He began backing off the idea after learning that running would require him to release a new round of financial documents that would make him vulnerable to his ongoing criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits, according to two Republicans close to Trump…
In interviews, more than half a dozen Republicans who had supported or worked for Trump say the president isn’t likely to run again, though he may tease it. If Trump changes his mind again and chooses to run, some said they would urge him not to, while others hope he’d be talked out of it.
“I think nothing is going to happen,” said a Trump friend. “He won’t be around in 2024. He’s not going to run. He’s going to fuck around and say he’s going to run. … He’ll tease. I don’t think he’s ever going to say ‘I won’t run.’ He just won’t run.”…
“The four years of substantial policy accomplishments, whether it be the economy, judges, the Supreme Court, all of that is wiped away by six weeks of extraordinary undisciplined bad behavior that culminated in a day of disgrace at the United States Capitol,” said a national Republican strategist who worked to elect the president.
