WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — With a winner now official in the presidential race and Joe Biden preparing to take over the White House in a couple weeks, we’re left wondering what might be next for Donald Trump?
After Wednesday’s events at the U.S. Capitol, it’s difficult to know what’s next. However, we know he’s probably not going to quietly go into seclusion like some previous presidents.
Here are three theories about what’s next for Trump:
Keep fighting the results
While what happened Wednesday in Washington has been called a mob or insurrection, the display reveals there’s still plenty of passion behind Trump and the “Stop the Steal” movement.
While the president has acknowledged his term is coming to an end, he’s continued to call the voting “rigged” and “fraudulent.”
According to Politico, Trump was well aware that he lost and is continuing to fight to “keep the attention on himself and give his supporters what they want.”
Fighting the results has been a successful fundraising cry. According to multiple reports, Trump has raised well over $200 million since losing the election.
Run for president again
Many Trump supporters believe he’ll try to run again for the nation’s highest office.
“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,” former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said two days after the 2020 election.
That was November. Following Wednesday’s events, Mulvaney resigned as special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland.
It’s now questionable whether Trump would have enough broad support to win the White House again.
If he were to go this route and win, it wouldn’t be the first time someone became president on two different occasions. After losing a close race in 1888, Grover Cleveland decided to run again four years later. It made him the only president to serve non-consecutive terms in office.
Launch media effort
For years, we’ve been hearing that Trump was looking at launching “Trump TV” if he didn’t land in the White House. He’s certainly in a position now to do just that if he wished.
As the election showed, Trump has millions of passionate supporters who would likely follow him across television, radio and the web. Comments against the “fake news media” have certainly laid the groundwork for him to launch a media effort he can describe as “real.”
Trump brings viewers everywhere he goes — as last year’s debates and major interviews have shown in the ratings.
The Week magazine recently wrote about the possibility:
Trump has identified a segment of the market that finds his style entertaining, engaging, even inspiring. He has worked to deliver what they want for four years.
Certainly, the support he’s rallied from voters would bring more than enough people to support a television show or even network.
