(FiveNation.com)- Former President Donald Trump’s biggest flaw for his 2024 bid is something both his supporters and his critics agree on—he is lacking a good team. Compared to his 2016 bid, his recent announcement lacked “high energy,” according to a report from the defense and national security website 19FortyFive.
Trump’s announcement may not have come as much of a surprise given the fact that his intentions to run again were clear since his 2020 loss, the outlet reports. But his team, even if they might be staffed by some of the same people, is taking a different direction that has led to some major missteps.
His announcement might have come too early.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, in which Republicans were projecting a “red wave,” Trump promised to make a major announcement. The former president reportedly wanted to ride that red wave to victory in 2024, showing that his influence in the party remains intact. But even his endorsed candidates did not do so well, as Republicans did not secure the Senate and only won the House by a narrow margin.
Some have speculated that Trump’s decision to announce so early was a way to shield himself from the January 6 Select Committee’s efforts to both indict and arrest him over false claims that he incited a deadly insurrection that day in 2021.
Compared with his 2016 speech where he declared his candidacy, the most recent speech fell flat. It did not gather the same TV airtime that it did formerly and, while it excited some, many were far less enthused.
The speech was written by Jason Miller, an advisor to the former president that worked on both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. The speech mimicked the same old talking points that lacked the same power they once held.
As though that is not enough, his staff reportedly lacked the foresight to prevent a catastrophic dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and a Holocaust-denying Kanye West. Years of painting Donald Trump as a white supremacist and neo-Nazi were finally validated.
If Trump’s team were properly vetting the guests, they would have told Fuentes to stay home. And maybe even West.
Then there was the NFT announcement that, despite raking in $5 million in a day, exposed how vulnerable the former president is to opportunistic entrepreneurs. Given Trump’s opposition to cryptocurrency, the NFT announcement is reportedly indicative of a decision of his team, not his own.
