A campaign-style video that former President Donald J. Trump posted on his social media site this week has prompted fact-checks and a latest round of speculation about whether he’s on the verge of announcing a 3rd bid for the White House.
The back story is just a little more complicated.
The nearly four-minute, highly produced video leaves viewers with a sense of anticipation, which was probably by design: The footage was used to help introduce Mr. Trump before his speech on the Conservative Political Motion Conference in Dallas last weekend.
The video was compiled by staff members on Mr. Trump’s Save America political motion committee and began to take by itself life when the previous president posted it on Truth Social after midnight on Tuesday. Just hours earlier, the F.B.I. had searched his Florida home.
Relying totally on footage from a rally Mr. Trump held last month in Alaska, the video features his America-in-decline message that has change into mostly standard boilerplate in his speeches and rallies. That portion of his addresses has the effect of each criticizing the present administration and positioning Mr. Trump — an increasingly likely presidential candidate — as someone who can deliver the rescue.
The discharge of the video also got here within the backstretch of a midterm campaign dominated by Mr. Trump’s efforts to oust Republicans who’ve crossed him, and by which an embrace of his election lies has change into a litmus test in a variety of G.O.P. primaries.
As to when Mr. Trump might announce a 2024 campaign, there may be some latest disagreement amongst his inner circle about when he should accomplish that. While some on his team were longing for him to fly right down to Mar-a-Lago this week and start his bid within the wake of the F.B.I. search, others view the recent legal developments as reason to carry off, in keeping with two people acquainted with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to debate private conversations.
Mr. Trump has considered an early announcement, not less than partly to be able to scare off some other high-profile Republican challengers.
However the F.B.I. search had the effect of uniting the party behind him. Fox News, which hadn’t interviewed Mr. Trump in months, has featured extensive coverage of the search, and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and former Vice President Mike Pence — each viewed as potential rivals in 2024 — each offered supportive statements of the president.
As with all things Trump, the one certain answer is to attend and see.
For now, though, it’s already shaping up as a busy week for the previous president: The F.B.I. has searched his home; a federal appeals court upheld a request to show over his federal income tax returns to Congress; and, on Wednesday, he invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to questions from the Latest York attorney general at a scheduled deposition.
