During a campaign appearance for the Republican primary in Arizona, Donald Trump quickly gets to his favorite topic: the 2020 election that he allegedly won. At the same time, his former deputy appears just a few kilometers away. He avoids direct attacks.
Former US President Donald Trump and his former deputy Mike Pence continue to compete for influence in the Republican Party. On Friday (local time), the former allies, who have become bitter rivals, fought a kind of proxy duel in the Arizona primary. While Trump campaigned for far-right gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Pence held a rally supporting her rival Karrin Taylor Robson.
Both Trump and Pence are said to have ambitions for a presidential candidacy in 2024. In Arizona, the billionaire fueled this speculation. "Maybe we have to do it again," he said to his supporters, referring to his 2016 election victory and the 2020 election loss, which Trump again claimed he actually won. "The election was rigged and stolen and now our country is being systematically destroyed because of it," he called out to the crowd. To this day, the billionaire refuses to acknowledge his defeat by US President Joe Biden.
"We will reclaim the Senate. We will reclaim America, and above all, in 2024 we will reclaim our beautiful, magnificent White House," stressed Trump, also with a view to the important midterm elections in Congress in the fall and a series of gubernatorial elections. In the Republican primary, Trump, who remains very popular with the conservative base, wants to flex his muscles and support candidates who are loyal to him.
Far-right gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake appears to belong to this group. "For the record, I think this 'Superman' is coming back," she said to Trump. "Hopefully he'll be back soon."
Since his deselection, Trump has repeatedly flirted with a renewed candidacy. In the United States, a person can serve two terms of office, whether consecutive or not. Trump would be 78 years old when elected in just over two and a half years. "This incredible journey we are on together has only just begun," Trump said.
Parts of the Republicans want to push back the influence of the billionaire. They fear, among other things, that Trump's fixation on his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the alleged electoral fraud and the constant stream of revelations about the storming of the party's Capitol could harm the party in the next elections.
Trump's former Vice President Pence avoided direct attacks on the billionaire during his appearances in Phoenix and southern Arizona. In his speech, he only praised the political achievements during the "four years of the Trump-Pence administration". However, he later indirectly criticized Trump's fixation on the 2020 election on Twitter. "If the Republican Party allows itself to be consumed by yesterday's grudges, we will lose," he said.
