At Arizona rally, Trump offers strongest hint yet at 2024 run: 'We may have to do this again'

Former President Donald Trump whipped up supporters at an Arizona rally on Friday night by suggesting multiple times that he would be running for president again in 2024.

The GOP icon stumping for Kari Lake, a former news anchor running for the Republican nomination for Arizona governor who supports his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.  

"I ran twice, I won twice, and did much better the second time than I did the first, getting millions more votes in 2020 than we got in 2016," Trump said at the Prescott, Arizona rally, reiterating the unproven claims about his 2020 loss.

"And likewise, getting more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country by far,” he continued as the crowd began cheering loudly.

After they settled down, Trump said, "And now, we may have to do it again.”  

"I mean, look at—look at what has happened to our country and less than two years. Our country is like a different—it's like a different place. It's so sad to see."

The Arizona governor’s race has become a proxy battle between Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, who was at a dueling rally the same day supporting Lake’s rival in the Republican primary, Karrin Taylor Robson.

The former president and reality TV star has drawn intense attention from the media, political analysts and voters over the past few months with hints he will be returning to the presidential campaign trail.

Trump said in an interview with New York Magazine that he had come to a decision about running for president in 2024 but was waiting for the right time to announce it.

“Look, I feel very confident that, if I decide to run, I’ll win,” he said.

“I would say my big decision will be whether I go before or after,” he added, referring to the midterm elections.

Republicans have been divided on whether Trump should announce early or wait until after the midterms.

Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) said recently that announcing sooner would allow the extroverted Trump to “refocus his attention – less grievance, more about the future.”

But other fear that a premature announcement could sink Republicans’ momentum in the midterms amid President Joe Biden’s horrendous approval ratings.

“Everything we are doing that is not talking about the economy is going to be a disaster,” a prominent Republican told The Washington Post.

At the rally, Trump appeared to suggest he would wait until after the midterms, saying: “But first we have to win a historic victory for the Republican Party this November when we retake Congress.”