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Various sources are predicting that Donald Trump will announce his 2024 candidacy on Nov. 14, 2 years before the election. He might do that to complicate life for AG Merrick Garland, who might be leery of indicting a presidential candidate. He might also do it to start the next round of grift. Finally, he might do it because he was getting bored sitting around in Florida and once the midterms are over, will have no one to campaign for.
However, there is also a downside to an early announcement. Yesterday, RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel confirmed that the RNC is paying Trump's legal bills, but as soon as he announces, it will stop and he will be on his own. As his legal troubles mount in New York, Georgia, and D.C., the legal bills could be fierce. Trump is notorious for stiffing his lawyers, so he is going to have to pay all of them up front with his own money. If he were to delay his announcement until, say, next summer, the RNC would pick up most of the bills.
McDaniel said to CNN's Dana Bash: "We cannot pay legal bills for any candidate that's [sic] announced." As long as Trump is just a former president being attacked from all sides, McDaniel is happy to pay his bills, but once he is officially a candidate, that will stop. She didn't explain why, but most likely the RNC has a long-standing rule not to take sides until a candidate has been officially nominated. Paying his legal bills might also run afoul of campaign finance laws.
Bash also asked McDaniel about the midterms, specifically: "When the process is played out and the votes are canvassed and certified—every one of your Republican candidates, will accept their results, even if they lose?" McDaniel answered: "They will." That remains to be seen. As you might have noticed, the RNC and its Chair exercise very little control over Republican candidates. In Arizona, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has been asked that question by reporters many times (including by Bash), and she has always refused to answer. McDaniel did bring up the fact that Stacey Abrams (D) never conceded in her 2018 loss to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) in the race for governor of Georgia to make the point that failure to concede a loss isn't something only Republicans to. It's a bipartisan thing is the point she's trying to make, although the Abrams situation is pretty different from, say. the Trump situation. Among other things, there was actual evidence that the votes in Georgia were not counted fairly in Abrams' case. (V)