Trump had to be talked out of announcing 2024 presidential bid as US withdrew from Afghanistan, report says

‘Nobody can move a major muscle until he decides what he’s doing,’ Kellyanne Conway says of Trump’s 2024 speculating

Trump has teased a 2024 run for some time (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Donald Trump had to be talked out of announcing plans for a 2024 presidential run amid the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to reports.

The former president, who has been teasing a future bid for a second term despite twice being impeached during his first term, was talked out of making such an announcement “right away” in August, The Washington Post reported, citing two people familiar with the situation.

As the US withdrew from Afghaistan, images emerged of thousands of people flooding to the airport in Kabul in a desperate attempt to leave the country as the Taliban swept to power in a matter of days.

The Biden administration faced widespread criticism of their handling of the withdrawal, while much censure was also directed at Mr Trump for signing the deal to end the US’s 18-year presence in the country.

But rather than realising the poor timing of such an announcement,Mr Trump’s advisers instead told him such a move might detract from GOP efforts come midterms.

“The biggest point we drove home was that he doesn’t want to own the midterms if we don’t win back the House or Senate,” the anonymous source told The Post.

Indeed, the continued nudge-nudge wink-wink hinting from Mr Trump that he may indeed run for the presidency in 2024 is taking a toll on the Republican party, with some loyalists unable to set their sights on their own future until Mr Trump decides what he is planning to do.

“He tacitly keeps the 2024 crowd on notice that nobody can move a major muscle until he decides what he’s doing,” former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told The Post.