I’m back at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. This is home to many of America’s richest and most famous citizens, but the best known of all of them is, of course, Donald Trump. Since my last visit here at the end of April, little has changed. Everything from the perfectly manicured lawns to the beautifully painted buildings is impeccable.

Over the coming months, this part of America will effectively be the headquarters of the Republican Party movement. Just as those seeking the blessing of Europe’s monarchs centuries ago would pay homage to kings and queens, so a never-ending stream of potential candidates come to meet Trump seeking his backing. They know that his personal endorsement will make a huge difference in the primary elections coming up.

Yes, some of the old guard, country club Republicans like Senator Mitt Romney may still be around, but there is no doubt that this is Donald Trump’s Republican Party now.

Apart from having a good time here, the purpose of my visit is to conduct a sit-down interview for GB News with America’s 45th President. It is the first interview with an overseas organisation that he has given since long before the 2020 presidential election, making it a genuine exclusive outside of America. 

Trump is the man whose every move and comment once dominated global news. But now that Twitter, his primary means of communication, has banned him, he has effectively been silenced. Ahead of the interview, I reflect privately on how astonishing — and deeply worrying — it is that the leadership of the Taliban is still allowed to use Twitter but Trump is not.

He appears to be noticeably lighter than he was when he occupied the White House. Living primarily at Mar-a-Lago certainly seems to be having a positive impact on him, yet burdens remain on his shoulders. The Democratic Party is pursuing a modern day Spanish Inquisition into the storming of the Capitol by a group of his supporters. The Democrats believe that the attack was an attempted coup and are busy indicting many of Trump’s former aides. 

To make matters worse, rumours continue to swirl that the New York tax authorities intend to go after Trump’s children. I have known Trump for long enough to see that he is living under considerable strain.

Whether you like him or loathe him, however, one thing is beyond doubt. He is a fighter who never gives up. Not only is he handpicking candidates at all levels for the party, but I can see that he wants to put himself at the centre of the campaign for the midterm elections in November 2022, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested, together with 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Perhaps the most illuminating part of our conversation comes when I ask him why, once again, he would give up his enviable life in Florida to go back into the sewer of politics. “Well, if you love your country, you have no choice,” he answers, adding: “I think you will be very pleased.” 

As he utters those words, all signs of the burden lift. The mischievous Trump, the heavyweight fighter relishing the chance to win back his crown, is back. But can he succeed?

The narrative pushed by some that the 2020 election was stolen from him is, I would say, harming his chances. Admittedly, we in the UK know from our own experience of postal voting that this system is open to fraud and intimidation, whichever country it’s used in. But I have seen private polling illustrating that 20 per cent of potential Republican voters are demotivated by the “stolen election” message. 

My sense is that Trump must very quickly turn this around into a positive campaign for electoral reform, state by state. His voter base adores him, and he has made great inroads into the black and Latino vote, but he still has much work to do to secure white voters who lead comfortable lives in middle class suburbs. They find Trump’s style difficult to take. When I put this to him in the interview, he denies it, but I would urge him to think again.

Aside from this section of the electorate, I remember a dinner I had some years ago with John Howard, the former Australian prime minister who won four general elections for Australia’s centre-right Liberal Party. Howard told me that no conservative in the Western world can win a majority without a large blue collar vote. 

The Red Wall in the north of England is testament to this statement. Looking at the other Republican figures who could run in 2024, including the excellent Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, I do not believe any of them can reach those voters living in the eight states that make up the Great Lakes region in the way that Trump can.

As the Democratic Party makes the same mistake that the British Labour Party did by moving to the hard Left, the opportunity for Trump to appeal to these voters is enormous. Yes, three years is a long time and a lot may happen between now and the next presidential election. But after this encounter, I genuinely believe that my friend will be back in the White House in January 2025.