Everything We Know About Donald Trump's 2024 Campaign

Hearing the name Donald Trump can prompt a serious reaction — whether you were a supporter or protestor, the twice-impeached president of the United States was in just about every headline. From his controversial campaign commencing in 2015 with the now-infamous escalator ride in Trump Tower to his characteristic political insults, to his albeit historic win as a candidate with no prior military or government experience, Trump took his constituents for a loop.

Trump's time in Washington, D.C., was alarmingly brought to an end by the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots which have since been the subject of a high-profile House committee inquiry. Encouraging protestors to take back the Congressional building and disrupt the 2020 election confirmation, Trump later watched from the Oval Office as swarms of his supporters violently assaulted the Capitol. The fallout of that infamous day not only resulted in Trump's ban on Twitter – which has since been revoked by Elon Musk – but sparked his second impeachment inquiry, the House inquiry, recommended charges to the Justice Department, and a harsh rebuking by members of his party.

But just as Trump left the West Wing, his reelection plan was back in action, maintaining his fundraising efforts and rallying supporters around his person and causes. He has since experienced an alarming rejection at the polls as part of the midterm elections in 2022, which has left the Republican party in disarray and voters confused about where to turn. Here's everything we know about Trump's 2024 campaign.

Taking a moment from the past before jumping into Donald Trump's 2024 plans, going back to 2020's presidential election results is critical. Trump versus Joe Biden: It seemed like a circus from the start, yet despite the incumbent's confidence that voters would deliver the White House to him again, Trump lost the election to the former vice president. With that said, however, did Trump ever concede?

As historically seen played out, presidents and their successors have made a point to meet at the White House during the transition of power and attend the inaugural events united. While presidents have had their differences, these public displays of civility are essential, as they not only galvanize support but show a country-over-party perspective. Not taking a cue from his predecessor, however, was Trump, who — as noted by CNN – waited until January 7, 2021, to confess that he would not be serving a second term; a whole two months after Biden clinched win. Releasing a pre-recorded video, Trump stuck to his classic talking points and did not utter such plain words as "I lost reelection. Biden won, and we must support him." Instead, he sat for the video as his then-White House staff dropped like flies.

In the years that have followed, Trump has continued to peddle lies about the 2020 election, even though officials from his administration have confirmed and supported Biden's win.

To say that the Congressional Republican caucus is in free fall is a bit of an understatement. Ahead of the devastating 2022 midterm elections, Republican lawmakers quickly split given the violence of January 6, the legal ramifications of Trump's time in office, his rejection of country over politics, and so on. Though whispers in the halls of Congress would firmly put Republicans on either a pro or con Trump list, The New York Times noted in 2021 that the list of lawmakers not supporting Trump publicly was slim.

Most notably, Representative Liz Cheney rejected Trump, landing her a spot on the House committee investigating January 6. The daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and the lone representative from Wyoming, the Republican lawmaker took a central role in the investigatory committee, and she didn't hold back her criticism of the former president. "It's absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway," Representative Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper of January 6, 2021.

As time would tell, rejecting Trump and publicly investigating him cost Cheney her seat in the House of Representatives. As noted by CNN after the midterm elections in 2022, the six Republicans in the House who voted for Trump's impeachment faced an uphill battle come reelection, and four of them lost.

Pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, facing several legal issues, and stances on the issues facing the United States are just some of the reasons why the 2022 midterms saw a repudiation of Donald Trump and his base. But another element of Trump's stance as a 2024 hopeful that could get in the way of more Republicans taking his side is abortion. After the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade — giving the deciding power back to the states to rule on abortion — the issue became even more galvanized than it already was. Poll after poll showed that most Americans wanted and still want abortion to be legal and accessible, and Trump's stance on the issue (which is more understanding than you might think) ostracized him even further away from conservative voters.

The midterm failing "wasn't my fault," Trump attested on his social media site Truth Social, as noted by NBC News. "It was the 'abortion issue,' poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters."

Trump's stance was quickly criticized by anti-abortion the Susan B. Anthony group, who stated shortly thereafter that Trump should "state clearly" that abortion is immoral if he wants to win come 2024.

As the aftermath of January 6 evolved over the last months, legal ramifications followed those who raided the Capitol. As noted by Time, more than 840 rioters were arrested in the months that followed that day, and about 190 have been sentenced so far. There is an entire section of the United States Attorney's Office of the District of Columbia dedicated to Capitol breach cases, and it further links to the FBI's most wanted list for the U.S. Capitol Violence. Clearly, the government is taking the violence, the charges, and the sentencing of those involved incredibly seriously. Also taking the events of January 6 seriously is Donald Trump — but not in the way that you might think. Instead of rebuking supporters who threatened the lives of lawmakers and Capitol police, Trump promised during a campaign-style rally in Conroe, Texas, that if he were to win reelection, he would see to it that those charged for January 6 related crimes would be pardoned.

"Another thing we'll do, and so many people have been asking me about it, if I run and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly," Trump said during the January 2022 rally, as noted by Reuters. "We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly."

When Donald Trump announced his plans to run in 2024, his campaign kick-off was not like his widely-watched 2015 event. Instead of a golden escalator, a packed house, and a revived enthusiasm that rallied supporters, Trump's 2024 campaign event was a bit more subdued. The Hill noted that Trump's presidential announcement was "low energy" and kicked off nothing but a "campaign from hell" in its first month.

Hill opinion contributor Myra Adams also asserted that Trump could pull the "poor health card" to get out of the 2024 campaign, allowing him to capitalize on his age and save face. "Imagine his predictable social media message: 'I was winning the nomination and would have won the general election, but my doctor says I am at risk for (fill in the blank) and must end my campaign,'" Adams suggested, bringing up Trump's eyebrow-raising comments from an April 2022 interview with The Washington Post when he said, "You always have to talk about health. You look like you're in good health, but tomorrow, you get a letter from a doctor saying come see me again. That's not good when they use the word again."

Of course, Trump's health and food habits were of immense interest while he was in office, and he even allegedly had a "Diet Coke button" in the Oval Office, per Today.

If there's one element of Donald Trump's persona that has remained steady, it's his association with money. For years, Trump built brands, businesses, and deals on his billionaire status, and he seemingly took his money know-how to the political world and, by proximation, his political action committee. But as time has gone on, questions about exactly where donations to his campaign are going have arisen, and new information about his taxes and money while in office has left little to the imagination.

As detailed by Open Secrets, Trump's political action committee — Save America — spent $117,506,104 in 2022, unsurprisingly only giving money to Republican lawmakers and candidates. Donations, of course, are still being given daily, and ahead of the midterm elections, $20 million was transferred from Save America to a new super PAC, MAGA Inc., with the distinct goal of supporting Trump-endorsed candidates, CNN notes.

Moving on to his taxes, the House Ways and Means Committee released Trump's tax returns in late 2022, which revealed that the former president declared a negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020 and paid about $1,500 in income tax in both 2016 and 2017. And, if that didn't make you shake your head, the report from the committee included that Trump had foreign bank accounts in China, the United Kingdom, and Ireland while in office.

When it comes to fellow Republicans facing Donald Trump, we've presented quite a compelling case that Ron DeSantis will be the one to beat. And while some may still want to see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the frontrunner, as opposed to DeSantis or Ted Cruz, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, took the opportunity to comment on facing down the 44th president in the Republican primary. Kinzinger doesn't want to face Trump down to pedal his own issues but rather to call Trump out when the opportunities present themselves.

"I would love it. I really would," Kinzinger told HuffPost when asked if he would run in 2024, specifically if he would face Trump on the debate stage and on the campaign trail. "Even if he crushed me, like in a primary, to be able to stand up and call out the garbage is just a necessary thing, regardless of who it is. ... I think it'd be fun."

Kinzinger has since called Trump and his son out for the "We the People" branded Bibles now available for purchase, asking "good" clergy members to rebuke its printing. "Oh the irony. The fact that some Christians don't see the problem here is more affirmation that it's not the GOP that has failed Christians, it's the church," Kinzinger tweeted on January 2, 2023. "Good Pastors and Priests rise up and call this out."

If Donald Trump thought his 2023 was going to start with a clean slate, he should've thought again. Ahead of the 2024 campaign cycle, Trump was facing several legal woes.

As USA Today reported, the House committee investigating January 6 released its report in December 2022 after 18 months of uncovering the truth of that day, concluding that Trump incited the deadly attack. The committee went as far as recommending that the Justice Department lodge incendiary charges against him as well as three counts of criminal wrongdoing.

"President Trump lit the flame; he poured gasoline on the fire and sat by in the White House dining room for hours watching the fire burn," Representative Elaine Luria said of the report and its conclusions. At the time, Trump was simultaneously facing the following: a special counsel investigation into the classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago and Trump's attempt to subvert the 2020 election, ongoing investigations into January 6, the impending charges in a case centered in Atlanta, Georgia, a Manhattan-based investigation regarding hush money payments, a civil lawsuit going after members of the Trump family, and a defamation trial in the alleged rape of E. Jean Carroll.

Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist who is among the few who accurately predicted the results of the 2022 midterms, clarified to Vox that while the indictment could help Donald Trump weed out the competition, it will not affect his overall image as a presidential candidate. Given his reluctance to accept defeat, ongoing investigations, and overall personality it is highly likely that in the average American voter's eyes, he is a huge liability. 

"Trump coming in as the nominee, having been indicted potentially two or three times — there's no scenario where that's helpful to him in a national election," Rosenberg said. "It perhaps will help him crowd out DeSantis and other challengers in the primary. But of course, that would be a disaster for the Republican Party." Matt Dole, an Ohio-based Republican strategist, agreed that the drama "[feeds] into the fatigue about Donald Trump."

While eyebrows are being raised regarding the legality of Trump's campaign now that he has been indicted, Derek Muller, a professor at the University of Iowa School of Law, confirmed to Vox that Trump can still legally run for president. Whether in jail or not, Trump meets the requirements for the presidency — he is a natural-born citizen who is above 35 years of age and has not been the president of the United States for more than two terms.