A8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
Though there has also been
considerable chatter among
Trump’s associates about his
starting a media company of his
own, many close to the president
said they believe that option is
less likely, in part because it
would be an arduous undertak-
ing without guaranteed success.
These advisers, like some others
interviewed for this story, spoke
on the condition of anonymity to
candidly discuss sensitive topics.
There is also pressure on
Trump to monetize his post-pres-
idency in light of his personal
debt and legal troubles. He has
payments due over the next four
years of more than $400 million
in loans and could incur substan-
tial legal fees related to a number
of investigations and lawsuits.
Trump will “try to remain a
political and media force,” said
Christopher Ruddy, a longtime
friend who has been in touch
with the president. “He has all
these existing businesses. He’ll
have new relationships.”
Whatever platform he decides
to use, Trump plans to seek
vengeance against those he be-
lieves have betrayed him — a
group that includes Fox News
Channel, which Trump had long
praised for the sycophantic cov-
erage on some of its programs
but now seeks to punish.
Trump has railed privately
about the presidential debate
moderated by Fox’s Chris Wal-
lace, the fact that the network
was the first major news net-
work to call Arizona for Biden
and that one of Fox’s correspon-
dents confirmed the Atlantic’s
reporting that Trump had called
TRUMP FROM A1 military service members “suck-
ers” and “losers.”
“He is really angry with Fox,”
said Ruddy, who runs Newsmax,
a conservative media company
whose cable channel the presi-
dent has promoted as a Fox
alternative.
After Biden’s inauguration,
Trump is likely to retreat first to
Florida, where he vacations in
the winter at his Mar-a-Lago
Club, advisers said. While in
office, he changed his voter reg-
istration from New York to Palm
Beach, Fla. People who have
discussed plans with Trump said
he is likely to immediately get
more involved in his businesses
in which revenue has plunged.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka, son-
in-law Jared Kushner and other
adult children have been focused
more on their own futures than
the president’s, even though
their career options and person-
al brands are inextricably tied to
him, according to a senior ad-
ministration official who has
spoken with family members.
Even as Trump and some of
his attorneys continue to spread
unproven conspiracies and
claim he is the rightful winner of
the election, his political orbit
has been bubbling in recent days
with talk of how Trump’s post-
presidency will take shape — and
how a man obsessed with being
seen as a winner might try to
fumigate the stench of being an
election loser.
One adviser who recently
spoke with the president said
that Trump told him he planned
to announce a new campaign in
three weeks, and that he wanted
to act quickly to try to freeze the
large field of prospective 2024
Republican presidential candi-
dates. That group includes at
least three people who have
served in the administration:
Vice President Pence, Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and for-
mer U.S. ambassador to the Unit-
ed Nations Nikki Haley.
But other advisers cautioned
that, as is often the case with the
ping-ponging president, Trump’s
views on the matter are con-
stantly evolving and he has made
no final determination.
“It would be a fool’s errand to
declare you’re running for presi-
dent at the end of this year, but
on the other hand, to keep your
hold over the party and fight
Republican legacy hierarchy so
that they can’t erase you from
history, it’s important to remain
a front-runner in this process,”
said Sam Nunberg, a former
Trump adviser.
“He’s highly competitive,”
Nunberg added. “It’s pretty cool
to be elected in 2016 — it’s
historic — but it will be the
comeback of political comebacks
to regain in 2024.”
Regardless of whether he ac-
tually runs for president again,
Trump is likely to try to domi-
nate Republican politics for
years to come.
“Unlike Bush, unlike Reagan,
unlike any of our former presi-
dents, he will be an ongoing
presence,” said Michael Steele, a
former chairman of the Republi-
can National Committee and
senior adviser to the anti-Trump
Lincoln Project. “He wants the
party to continue to be con-
sumed by him and his madness.”
Trump has been bragging to
confidants that he secured more
votes than any Republican presi-dential candidate in history —
although he trails Biden in the
national popular vote by about
6 million — and that he believes
he has leverage because he
thinks anyone who wants a fu-
ture in Republican politics will
have to “kiss the ring,” said a
second adviser.
“His Twitter feed, as obnox-
ious as it is, is one of the most
powerful tools he has — and he
gets to take that with him,” said
Brendan Buck, a Republican
strategist and former senior aide
on Capitol Hill who has been
critical of Trump. “He’ll still have
that ability to make or break
primaries and tank deals on
Capitol Hill.”
Through sheer fear or admira-
tion, Trump could easily be the
most sought-after Republican
surrogate in the 2022 midterm
elections. But people close to
him said the president is unlike-
ly to play the traditional role of a
politician collecting chits to en-
sure loyalty in advance of a
White House run. He is not
expected to spend much time
traveling to early nominating
states such as Iowa and New
Hampshire or supporting down-
ballot Republican candidates
with money and surrogate ap-
pearances, these people said.
Instead, Trump has shown
interest in maintaining a politi-
cal operation and keeping con-
trol of the party apparatus in
other ways. In the past, when
presidents left office, there have
been open elections for leader-
ship positions in their party. But
Trump tweeted recently, without
being prompted, that he sup-
ported his ally, Ronna McDaniel,
serving another term as chair ofthe Republican National Com-
mittee.
“I do think if he’s not declared
the winner he’ll make it clear
he’s running again in 2024,” a
senior Trump campaign official
said.
“He would be remaining as the
head of the Republican Party,
whether there’s a formal title
that goes with that or not,” this
official added, noting that there
were a few legal options under
consideration to fund Trump’s
future political endeavors, in-
cluding a leadership political
action committee.
Republicans both privately
and publicly worry that Trump —
who has shown little affinity
toward his chosen party and
largely appears to act almost
exclusively in his self-interest —
could be more likely to play a
meddling and damaging role
than a helpful one.
“If you let a sickness continue
without treatment, you don’t get
better,” Steele said. “You just get
sicker.”
For instance, Trump has done
little so far to help Republicans
in two hotly contested Senate
runoff elections in Georgia in
early January that will deter-
mine which party controls the
upper chamber. And the presi-
dent’s continued attacks on
Georgia Republican officials and
baseless allegations of fraud in
the Peach State risk undermin-
ing faith in the election and
depressing GOP turnout.
Some advisers have floated a
trip to Georgia to help GOP Sens.
David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler
— as Pence did on Friday — but
Trump has shown little interest
in doing so before the presiden-tial election is finalized.
A senior administration offi-
cial who has spoken recently
with the president said that
while it was “very difficult” to
predict what Trump might do,
there is “a very high percentage
chance that he leaves the door
open for him to run for a long
time, for the next couple of
years.”
This official added that “you
will not persuade him that he
should change his time frame on
making any decision based on
what’s quote unquote best for
the party. He doesn’t care. We
could find ourselves deep into a
2024 election cycle, into mid-
2023, and he still hasn’t definite-
ly said he’s not running and
you’re just going to see all these
2024 potential contenders un-
certain about what to do.”
Aides expect Trump may want
to stage rallies in his post-presi-
dency, noting that speaking at
rallies was his favorite part of
being president because he fed
off the energy of his boisterous
crowds.
“If you can [get] 30,000 people
to show up and you charge them
$5, that’s real money,” said one
Republican in frequent touch
with the White House.
Trump’s influence over Re-
publican voters is likely to re-
main strong.
“Let’s not pretend his sway
over the party was based on his
governance or his policy views,”
Buck said. “It was his ability to
use his voice very loudly and
attract attention for himself, and
that’s not going to change.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Trump privately contemplates life beyond W hite House
BY LAURIE MCGINLEY
AND CAROLYN Y. JOHNSONThe Food and Drug Adminis-
tration on Saturday granted
emergency authorization for the
experimental antibody treatment
given to President Trump last
month when he developed covid-
19, the disease caused by the
novel coronavirus.
The drug, made by Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals, is designed to
prevent infected people from de-
veloping severe illness. Instead of
waiting for the body to develop its
own protective immune re-
sponse, the drug imitates the
body’s natural defenses. It is the
second drug of this type — called
a monoclonal antibody — to be
cleared for treating covid-19. The
FDA authorized Eli Lilly & Co.’s
drug on Nov. 9.
Regeneron’s drug is a combo of
two monoclonal antibodies,
called casirivimab and imdevi-
mab. The FDA said in authorizing
the drug that it may be effective
in treating mild to moderate
covid-19 in adults and children 12
or older and is indicated for those
at high risk of developing severe
illness. Doctors hope the drugs
will keep those patients from
being hospitalized.
But as with the Lilly treatment,
the Regeneron drug is a biologi-
cal product that is complicated
and time-consuming to make;
initially, it will be in short supply.
The shortages, coupled with the
complexities of administering
the intravenous medication, have
raised concerns about whether
people with the greatest need will
be able to get it.
Regeneron executives said on
the company’s earnings call in
early November that they project
having enough doses for 80,
patients by the end of November
and 300,000 total doses by the
end of January.
Trump received an infusion of
Regeneron’s investigational drug
Oct. 2 after he tested positive for
the coronavirus and began show-
ing symptoms of covid-19. He
received the drug through a com-
passionate-use program that al-
lows people to get unapproved
drugs. In tweets and videos after
he was released from a hospital,
Trump inaccurately described
the Regeneron drug as a cure andpressed the FDA to quickly clear
the medication. It was several
weeks, however, before the agen-
cy took action.
Housing and Urban Develop-
ment Secretary Ben Carson dis-
closed on Facebook on Friday
that he had also been cleared to
receive the Regeneron drug for
covid-19, through Trump’s inter-
vention, “which I am convinced
saved my life.” Chris Christie, the
former Republican governor of
New Jersey, received access to the
Lilly drug during his bout with
the disease.
Monoclonal antibodies, which
are concocted in laboratories, are
proteins that mimic the immune
system’s ability to attack the vi-
rus. Regeneron’s covid-19 drug is
manufactured in cells from ge-
netically engineered hamsters.
In a clinical trial, the Regener-
on drug reduced hospitalizations
or emergency room visits when
given to people at high risk of
developing severe disease. It was
also shown to reduce the amount
of virus in people’s bodies. The
safety and effectiveness of the
drug will continue to be studied.
It is not authorized for use in
hospitalized patients.
In a study published Oct. 28 in
the New England Journal of Med-
icine, researchers said the Lillydrug lowered the risk of follow-
up medical visits and reduced
levels of virus in people with mild
to moderate symptoms of covid-
19.
The progress on monoclonal
antibodies comes as pharmaceu-
tical and biotech companies are
racing to produce coronavirus
vaccines. Pfizer and Moderna
might get emergency clearance
for their vaccines by year’s end;
Pfizer applied for FDA authoriza-
tion Friday. But it will take
months to vaccinate the popula-
tion of the United States, much
less the world, and the shots may
not work for everyone. The anti-
body treatments can play an im-
portant role in making the dis-
ease less dangerous.
Still, if the pandemic keeps
raging, the treatments will be in
short supply. Unlike conventional
pills, these drugs are synthesized
by living organisms in specialized
reactors, at a biological pace that
can’t be rushed. A worldwide
scramble to find capacity to make
the drugs is underway, with com-
panies striking deals with com-
petitors to increase their manu-
facturing capabilities.
Through Operation Warp
Speed, the Trump administration
effort to speed up treatments and
vaccines, the government hasbought 300,000 doses each from
Lilly and Regeneron at a cost of
about $1,250 and $1,500 per dose,
respectively, with an option to
buy hundreds of thousands more.
But that comes as the nation is
approaching 200,000 new coro-
navirus cases each day.
In a sign of how quickly the
supply could be used up as the
pandemic surges across the coun-
try, 40 percent of the doses of
Lilly’s bamlanivimab has already
been allocated to states.
Because of the limited supply,
the number of doses each state
receives will be determined by
the number of confirmed cases
and hospitalizations in a given
week, federal officials said.
In a recent briefing, Health
and Human Services Secretary
Alex Azar said the antibody treat-
ments have “the potential to save
thousands of lives and signifi-
cantly reduce the disease’s bur-
den on the health-care system.”
Where the antibody drugs will
be administered is not clear, par-
ticularly because covid-19 pa-
tients are contagious and can’t be
given the drug at established
infusion clinics alongside people
with compromised immune sys-
tems.
“You can’t send them to places
where cancer patients are beingtreated,” said Mark McClellan,
director of the Duke-Margolis
Center for Health Policy and a
former FDA commissioner. He
said that many hospital systems
have extra space they could dedi-
cate to the antibody treatments,
or they could create pop-up cen-
ters. Home-infusion providers
such as CVS could administer the
drug in nursing homes and peo-
ple’s residences, he said.
Because of the expected short-
ages, doctors have expressed con-
cerns that the medicines won’t
find their way to patients who
need them most, especially in
disadvantaged communities.
Trump administration officials
at the recent coronavirus task
force briefing promised to dis-
tribute the treatment fairly and
swiftly, basing distribution on a
strategy similar to what is used
for remdesivir, an antiviral drug
for hospitalized patients. The ad-
ministration’s rollout of remdesi-
vir was plagued by problems in its
early phases, including sending
doses to hospitals with no eligible
patients, but officials said they
had learned from those mistakes.
[email protected]
[email protected]William Wan contributed to this
report.Drug given to Trump to treat covid-19 wins FDA emergency clearance
Likely to be in short
supply, given complex
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