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- Former President Trump said that only a “bad call from a doctor” would keep him from mounting a 2024 bid.
- The former president has teased a potential campaign since leaving office in January.
- He has continued to travel the country and hold rallies in support of MAGA-aligned candidates.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Former President Donald Trump on Friday said that only a “bad call from a doctor” would keep him from pursuing the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, a campaign that he has hinted at since leaving office in January.
Trump, who defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 but lost to now-President Joe Biden last fall, has continued to assuage his political base with the possibility of a bold campaign – boosting political allies ahead of the 2022 midterm elections while continuing to lean into debunked conspiracy theories regarding voter fraud.
During an interview on “The Water Cooler” show on Real America’s Voice, the former president was asked by commentator David Brody about what would keep him from a future – and third – White House bid.
“Well, I guess a bad call from a doctor or something, right?” Trump said. “You get that call. Come on down and see because we’ve got a bad report. … Things happen, through God, they happen.”
He added: “I feel so good and I hate what’s happening to our country. Our country has never been in a position like this. We were so good ten months ago and we’re so bad now.”
-David Brody (@DBrodyReports) September 24, 2021
The former president proceeded to complain about the state of the US-Mexico border, which this week became an even bigger political flashpoint after videos showed Border Patrol agents whipping at Haitian migrants as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas.
President Joe Biden on Friday said that the agents who whipped at and charged the migrants would “pay” for their actions.
“I promise you those people will pay,” he said. “There will be consequences. It’s dangerous. It’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world; it sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are.”
Trump, continuing in his criticism of the Biden administration, called the border situation “third-world all the way, but worse.”
The former president, who ran on border security in 2016, will almost certainly employ it as a major issue issue if he pursues a 2024 bid.
Despite being out of office, Trump has continued to hold a multitude of political rallies across the county, which have largely been forums for him to promote candidates that embrace his “Make America Great Again” political philosophy and to vent about continued election grievances.
While speaking with a group of New York City Police Department officers earlier this month, the former president said of his eventual decision: “I think you’re going to be happy.”
However, he has not yet offered a timeline on when a decision will come.
During the interview with Brody, Trump also criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, who also advised his administration on the coronavirus and is currently the chief medical advisor under Biden.
“He was there for like 40 years or something. He was a part of the furniture. But if you think about it, I really did pretty much the opposite of whatever he said,” Trump said.
He added: “I actually got along with him, you know? I actually found him – he was a character. He’d say, ‘Just call me Tony. Just call me Tony, sir.’ And, you know, he’s a better promoter than he is a doctor.”
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