Donald Trump Hints at 2024 Run: ‘A Lot of People Are Going to Be Very Happy’ – Newsweek

Former President Donald Trump has once again suggested he could run for president in 2024 but has still not officially confirmed his intention to mount another campaign.

Trump gave a phone interview to Newsmax' Greg Kelly on Wednesday and discussed issues like the situation in Afghanistan and the COVID-19 vaccine before touching on the next presidential election.

The former president remains popular among Republican voters and is widely seen as the favorite for the party's 2024 nomination, but Trump has so far just teased the possibility.

Towards the end of the Newsmax interview, Kelly asked Trump about the 2024 election.

"As we say goodnight, sir, thoughts on 2024 and you. What are you thinking right now?" Kelly asked.

Trump replied: "So, look, I love this country. I hate what's happening to it. I hate it."

"And we're not gonna have a country anymore if it keeps going like this week," he said. "We're a laughing stock all over the world and I think a lot of people are going to be very happy."

Trump has used similar phrasing regarding a potential 2024 run in the past. In May, he appeared by phone on Candace Owen's show for the Daily Wire and said: "I think people are going to be very, very happy when I make a certain announcement."

On Tuesday, the former president reiterated that phrasing in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. Trump told Hannity that he was not able to reveal whether he was running in 2024, citing campaign finance laws. He is not barred from revealing whether he's running but an announcement would affect his ability to fundraise through his current super PAC.

"As the campaign finance laws are extremely complicated and unbelievably stupid, I'm actually not allowed to answer that question, can you believe it?" Trump said.

"I'd love to answer it. But let me put it this way, I think you'll be happy and I think a lot of our friends will be very happy. But I'm not actually allowed answer it, it makes things very difficult if I do," he said.

During his Newsmax interview on Wednesday, Trump discussed the COVID-19 vaccine and told Kelly that the vaccines had prevented a death toll from the virus similar to that of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.

"I'm very proud of the vaccine," Trump said. "I've taken it, you've... probably taken it. But I'm very proud of it. I think we could have another situation with the Spanish Flu, 1917 [sic], where up to 100 million people were killed."

Polls have consistently shown that Trump is the most popular candidate among Republican voters to win the party's nomination in 2024 but he has yet to formally announce his intentions, instead dropping hints during various media appearances.

No defeated president has gone on to run for another term since Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892. Cleveland lost the 1888 election to Republican Benjamin Harrison and then defeated Harrison four years later.

Newsweek has asked former President Trump's office for comment.

See more here:

Donald Trump Hints at 2024 Run: 'A Lot of People Are Going to Be Very Happy' - Newsweek