Former President of the United States and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, announced on Thursday (August 8) that he plans to no longer participate in presidential campaign rallies before the end of the Democratic National Convention on August 22.
According to a report from CNBC, Trump held a press conference at his home in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday, unveiling his campaign plans for the next two weeks.
When asked why he did not engage in campaign activities this week, he responded, “Because I am far ahead, because I’ve allowed their convention to go smoothly, and because I am doing a lot of campaigning.”
A reporter inquired, “Are you prepared to resume your travel?”
“After their convention, yes,” Trump replied, and once again referenced the Democratic National Convention scheduled from August 19 to August 22.
Trump’s campaign pace and plans in August of this year are starkly different from his schedule in August 2016, when he held 27 campaign rallies in 15 states within a month, shuttling between battleground states and fundraising events, conducting phone interviews, and managing his real estate business at home. Due to the pandemic in 2020, in-person campaign rallies were largely put on hold.
In comparison, Trump has only held one campaign rally so far this month.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Democratic opponents, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as well as Trump’s own campaign partner, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, have all delivered campaign speeches in key battleground states this week.
For the past five days, Trump has been staying at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, taking phone interviews at home, appearing on podcast shows, and holding a one-hour long press conference on Thursday.
His publicly available schedule seems to confirm his planned reduction in the number of rallies in the coming weeks. Currently, the only event listed on Trump’s campaign website’s “Events” page is a rally to support Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in Montana on Friday.
During his time in Montana, Trump will attend a campaign fundraising event. He will then stop in Aspen, Colorado on Saturday for another fundraising event before returning to Florida.