Former Bush Administration Official: Trump Won’t Run Again, Could Create ‘Trump News Network’

A former Special Economic and Policy Assistant to George W. Bush believes President Donald Trump may not seek a second term. Pippa Malmgren was speaking a businesses in Dublin, Ireland and speculated about Trump’s future.

Malmgren believes that Trump still wants to set up a Trump News Network – an idea that was floated towards the end of the 2016 presidential election. When polls showed that Hillary Clinton would win, many commentators believed Trump would launch a new network to rival Fox News.

“I suspect he still has that vision. He thinks it’s a bigger platform and he may not be wrong about that. I’m wondering, why is Kanye in the West Wing? Why is he talking to the Kardashians? It suddenly makes sense if he’s launching an entertainment station with everything from reality TV to talk shows,” Malmgren said.

Malmgren believes that setting up a TV network was Trump’s motivation for running in the first place and that he could have more power as the head of a successful network than he does in the West Wing. Malmgren also believes Trump’s posturing on China is all about his desire to get ‘a very big deal.’

“He’s a property guy. He loves announcing deals, and that’s what he is after here, and frankly the Chinese want this deal as well,” Malmgren said.

With Republican losses in the midterms, Malmgren suggested that Trump will focus on foreign policy and be unable to achieve anything domestically.

“What he wants is to say is ‘I made China bow to America’s position'” Malmgren said. “Whether in the end that is really true or not is different. The Chinese are going to say, what we want is an arrangement that we can all work with for many years to come. I suspect we will get a deal between the Americans and the Chinese before Trump leaves office.”