Months of bitter election campaigning, followed by allegations of widespread voter fraud have finally come to an end as President Trump left the White House and Joe Biden was sworn in. Till the very end, even as he grudgingly committed to a peaceful transition of power, Donald Trump had not accepted the poll results. An while he may have left the White House for the moment, speculation is rife about what he might do next.
Trump is not alone is believing that the election results were doctored. Undeterred by the lack of evidence, many of his supporters have continued to insist that the Presidency has been stolen from the true winner. But as the weeks following the election went by, fellow Republican leaders grew increasingly disenchanted with President Trump. The Capitol riots were a tipping point, with people from his own party calling for the President's impeachment.
While Trump has left the White House, it is possible that he may launch a fresh bid to retake it in 2024. However, it may not be as a member of the GOP. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Trump is mulling the possibility of forming a new party called the "Patriot Party." While Republicans and Democrats have been the two key powers in the US for ages, Trump and his supporters could very well change that. “We will be back in some form,” he told his supporters rather cryptically at the end of his farewell address.
Of course, his political plans hinge on whether his second impeachment trial goes in his favour. Should the Senate rule against him, Donald Trump is likely to find himself disqualification from holding any public office in the future.
But citizen Trump has alternatives beyond returning to politics. Many believe that a return to the family business is a likely possibility. Being government representatives, the First Family had had to avoid many business transactions over the last few years - including the use of Donald Trump's name and brand for promotions and deals. Now, with the added weight of a Presidency behind him, this is a lucrative prospect for the former businessman and media personality.
One must also consider the various businesses or plans that Trump had hinted at in the past. While we know that the First Family plan to reside in their Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, during the run-up to the US elections President Trump had even brought up the possibility of leaving the country. "Could you imagine if I lose? My whole life, what am I going to do? I'm going to say 'I lost to the worst candidate in the history of politics'. I'm not going to feel so good. Maybe I'll have to leave the country? I don't know." the President had said at a rally. And while we're convinced that this was hyperbole, President Trump has proved time and again that he can be somewhat unpredictable.
Another business venture that he had hinted at, while railing against the 'fake news' media was to set up a news publication of his own. And while we do not know what form or shape this might take, one cannot dismiss it out of hand at present. With Donald Trump's access to social media greatly restricted, a publication might well prove to be crucial to reach out to people.
