“Influential Democratic donors who backed Pete Buttigieg in 2020 are privately chattering about prodding him to run for the White House in 2024 if President Joe Biden doesn’t seek reelection,” Insider reports.

“More than two dozen Democratic donors who want to eventually see the 39-year-old transportation secretary in the White House have been attending secret and informal dinners over the summer and into late September in traditional Democratic money-raising hubs including Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley.”

“They’re driven in part by a lack of confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance so far, and some don’t think Buttigieg should wait in line behind Harris if Biden opts against running for a second term. Other dinner attendees think Buttigieg is better off waiting until 2028 or even later.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) insists he’s “never” contemplated running for president, Politico reports.

Said Newsom: “I’ve got enough problems in my life… who needs the damn stress.”

A new Quinnipiac poll finds a majority of Americans say they do not want to see Donald Trump run for president in 2024, 58% to 35%.

However, a big majority of Republicans do want to see Trump run for president in 2024, 78% to 16%.

Also interesting: 51% of Americans say Trump has had a mainly negative impact on American politics, while 41% say he has had a mainly positive impact.

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds Donald Trump with a commanding lead for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump leads a hypothetical field with 47%, followed by Ron DeSantis at 12% and Mike Pence at 12% — the only candidates other than Trump to hit double-digit support. 

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) “took in nearly $8.3 million during the third fundraising quarter, a major sum that highlights the massive finance network Scott is building ahead of a prospective 2024 presidential bid,” Politico reports.

“Scott has emerged as a fundraising powerhouse over the past year, winning over small- and large-dollar GOP donors alike. The senator, who is a heavy favorite to win reelection in 2022, has seen his profile rise since delivering the Republican Party’s response to President Joe Biden’s joint address to Congress in April. Scott has raised nearly $20 million over the course of the year and got support from over 82,000 donors during the third quarter.”

David Graham: “Trump winning in 2016 was a serious wound to the American experiment. His clinging to power in 2020 poured salt in that wound. Trump losing in 2024 and trying to steal the election would be even more catastrophic. But a straightforward victory—a very real possibility—could be a mortal injury.”

“Nine months after the attack on the US Capitol, Republicans in Congress are defending Donald Trump’s role on January 6 in some of their strongest terms yet — and signaling he’d have widespread backing from the party if he ran for president again in 2024,” CNN reports.

“Republicans from across the conference — including some who are vulnerable in next year’s midterms or have long been seen as part of the establishment wing of the party — are expressing little to no reservations about the prospect of Trump topping the ticket again, even as he continues to spread the same election lies that led a mob to storm their place of work. Some GOP members are cheering on a Trump comeback, saying he remains a popular figure and powerful force in the party. And there’s widespread agreement among Republicans that Trump would be the automatic frontrunner — and freeze the primary field — if he chooses to jump in.”

“Senate Republicans, with a few exceptions, are hoping that former President Trump does not announce his intention to run again for president,” The Hill reports.

“These GOP senators definitely don’t want to see Trump announce a bid before the 2022 midterm elections, fearing that could sink their hopes of winning back the Senate.”

Bill Maher warned (again) of a “slow moving coup” by Donald Trump and his allies. It’s based on three predictions: “Trump will run in 2024; he will get the Republican nomination; and whatever happens on election night, the next day he will announce that he won.”

Mehdi Hasan: “I wish more actual journalists would say what a late-night comedian’s saying.”

“Former President Donald Trump returned to Iowa Saturday for his first visit to the state after losing the presidential election in November, launching a multifront assault on President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats he said were taking the nation to the ‘brink of ruin,’” the Des Moines Register reports.

“Trump, who spoke for more than 90 minutes, rattled off a long list of campaign-style promises and joked about a potential new slogan, but stopped short of announcing a reelection bid.”

Said Trump: “We’re going to take America back.”

“If he makes a successful return to the presidency in 2024, democracy’s done.”

— Former national security official Fiona Hill, quoted by Politico, on Donald Trump running for president again.

“President Biden is not a big fan. Former Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez is openly opposed. And elsewhere in the Democratic inner sanctum, disdain for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus has been rising for years,” the Washington Post reports.

“Now the day of reckoning for Iowa Democrats is fast approaching, as the national party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House.”

“The caucuses’ reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state’s electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party’s inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.”

New York Times: “On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump heads to Iowa for a rally at the state fairgrounds, a perennial stop on the presidential campaign circuit. Joining him will be several of the state’s top Republicans, including Gov. Kim Reynolds, Senator Charles E. Grassley and the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, Jeff Kaufmann — a testament to the former president’s enduring dominance.”

“Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to cede the spotlight has cast doubt on the political futures of an entire group of Republican politicians who have suggested that they might someday want to run for president. And while they — like the rest of the country — can’t be sure what the notoriously fickle former president might do, some of them are trying to stake their claims as leaders in the party.”

Washington Post: “Many Pence allies say it will be impossible for him to run if Trump is also in the field, though some of his political advisers maintain he could still enter, though with a more difficult path ahead.”

“Pence told the ‘Ruthless’ podcast that he and the former president have spoken about a dozen times since Jan. 6. But a person familiar with the matter said that Pence has so far declined Trump’s entreaties to visit him at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., or at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and that the two men have not spoken in recent months.”

“Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has emerged as an early favorite to primary Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in Arizona as fury on the left grows over her opposition to the party’s sweeping reconciliation package,” The Hill reports.