President Trump has not lost the 2020 presidential election, but some aides are apparently already discussing whether he'll try again for four more years in four more years.
Votes are still being counted in several battleground states and no winner has been projected in the 2020 race, though Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as of Thursday afternoon leads in the electoral vote count. As Americans await key projections, CNN's Jim Acosta reports there's a "growing pessimism" inside the Trump campaign.
"There are some aides and advisers who are starting to talk about the potential not only that the president is going to lose this election, but that he may mount some sort of resurrection run in 2024," Acosta reported. "This possibility has been discussed, I'm told, inside the Trump campaign by some aides and advisers, and that some have even talked about it with the president himself."
Acosta reports it's unclear whether Trump actually would run again but says this talk suggests the campaign feels like it may be "running out of time." He also reports that "there is a growing pessimism" inside the campaign and cites an adviser as saying things are looking "increasingly bleak" for Trump in Georgia.
This comes after The New York Times on Wednesday similarly reported that "in private lately [Trump] has broached the idea of running again in 2024" and for months, he's reportedly suggested, at times jokingly, that he might "promptly announce that he was running again" were he to lose. The Times notes Trump will be 78 by the next election. Biden is 77.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is also weighing in on the idea of another Trump run, saying on Thursday that should Biden win, "I would absolutely expect the president to stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024," per the Irish Times. Mulvaney added, "He doesn't like losing." Brendan Morrow