. He stopped in two on Saturday one of the first states to vote in the primary: New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states that catapulted him onto the stage in contrast to Iowa, where he finished third, in 2016. He spoke at a party meeting in a school auditorium in New Hampshire; then at the South Carolina Capitol, in front of a crowd of 300. Unassuming events compared to the big and expensive Trump rallies, which mark the search for support from party cadres, financiers and evangelical leaders who are abandoning them — and not just the grassroots who are run by is animated by anti-system rhetoric.
Look at the polls
Confined to his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump is said to have spent the last few months rewatching Sunset Boulevard and keeping an eye on the polls. Right now, he’s the only “declared” candidate for the nomination and has risen in the national polls after the midterm election failed: He has 55% versus 29% of the preferences for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But it is more susceptible when you look at individual states. In South Carolina, the majority of Republican voters declare their preference for “someone else”. Trump must show that he can not only win the nomination but also the general election (Biden’s reappointment is expected in March). It is not for nothing that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was also at his side on Saturday, said: “How many times have you heard: ‘We want Trump’s politics, but we want a new face’? Without Trump, there is no Trump policy.”
Nikki Haley is trying too
A phone call from former state governor Nikki Haley announcing that she would run for the White House may also have helped persuade him to fly to South Carolina. On Saturday, Haley tweeted, “We need a new generation to lead,” and in an interview he said, “You don’t have to be 80 to be a leader in Washington.” Neither does Trump see it as a threat (“I gave her told him to do it”) nor does he fear former members of his administration such as Vice President Mike Pence or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. At DeSantis, Trump launched the most toxic dig on Saturday, accusing him of “rewriting history” on the pandemic. He is now a declared vaccine skeptic, but initially “supported vaccines and ordered many shutdowns in Florida,” Trump said. “If you tell me that he could run for 2024, I think that’s very unfair.” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who plans to join the fight, told CNN that DeSantis “would win without a doubt” in the state (one poll says 42%; Trump 30%). DeSantis is silent but reportedly considering hiring the campaign team in Iowa and New Hampshire.
January 29, 2023 (change January 29, 2023 | 23:40)
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