'Absolutely No Doubt' Donald Trump Is Running for President Again, Says Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon believes there is "absolutely no doubt" that former President Donald Trump will run for the White House again in 2024.
Trump has consistently teased the possibility of a 2024 presidential run but has not formally confirmed his plans. Some Republicans strongly oppose the former president seeking elected office in the future, while others remain supportive of Trump but fear he could hurt the GOP in down-ballot races in more moderate districts. Meanwhile, most Republican voters appear supportive of him seeking the White House again.
"Donald J. Trump is running again in 2024, there's absolutely no doubt about that," Bannon said in an interview with Newsmax on Friday. He then took aim at indictments against the former president's business—the Trump Organization—in New York. Bannon argued that these were politically motivated to "try to stop him."
"They're not gonna stop him. This is only going to make the MAGA movement more determined," the former Trump administration official said. Bannon went on to say that "the MAGA movement, the America First movement is more engaged, more energized."
Bannon's remarks came after Trump suggested on Wednesday that he planned to run again in 2024. During a Fox News town hall, right-wing opinion host Sean Hannity asked the former president: "Without giving the answer what the answer is, have you made up your mind [about 2024]?"
"Yes," Trump replied.
"It's not that I want to," Trump added later. "The country needs it. We have to take care of this country. It isn't fun, fighting constantly, fighting always."
Polling conducted by Quinnipiac University from May 18 to 24 found that two-thirds (66 percent) of Republicans would like to see Trump run for president again. Just 30 percent said they were against the idea. An even greater majority (85 percent) of GOP voters said that they wanted Republican candidates for elected office to agree with Trump on policy issues. However, the polling showed that two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans overall do not want the former president to seek the White House again.
Trump and his allies continue to falsely claim that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. These extraordinary allegations have been thoroughly litigated and wholly debunked, but many GOP voters appear to still believe the lies. The recent Quinnipiac poll found that two-thirds of Republicans believe that Biden's win was not legitimate, while just a quarter (25 percent) believe the president actually won.
Bannon served as the chief executive of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and went on to work as the former president's chief strategist and senior counselor in the White House from January 2017 to August 2017. He was later indicted for fraud in August 2020, after he allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of dollars from supporters of an online campaign to "Build the Wall." Trump pardoned him in January just before leaving the White House.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press office for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.
