Noah Rothman and Harold Ford assess the state of the 2024 race and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson sparking speculation that he could run for president. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas will endorse former President Donald Trump for their party’s 2024 nomination when the two team up Sunday near the U.S.-Mexico border, GOP sources in Texas confirm to. The former president will join the governor in Edinburg, Texas, for Abbott’s annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition of serving tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guardsmen deployed along the southern border under the governor’s Operation Lone Star program.
Abbott’s gratitude for Trump’s early endorsement in the previous election cycle has apparently led to his decision to return the favor. With the clock ticking towards the first votes in the GOP presidential nomination race, Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the Republican 2024 nomination. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are currently vying for a distant second place in the polls.
Trump’s lead has continued to expand throughout the spring and summer, despite facing four indictments in federal court in Washington D.C. and in Fulton County court in Georgia. These indictments, related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, have surprisingly increased his support among Republican voters.
The former president’s trip to Texas to meet with Abbott near the border will shed light on the contentious issue of illegal immigration and border security. This issue has long been a top concern for Republican voters, with GOP leaders and politicians heavily criticizing President Biden’s administration over the surge in border crossings by migrants.
If Trump were to win back the White House, he has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation effort in American history, reinstate travel bans, and revive his “Remain in Mexico” program from 2019. This program required non-Mexican asylum-seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases. Trump has also proposed ending automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to immigrants who entered the country illegally.
Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign has strongly criticized Trump’s proposals, arguing that they would violate the U.S. Constitution, the nation’s values, and the rights of immigrants. Border security has also been a top priority for Abbott, who has frequently clashed with the Biden administration. The Texas legislature recently passed a controversial measure, supported by Abbott, allowing state law enforcement officials to arrest suspected undocumented migrants. Democrats have criticized the strict immigration bill.
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