Former President Donald Trump is planning to kick off his year with an “intimate” campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina later this month, according to three of his top campaign aides.
Trump easily won the South Carolina Republican primary in 2016 and carried the state by more than 11 points over President Joe Biden in the 2020 general election. However, two other potential Republican presidential nominees, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, both hail from the state.
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Brian Jack, Chris LaCivita, and Susie Wiles, the senior leadership team helming Trump’s 2024 effort, briefly discussed the event in an interview with Politico and stated that it would be significantly smaller than one of Trump’s past rallies.
Wiles explained that it would be “crazy” to spend money on rallies this far out from the election and stressed that the campaign is working behind the scenes to solidify Trump’s support before other Republicans potentially enter the race.
“Not all that occurs in the campaign is done in the public eye,” LaCivita added. “There’s a level of expectation that is maybe pushed by people that don’t view the campaign in maybe the most positive light.”
“You have to husband your resources, you have to plan and you have to be ready, and so all of that — we don’t advertise those aspects of campaign building, of campaign organizing,” he concluded.
The Trump campaign and Republican operatives familiar with the former president’s thinking did not offer additional details on the Columbia event.
Trump’s so-far-nonexistent campaign schedule has befuddled pundits. He has yet to appear in public away from either of his two South Florida golf clubs since announcing back on November 15, which Republican operatives attribute to the looming threat of indictments from Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith.
Still, Trump sought to leverage his influence over GOP lawmakers during January’s fraught House speaker election. Trump quickly took credit for Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-CA) victory on the 15th ballot over the weekend, despite failing to flip anti-McCarthy votes for several days.
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“I don’t think anyone should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning … and he was all in,” McCarthy said of Trump’s endorsement and assistance. “He would call me and he would call others and he really was — I was just talking to him tonight — helping to get those final votes.”
