The First time Donald J Trump announced his intention to run for President, it was done so in grand fashion at Trump Tower. Who could forget Trump and Melania coming down on the escalator? There was much intrigue as supporters welcomed the change from politics as usual. This time around, there’s a lot less enthusiasm and fanfare. The former President announced his candidacy by stating that “in order to make America great and glorious again, I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.” And with that, begins two years of drama that Trump generates by his mere presence. He at times will attempt to sound Presidential and at others he will not be able to control his wild, “winging it” style of campaigning. This time around will be very different, however. He already assumes he will be on the ballot in November of 2024, which is only a small part of his problematic personality.

We now know what kind of leader he is. He’s not someone who was focused on bringing the country together but rather on dividing us. Donald Trump is no longer the savior of the country, the person to Make America Great Again, by the 74 million who voted for him in 2020, even though he lost. That doesn’t mean they reject all of his policies, some are still incredibly popular, but rather the man himself. Does he still have the support of the fringe of the party? The answer is absolutely. There are those who are truly afraid of the diversity and the changes that have taken place in the country. They yearn for the good ole days. But those days are over, and we must embrace the present and future. A future of greater inclusivity, where all Americans can be part of our system, and soar to the heights of their G-d given abilities and talents. That doesn’t mean giving up family traditions, baseball or apple pie, but it does mean rejecting a flag that was, and is, a symbol of slavery, racism and hatred.

In his election loss, Trump demonstrated the worst of what an American President is supposed to represent. He was a sore loser, and on January 6th, provoked the disgraceful desecration of our seed of government at the Capital. That alone should have disqualified him from ever running for President again. Questioning election results without real, concrete proof, is a violation of everything the United States is supposed to stand for. That includes Freedom, Democracy and Integrity. If we can’t trust the results of our free and fair elections, we have no Republic.

This time around, he won’t have his inner circle with him. There’s very little chance that Ivanka and Jared Kushner will be involved in his campaign or in his cabinet. Many of his inner circle have either been investigated, indicted or spent time in prison. It’s unlikely that anyone with an ounce of integrity would work for Trump. He has proven himself to be self-serving, ego maniacal, and unhinged and who would choose to place themselves in that position? Accepting a post with Trump could put someone’s entire career in jeopardy. It remains to be seen how many people would be willing to accept that risk. Of course, working in the White House in any capacity looks great on a resume but Trump negates and even poisons that importance.

He no longer has the support of GOP leadership. To start, he would be 78 years old when we next vote for President. That is entirely too old and just like a candidate needs to be at least 35 years of age to run for President, so too should there be an upper age restriction, in order to run More importantly, the GOP has far better, up and coming, potential candidates than Trump. Namely, Governors Ron DeSantis and Glenn Yongkin, Nikki Haley and United States Senator Tim Scott, who was just reelected to the Senate with 62.9% of the vote from South Carolina, making him a strong potential candidate for President. One could easily make the case that the GOP has better potential Presidential candidates than the Democrats. President Biden, who just turned eighty, would be vulnerable to any of the above-mentioned names.

Any American can throw their hat in the ring to be considered for President. But that doesn’t mean Trump will be that candidate. He is political poison at this point. The oldest and weakest candidate of those I mentioned, and he will not receive the financial support from either the party, corporate or independent donors, which is required to make his candidacy viable. So, on what was to be a huge night, a “huge announcement”, it was only huge for him, his enormous ego and his small group of remaining radical supporters. When other candidates start announcing their intentions to run, the vast majority of Republicans and Independents will dump Trump, in search of greener pastures. The GOP desperately needs to divorce Trump if there is any hope of the Party retaking the Presidency, the Senate and simply regaining credibility and legitimacy, nationally and internationally. There is, therefore, no way Trump will be the Republican candidate for President regardless of what he believes.