Trump seeks to build momentum with campaign stops in New Hampshire, SC
COLUMBIA, SC — Donald Trump resumed his public campaign Saturday with new attacks on longtime targets: President Joe Biden, the 2020 election, federal and state prosecutors and an expanding list of Republican opponents.
“We will do it again,” Trump told supporters as he introduced his “South Carolina leadership team” at an event at the statehouse in downtown Columbia, capping a day trip that also took him to New Hampshire; both states are holding early primaries in the 2024 presidential election.
In an earlier address to Republican Party members in New Hampshire, Trump said, “So here we are and we’re getting started, we’re getting started.”
The trip comes after more than two months of political turmoil for Trump following his mid-November announcement of a 2024 campaign. A growing number of Republicans say the former president cannot win next year and the party should look for another standard bearer.
“We just want the best normal candidate,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told NBC News in the days leading up to Trump’s visit.
Among Trump’s themes on a renewed campaign:
Target: Biden
In rambling speeches in South Carolina and New Hampshire that bounced quickly from topic to topic, Trump chastised Biden and other Democrats as “radical” leftists who pursued bad policies.
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Trump has criticized the president for border security, military aid to Ukraine, election rules, drug trafficking, education, energy, military policy and the business practices of his son Hunter Biden.
While lamenting Biden’s presidency, the ex-president again made false claims about the administration of the 2020 elections, despite a lack of evidence of systematic voter fraud.
Biden and his allies say they are not worried about the prospect of running against Trump again, noting that they defeated him in 2020.
Target: Prosecutors
As some Republicans wonder if Trump will campaign soon while he faces criminal charges, Trump bolstered his supporters by saying law enforcement officials are biased against him.
Prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. are investigating Trump over efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden, activities that led to the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021. Another investigation concerns Trump’s handling of classified documents.
On that last point, Trump pointed out to his supporters in his Saturday speeches that Biden had recently turned over inappropriately classified documents in his possession.
One difference between the cases: Trump was charged with obstruction of justice for refusing to turn over documents to the National Archives. That refusal led to the high-profile search of his Mar-a-Lago home in South Florida, another topic of Trump’s speech in New Hampshire.
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Target: Other Republicans
Prominent Republicans are considering running against Trump, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Trump vice president Mike Pence. Other potential opponents of Trump reside in the states he visited on Saturday: former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and current New Hampshire Sununu.
Trump did not identify any potential challengers during his speech in New Hampshire; he denigrated the Republican field as a whole. Noting that no other Republicans have challenged him in 2020, Trump said “I don’t think we have competition this time either, to be honest.”
One year away from the primaries, the polls are all over Trump and his place in the Republican Party.
Days before Trump’s trip to New Hampshire, a University of New Hampshire poll showed him trailing DeSantis by double digits, 42% to 30%.
Meanwhile, a New Hampshire Journal/Coefficient poll gave Trump a 37% to 26% lead over the Florida governor. The same poll also indicated that when asked to choose between Trump and “someone else”, 43% opted for the ex-president while 42% opted for the alternative.
Two months of turmoil
The one-day trip to two early primary states comes more than two months after Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign.
These two months have also been marked by a multitude of political problems.
Some Republicans have blamed Trump for the party’s disappointing performance in the 2022 congressional elections, including its failure to gain control of the US Senate. Other Republicans cite the numerous criminal investigations swirling around the former president.
Trump also took heat at a November dinner party he hosted with anti-Semitic rapper Ye and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Different types of events
Trump has yet to schedule any of the mass political rallies that fueled his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
On Saturday, he opted for more traditional campaign types.
Discussing the rallies at the New Hampshire event, Trump told his supporters, “We’re going to do them soon.”
USA Today
