Paris Dennard, former national spokesperson and director of Black Media Affairs for the Republican National Committee, said on Wednesday’s episode of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow that former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign announcement amounted to a signal to donors, potential Republican opponents, the news media, and voters.
Trump declared the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday while addressing supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Dennard remarked, “I think that last night was the formal beginning of the 2024 presidential election season. It started rather early, but I think that with former President Donald Trump’s announcement, he is signaling to — number one — donors that he is serious about running, and he wants to have them start to donate to him so he can raise the funds.”
“He’s signaling to other would-be primary opponents,” he continued, “letting them know that he wants them to consider him a force to be reckoned with, which might deter some of them from getting in because they might think that he has the money and the resources and the ground game and team to coalesce around him early.”
Dennard stated, “I also think he is signaling to the voters that he is someone who has thought about this and is ready to lead. I think all those things together is the reason why he announced so early.”
Trump’s announcement, in Dennard’s estimation, would compel news media to prioritize discussion of the 45th president’s campaign going forward in political discussions regarding the 2024 presidential race.
Paris Dennard poses for a photo in front of a U.S. flag before the opening general session of Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, July 9, 2021, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
“Last thing is, I think he wants the media to keep his name and his agenda and his plans in the forefront of the conversation,” he assessed. “Not just a year from now, but starting right now, very early.”
He added, “So every time you talk about 2024, every time we talk about the Republican Party … the media’s going to have to talk about Donald Trump. I think that he wants that to happen.”
Dennard graded Trump’s Tuesday speech as “restrained” relative to the former president’s typical style.
“His speech was very restrained, I believe, for a normal Donald Trump speech,” he said. “I think he was right to acknowledge and single out and talk directly about Herschel Walker and his runoff election. … I think he’s trying to do things a little bit differently this time around.”
Marlow concurred with Dennard’s assessment of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign announcement.
“He was sending a signal to the donors, and I think this is a big deal,” he remarked. “It’s not how he started off messaging in 2016 — and it’s different times, I’m not judging this — but I do think that this did feel like more of a speech for the donors than a speech for the base.”
Marlow concluded, “Maybe he feels like the base is with him. I think, in a general, he’s certainly correct. [He is] showing people he can be presidential and calm, and he’s worth a check cut to him.”
Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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