Trump 2024 and other options for president once he leaves the White House

Now what? That’s what Donald Trump, in his most honest moments, seems to be asking himself. In the usual Washington drip, drip, drip of tidbits, tweets and scuttlebutt, the president seems to be – though at a glacial pace – realising he won’t be president come 20 January.

Mr Trump actually wrote the words “he won” in a Sunday morning tweet about President-elect Joe Biden, though it was followed by more baseless claims of a “rigged” election and voter fraud.

But he and his surrogates have been busy doing two things: filing lawsuits in federal courts that have almost all been quickly tossed by judges in several swing states; and building a public relations message that keeps open several post-White House options.

“He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Mr Trump tweeted in an apparent clean-up effort later on Sunday morning. “I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”

With that single tweet, Mr Trump, perhaps inadvertently, dropped some clues about how he might spend his time as a former president.

Here are three ways his immediate post-presidency could go.

Later on Sunday, rumours abounded that Mr Trump’s “allies” are looking at buying a conservative news outlet, either Newsmax or One America News Network.

The president fanned the flames of those rumours on Monday morning when he tweeted this: “Try watching @OANN. Really GREAT!”

Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, a noted Trump ally, said a little bit of everything about a potential sale in a Sunday night interview with Variety magazine.

“Newsmax would never become ‘Trump TV,'” he said. “We have always seen ourselves as an independent news agency, and we want to continue with that mission. But we are open — [Trump] is going to be a political and media force after he leaves the White House, and we would be open to talking to him about a weekly show.”

Talking. Open.

“We are not actively selling,” Mr Ruddy added. But he also acknowledged the firm has had interest from “investors, investment banks and strategic players.”

Imagine a world in which The Donald is a citizen again. It’s mid-May and warm enough in the Rust Belt – namely: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin – for outdoor political rallies at regional airports and minor league baseball stadiums.

The former 45th president has remained in the news with brash tweets, continued claims of losing a “rigged” election, and interviews with friendly conservative anchors and hosts.

After coming close but opting against buying a news network, his golf game has improved but the intense feelings of grievance raging inside him have not waned in the Florida sun during many rounds on the links.

Eager to avenge his defeat, Mr Trump returns to the campaign trail. He “would definitely be the frontrunner,” his first White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said recently.

Another run for the presidency is among the options Mr Trump is mulling, a source with ties to the West Wing said on Monday.

Then there’s what some in Washington call the longest shot: the president fades into retirement, and even (mostly) kicks his Twitter habit.

Some in the capital have mused about an embarrassed Mr Trump battling his financial demons as privately as any former commander in chief could, bruised by a loss to Mr Biden, whom he considers the worst presidential candidate of all time.

“I would put money on this. Trump is going to move to Florida, and he is going to sulk,” one Washington insider said. “He’s going to be really pissed off, but Covid is going to get worse and worse. His supporters are going to realise he didn’t do anything to help them.”

“There will be millions of Trump supporters out of work, and unable to afford cable [television] or a cell phone plan to see his tweets,” the insider added. “Once they realise he has no power and didn’t do a damn thing for them when he had it, he’ll just be another New York guy who lives in Florida.”