Former President Donald Trump drove by supporters and gave them a thumbs up near his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., Monday. It comes two days after Trump was acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial.
WEAR reported about 600 people showed up on President's Day to support Trump, who has now been out of office nearly a month after losing his bid for re-election to President Joe Biden.
Trump supporter Tara Crete told WPEC she thinks Trump's political career is far from over.
"100 percent no. It's only been getting started. We are just waking up. You know, what we believe is good for everybody. We believe even people who are liberals, who are atheist, who don't even love this country, it's going to be good for them because at the very core of who we are, we want freedom. And that's what President Trump stands for," Crete said.
Trump was acquitted by a 57-43 vote Saturday. Sixty-seven guilty votes were needed to convict. Seven Republicans joined 50 Democrats in voting guilty.
Trump is preparing for the next phase of his post-presidency life. Feeling emboldened by the trial's outcome, he is expected to reemerge from a self-imposed hibernation at his club in Palm Beach, Florida, and is eyeing ways to reassert his power.
But after being barred from Twitter, the former president lacks the social media bullhorn that fueled his political rise. And he's confronting a Republican Party deeply divided over the legacy of his jarring final days in office, culminating in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. Searing video images of the day played on loop during his impeachment trial, which ended Saturday.
Trump remains popular among the GOP base, but many Republicans in Washington have cooled to him. Never before have so many members of a president's party — seven GOP senators, in his case — voted for his removal in a Senate trial.
Some may work to counter efforts by Trump to support extreme candidates in next year's congressional primaries.
Undeterred, friends and allies expect Trump to resume friendly media interviews after weeks of silence. He has met with political aides to discuss efforts to help Republicans try to take control of the House and Senate in the 2022 midterms elections. He remains fixated on exacting revenge on Republicans who supported his impeachment or resisted his efforts to overturn the results of the November election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
“I imagine you’ll probably be hearing a lot more from him in the coming days,” senior adviser Jason Miller said.
In a statement after the vote, Trump offered few clues, but was defiant as he told supporters their movement “has only just begun.”
“In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spoke with Trump on Saturday night, acknowledged that Trump is “mad at some folks,” but also “ready to move on and rebuild the Republican Party” and “excited about 2022."
In their conversations, Graham has stressed to Trump, who has threatened to start his own party to punish disloyal Republicans, that the GOP needs him to win.