Wednesday 16 November 2022 06:14 PM Even the Tea Party isn't fully behind Trump's 2024 run trends now
Even the Tea Party isn't fully behind former President Donald Trump, as one of the movement's founders, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund Chair Jenny Beth Martin, said her influentual group wouldn't weigh in to the 2024 race until the Georgia runoff had concluded.
Martin said Trump's success as president was 'undeniable,' adding, 'We need a proven conservative leader as the Republican nominee in 2024, and as president beyond that, to repair the damage done to our country by Joe Biden.'
'We will concern ourselves with the 2024 presidential nominating process sometime after the Georgia Senate runoff is over,' she then said.
With some family members and the MAGA faithful at his side, Trump announced Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago that he was seeking the Republican nomination again.
Tea Party groups had previously backed Trump, after first coming on the political scene to help the Republican Party crush the Democrats in the 2010 midterms.
The Tea Party's main issue was the national debt, something they used effectively against Democratic President Barack Obama two years into his administration.
Trump's MAGA-movement candidates failed to have the same impact, with Democrats retaining control of the Senate and Republicans barely able to flip the House in the 2022 midterms.
With some family members and the MAGA faithful at his side, Trump announced Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago that he was seeking the Republican nomination again
Prominent Tea Party leader Jenny Beth Martin (pictured in 2016) said her group would wait until after the December Georgia runoff to weigh into the 2024 GOP nominating process
During his Tuesday night address, Trump said 'in four short years everybody was doing great,' and characterized the U.S. under Democratic President Joe Biden as a country in 'pain, hardship, anxiety and despair.'
'In order to make America great and glorious again, I am today announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,' the ex-president proclaimed about 20 minutes into his speech.
'I am running because I believe the world has yet seen the true glory this nation can be,' he added.
Trump's announcement now stretches the 2024 presidential campaign to a two-year period and came before the 2022 midterms were even wrapped up.
A number of Republicans questioned the timing - exactly one week after the midterms - as the GOP could still pick up a Senate seat in Georgia, should Republicans there back Herschel Walker over Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in an early December runoff.
'But quite honestly it would have been better, I think, had he said "I'm going to make a big announcement, but first I'm going to go to Georgia and make sure Herschel Walker wins that race and I'm going to ask every Republican to go all in,"' said former GOP Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Newsmax Tuesday night.
Huckabee added that he did not know 'one person, and I'm talking about even the people who are closest to him' that agreed with Trump's timing.
'I can't explain why he would choose right now,' Huckabee added.
The speech got a mixed reaction.
Some members of the crowd tried to leave early, after he continued on for just over an hour.
Footage captured by ABC News showed them unable to leave due to Trump's security.
The crowd was held inside the ballroom until the entire Trump family - Donald, Melania, Barron, Eric, Lara, Jared Kushner and Kimberly Guilfoyle - had departed out the front entrance of the Palm Beach, Florida estate.
The Secret Service wouldn't say if this was part of the agency's security protocol - as Trump retains protection.
'Due to the need to maintain operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not comment on the means, methods or resources used to conduct our protective operations,' Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the USSS' Communication and Media Relations Division Jim Domingue told DailyMail.com.
ABC News caught video of some crowd members trying to leave Mar-a-Lago's ballroom before Trump finished his speech. But security didn't allow anyone to leave the room until the whole Trump family departed
Former President Donald Trump (left) and former First Lady Melania Trump (right) walk into Mar-a-Lago for Tuesday night's presidential announcement. Guests were held inside the ballroom until the Trump family could depart the same way
Lara Trump (left) waves as she enters Mar-a-Lago alongside husband Eric (right), followed by Barron Trump (back left) and Jared Kushner (back right)
Trump's speech droned on for just over an hour and lacked his usual vigor and humor - characteristic of those he delivers at rallies on the campaign trail.
All the major TV networks, including Fox News Channel, pulled away before the ex-president had wrapped up.
The announcement didn't wow at least one prominent GOP superdonor.
Axios reported Wednesday morning that Blackstone Group CEO head Stephen Schwarzman wouldn't be backing Trump's 2024 campaign and was ready for the GOP to move on
