Now what about Donald Trump?

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I met Donald Trump in May 2014.

I interviewed him at Shannon Airport about the recent purchase of his golf course in nearby Doonbeg, Co Clare.

Stepping off his private Trump-branded plane, he was greeted on a red carpet by then-Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

A harpist, a violinist and a singer were also present to commemorate their arrival.

It was a VIP welcome for a man who, at the time, was not yet President of the United States. But it was still a great name. A businessman and a reality star.

Is that the life that Trump will return to now? Or will he run another run for the White House in 2024?

Donald Trump photographed in Doonbeg in 2014

Trump 2024?

Days after the election, former Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney suggested that Donald Trump could run again for president in 2024.

“I would absolutely hope the president would stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the list of people likely to run in 2024,” he said at a virtual event organized by the Institute of International and European Affairs.

It is a possibility that is talked about a lot here in Washington.

Rather than deliver a concession speech before Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, Trump would announce his candidacy for the White House in 2024.

In many ways it would make sense. First of all, Donald Trump has every right to run again for the presidency. The United States constitution allows an American to serve as president for two four-year terms and they do not have to be consecutive terms.

In 1888, US President Grover Cleveland lost the presidential election after only one term, but regained the White House four years later, becoming the 22nd and 24th president.

Although he could not retain the presidency, Donald Trump had a great choice. Nearly 73 million Americans voted for him, the second-highest vote in history for an American presidential candidate, second only to Joe Biden.

Surely it would be a tempting prospect for Republicans to run such a popular candidate.

However, four years is an eternity in politics and who knows what the world and US outlook will look like in 2024.

For now, the large number of loyal supporters of the US president is undoubtedly one of the reasons why Republicans have taken so long to publicly accept the election result and ask Donald Trump to do the same and concede. .

They still need him, and his popularity, with two decisive Senate elections in Georgia in January.

Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are being challenged by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The outcome of the races will determine the control of the Senate.

Republicans are urging Donald Trump to get involved in the campaign and encourage his base of support to back the senators.

If he could save the majority of his party’s Senate, it would be a consolation prize for the outgoing US president and a platform from which to launch a race for the White House in 2024.

Trump TV

Another big boost for a Trump campaign in 2024 would be a Trump-owned television network. There is much speculation that the president of the United States could establish his own conservative media company to rival Fox News.

Donald Trump has fallen in love with his old favorite TV channel. It began during the election campaign when he began to criticize some of the network’s coverage and reached a critical point on election night, when Fox News projected that Joe Biden would change the Republican state of Arizona.

Since then other media outlets have followed up with similar calls, but Fox was the first and apparently angered Donald Trump.

There are even reports that the president of the United States telephoned Fox boss Rupert Murdoch, demanding that they retract the Arizona screening, but he refused.

The station has also refused to give its full endorsement of Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Some Fox News anchors are covering the president’s allegations, others, however, are not.

On Monday, host Neil Cavuto interrupted a Trump campaign event addressed by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany when he began making claims about the illegal vote.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I just think we have to be very clear. She is accusing the other party of welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless I have more details to back that up, I can’t continue. showing yourself this, “said Mr. Cavuto.

Donald Trump has stepped up his criticism of Fox News in recent days, tweeting Thursday that the network’s ratings had tumbled.

“It’s very sad to see this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot about the Golden Goose,” he wrote.

News website Axios has reported that Donald Trump may start an online streaming service instead of a traditional TV channel.

It would be faster and cheaper to set up, but it would still be bound to steal Fox News viewers.

“He plans to destroy Fox. There is no question,” a source told Axios.

I beg your pardon

In June 2018, Donald Trump tweeted that he could, if he wanted to, forgive himself.

“As numerous jurists have said, I have the absolute right to forgive myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?” he wrote.

At the time, he was in the middle of the Mueller Investigation into the Trump campaign-Russia collusion.

A lot has happened in the two years that followed, but as Trump prepares to leave the White House, questions about possible pardons are rising again.

It is not unusual for presidents of the United States to offer pardons when they leave office, and Donald Trump may well do this for his friends, close associates and associates.

The idea of ​​forgiving yourself is much rarer.

Legal experts are divided on whether it is technically possible to do so, but one scenario could see the president resign temporarily and allow Vice President Mike Pence to take office. Pence could then forgive Donald Trump.

The Mueller Report highlighted cases of possible obstruction of justice. Other investigations have revealed possible tax fraud and campaign finance violations. Acting presidents are immune from such prosecutions, ordinary citizens are not.

However, a pardon would be an admission of guilt and that would not sit well with a president of the United States who has been telling us for four years that he is a victim of illegal witch hunts and hoaxes.

West Clare Hotelier

Among the many headlines from the US elections that I have seen in the last week, one of my favorites was Clare Echo, which read: “West Clare Hotelier Loses in US Presidential Election.”

When Donald Trump arrived at Shannon Airport in 2014, he had just become a West Clare hotelier.

Five years later he returned to the airport but this time as president of the United States.

Five years from now, what would a Trump visit look like?

Would you arrive on a private jet to the sound of harps and violins, or on Air Force One to the sound of a presidential welcome?

Read more stories about elections in the USA.



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