Former President Trump is starting the new year by emphasizing his superiority over his rivals in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
President Trump tweeted on New Year's Day: “I'm happy to tell you that I'm starting the 2024 election year in the strongest position possible since the moment I rode the Golden Escalator and announced I was running for president as a political outsider. I feel honored.” He reflected on the start of his 2016 presidential campaign, sending a fundraising email to his supporters.
One year makes a big difference for Trump.
FOX News to host town hall with President Trump in Iowa next week
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump speaks at a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on December 19, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
In early 2023, the only recognized candidate for the Republican nomination was a former president.
But he wasn't sure.
Raising the stakes: Are President Trump's expectations too high in Iowa?
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who won a landslide re-election as governor less than two months ago, was tied with Trump in some early 2024 polls.
The former president was still facing a lot of criticism from Republicans for contributing to the party's underperformance in the 2022 midterm elections.
Additionally, Trump's 2024 presidential campaign launch at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, weeks after the midterm elections, was criticized by many experts.
Former President Trump launches his 2024 presidential election campaign during an event at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 15, 2022. (Joe Radle/Getty Images)
But as the new year begins, Trump is running for the White House for the third year in a row and is a strong front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Trump has a double-digit lead over his rivals in the latest polls in Iowa, where the Jan. 15 caucuses are at the top of the Republican nomination calendar. The latest national polls show him with an even bigger lead.
Some experts trace the beginning of the former president's political comeback after a period of instability to last March.
What the latest FOX News poll shows in the presidential election
That was when Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York City on charges related to alleged illegal hush money payments in 2016. Trump made history as the first former or current president to be charged with a crime.
Trump was indicted later this year in three other cases, including charges that he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss. But none of the incidents dented his support among Republican voters.
Quite the opposite seems to be the case, as Trump's legal disputes have had a rallying effect among many Republicans.
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Durham, New Hampshire, Saturday, December 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Leva Saldaña)
“I think this is a great medal of honor because I was indicted on your behalf,” Trump said to cheers from his supporters at a raucous rally in New Hampshire last month.
“Every time Trump is targeted by legal action, it only improves his standing among conservatives,” said Ryan Williams, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator.
DeSantis claimed in an interview aired on the Christian Broadcasting Network late last month that the indictment of Trump “skewed the primary.”
“If I could change one thing, I would wish Trump had not been indicted in this case,” DeSantis said.
The outcome of the Republican presidential nomination race as 2023 comes to an end
Mr. Trump's legal entanglements are also sucking the oxygen out of the field for his nomination rivals.
Matt Gorman, a longtime Republican operative and strategist who served as a top adviser to Sen. Tim Scott's 2024 presidential campaign and is a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, says, Whenever you have to protect it, you can use that time when you can.'' Even if you pay attention to drawing contrasts, it will not help. ”
However, as 2024 progresses, several court cases will likely unfold that will likely distract Mr. Trump, and what has been an advantage for Mr. Trump in the Republican nomination race so far could be a disadvantage in the general election. be.
Trump's presidential campaign over the past year has also been boosted by what many experts describe as a highly disciplined campaign.
Mr. Trump, running an incumbency-style campaign, decided not to share the debate stage with his Republican rivals.
“The people know who I am and how successful I have been as President,” President Trump wrote on his social media site ahead of the first Republican primary debate in August. “That's why I won't participate in the debate!”
The former president ended up missing all four candidate showdowns held in 2023, while hosting a competing event on debate night.
Trump's absence doesn't seem to have hurt him. He emerged relatively unscathed by his rivals, and his lead over the rest of the field has only widened since his first debate was held.
The debates did not appear to have affected Trump, but they did help narrow the field, as nearly all candidates who failed to qualify for the showdown dropped out of the race. In August, there were more than a dozen candidates, but in December, the number of leading candidates was down to just five.
Trump largely stayed out of the line of fire, but his rivals fired broadsides at each other.
2024 Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis poses for a photo with Iowa voters after a campaign event in Bettendorf, Iowa, on December 18, 2023. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
DeSantis, meanwhile, has spent much of the year dodging bad headlines.
The candidate, who threatened the former president in the early 2023 Republican primary, was repeatedly attacked by Trump even before he started campaigning.
The Florida governor made headlines for all the wrong reasons in late spring and summer, from launching a rocky campaign to a series of staff purges and resets.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
There was another staff shakeup in the fall, this time at the DeSantis-affiliated super PAC Never Back Down, which took over many of the traditional duties of a presidential campaign, including grassroots efforts.
Mr. DeSantis has been Mr. Trump's clear No. 2 rival for the Republican nomination for several months. But by the end of 2023, Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina governor, has surpassed DeSantis for second place by the end of 2023 on many measures.
2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, speaks at City Hall in Derry, New Hampshire on November 28, 2023. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But Ms. Haley stumbled during her vacation, causing controversy when she omitted slavery in her answer to a question about the causes of the Civil War.
Less than two weeks after the first round of voting for the Republican nomination began, it's clear that Trump remains in control.
“This time last year, we had a platonic ideal of what kind of candidate would be able to beat Trump,” Gorman said. “But we live in a real world, and humans are full of flaws and mistakes. That ideal seemed to be a standard that could not be met, or at least not yet met.”
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
