Howard Stern Just Made A Bold Prediction About Donald Trump's 2024 Run
Former President Donald Trump has been teasing for months about whether he's planning to run again in 2024. There are even reasons to believe he's already started campaigning, including the release of a purported election commercial.
But the strongest sign yet came from the man himself, who told Fox News in a recent interview that he's likely to wait until after the midterm elections to confirm either way. "I think a lot of people will be very happy, frankly, with the decision," he hinted. Although many other Republicans have expressed interest in running, as far as Trump is concerned, he has no real competition. "If I run, they'll never run," he said.
The former commander-in-chief has his pick of running mates, too. "There are a lot of great people in the Republican Party," he said. As Politico details, Trump has consistently expressed confidence in his chances at a 2024 win, from holding rallies to sending out unhinged campaign emails.
He also continues to hold an almost hypnotic pull on the party, despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, having his widespread claims of voter fraud debunked, and being accused of inciting a deadly riot at the Capitol. In fact, those who turn against him have suffered the consequences.
Trump may be confident of nabbing the presidency once more, but one person who's defiantly standing against him is Howard Stern.
Howard Stern believes this is his 'civic duty'
Shock jock Howard Stern is well-known for speaking his mind, but his latest claims are particularly eyebrow-raising. The Hill reports that during a recent episode of his hit SiriusXM show, Stern floated the idea of running for president in 2024 against Donald Trump. The well-respected interviewer quipped that he's primed to totally "beat his a**." In fact, Stern considers running against Trump his "civic duty," he said, since it means potentially stopping the controversial politician from securing a second term.
"I would just sit there and play that f****** clip of him trying to fix the election over and over again," Stern said, referring to the now-infamous call Trump made to Brad Raffensperger, attempting to talk the Georgia secretary of state into engineering proof of election fraud on his behalf. "There's no way I'd lose," Stern argued.
Stern's co-host, Robin Quivers, agreed with the plan. "If Trump decides to run again, you have to run against him," she said. "You can't leave it to the Democrats."
Although Stern might seem like a wild choice, it's worth noting that he has more political experience than Trump did prior to running: The radio host previously ran for governor of New York back in 1994.
Howard Stern blames himself for helping Trump win
Part of the reason why Howard Stern is intent on keeping Donald Trump from securing a second term in office is that he partly blames himself for getting the controversial star elected in the first place. As Fox News details, Trump was a regular guest on Stern's radio show. During an appearance on "Good Morning America," he admitted to "absolutely" helping Trump to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. "The way I helped Donald was I let him come on and be a personality. Whether you liked him or not, people related to him as a human being," Stern said.
The radio DJ actually wished he could've helped Hillary Clinton seal the deal instead, acknowledging he "wanted to see" her win. Stern argued, "I thought that perhaps if she came on my show, we could've stripped away some of the pomp and circumstance or the tightness that comes with running for president and, like Donald, she could've been seen in a different light."
However, the author defended Trump against media backlash over some of his most incendiary comments, arguing "there was no filter" when he appeared on the show and much of his bluster had been taken out of context.
Trump didn't want to be president, according to Stern
Although he took some responsibility for helping him get there, as far as Howard Stern is concerned, Donald Trump never actually wanted to be president, as he argued in an interview with The New York Times. Furthermore, Trump's demeanor totally changed once the former reality star hit the campaign trail. "He became one of the worst radio guests," Stern argued of Trump, whom he'd previously considered a "fantastic" interview subject and "as unguarded as any human being that has ever been on my show." The unlikely duo got so close Trump attended Stern's wedding, and Stern was at one of Trump's, so clearly the radio DJ was speaking from experience.
Despite his regular guest's openness, however, Stern doesn't consider Trump "capable of a certain level of soulful introspection" because he's been so conditioned to shut off his emotions due to growing up with such a domineering father. As for why he ran for office in the first place, Stern said, "I feel that Donald is caught up in getting the love of the masses, which is unobtainable and leads to no good."
The shock jock claimed to have been present at Mar-a-Lago when the original run was plotted, noting how nobody really took it seriously, including him. Unsurprisingly, Stern wasn't a fan of President Trump, quipping, "There's a reason I didn't vote for Donald." If he chooses to run again, Trump's old buddy will be right there waiting for him.