Michael Wolff: “To write three books in four years about Donald Trump has been an immersion into his obsessions and fixations. This is why I know the obvious: Donald Trump will run for president again.”

Politico: “Donald Trump and his advisers are convinced that if he runs again for president in 2024, the Republican nomination will be his. Their confidence is so supreme that they view almost all of the emerging field not as competition but as possible vice presidential picks.”

Missing from the list is Mike Pence.

Former President Donald Trump “has told at least three people he’s dined with in recent months that he plans to run in 2024,” Rolling Stone reports.

Said one former RNC official: “I have three friends who’ve had dinner with him in the last couple of months. All three reported that his current plans are to run for president in 2024. Now, whether he does or not is a different issue. We’ve still got three years to go. But he’s telling people that.”

“The ex-RNC official says the first two dinners took place in late spring. But the third dinner happened in the last two weeks, the official said. The first two dinner companions came away from their conversations convinced Trump was serious and he’s running… The third said he left the dinner ‘not 100% sure Trump wants to run but he likes being in the conversation, he wants to freeze the field, and he wants his name out there.'”

Politico: “Mike Pence was met by a respectful, even warm, crowd in his first trip back to Iowa since the election. Republicans at a picnic in the northwestern corner of the state stood and clapped for him on Friday. In Des Moines later that afternoon, a ballroom full of Christian conservatives did the same.”

“What few people said they saw in Pence, however, was the Republican nominee for president in 2024.”

“More than 18 months before the first presidential primary of 2024, most potential Republican candidates are just getting a sense of the political landscape, tiptoeing through early-voting states and trying to make friends in key places. Then there’s Kristi Noem,” the AP reports.

“Her combative style, no surprise to those who follow her, is evidence of how competitive the nomination race will be if Donald Trump stays on the sidelines. Noem charged into Iowa on Friday singing a battle hymn and armed with barbed comments for her fellow GOP governors. At a conservative gathering in Des Moines, she told the crowd she ‘really hates this America’ under President Joe Biden’s leadership, then led them in singing ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’”

“If ever there was a political bloc that could be counted on to hold a candle for Donald Trump, it would seem to be white evangelical Christians, who maintained a near-uniform front for the Republican throughout his presidency and beyond,” the Boston Globe reports.

“Yet, as some 1,200 evangelicals gathered here for the Family Leadership Summit, widely seen as the first political event on the long road to the 2024 Republican primary, there was a feeling among some that it was time to move on.”

Politico: “Trump remains the clear leader of the party. If he decided to run again for president in a crowded 2024 primary field, he would get roughly half of the vote, with DeSantis in a distant second place at 19 percent, according to a new survey of GOP voters from veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio.”

“Without Trump running, the poll shows DeSantis gets 39 percent of the theoretical GOP primary vote and Mike Pence is at 15 percent.”

“South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem questioned the grit and instinct of fellow GOP governors who enacted Covid-19 measures like mask mandates and business closures to stop the spread of the virus… The state had 14,090 cases per 100,000 people, ranking South Dakota with the third highest rate in the nation,” CNN reports.

“Her comments Sunday were a shot across the bow from Noem as she positions herself in a field that has been essentially frozen by former President Donald Trump, who is teasing another run for his former office as he falsely claims that his 2020 contest with Joe Biden was rigged. Noem, who was greeted with a standing ovation at CPAC hours before Trump was slated to speak Sunday, has been defined in part by her intense loyalty to Trump.”

“Former President Donald Trump handily won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday as attendees said they would overwhelmingly like to see him run for another term in the White House in 2024,” the HuffPost reports.

“The poll, a hypothetical survey asking respondents who they would vote for in the Republican primary if it were held today, saw Trump win 70% of the votes. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) came in second with 21% of the votes. A smattering of other contenders all garnered about 1% each, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.”

New York Times: “If Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is widely seen as the brash heir apparent to Mr. Trump, and senators like Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton are attempting to put a more ideological frame on Trumpism, Ms. Noem is trying to cement her place as the only female Trump ally echoing the former president’s trigger-the-left approach among the upper tiers of potential 2024 candidates.”

Former President Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he has already decided if he’ll run for president again in 2024.

HANNITY: You are not going to answer, but I have to ask, where are you in the process of. Let me ask you this, without giving the answer, what the answer is, have you made up your mind?

TRUMP: Yes.

Playbook: “The former president was on a conference call with his advisers Monday discussing his favorite topic — revenge — when he was interrupted with an update on the Manhattan D.A.’s investigation. He would not be personally indicted, Trump was told — only Weisselberg and the Trump Organization would be. Trump was thrilled by what he saw as light charges, and according to one of the advisers on the call, his mind raced to 2024.”

Said Trump: “Just wait until 2024, you’ll see. This is going to hurt Sleepy Joe.”

“The adviser had the impression that Trump, who was already coming off a high from the large crowd at his rally in Ohio last weekend, was emboldened by the news.”

Said the adviser: “Now he’s definitely going to run for president again.”

A video shows 44-year old Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and 87-year old Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in a push up contest.