Since exiting the Louisiana governorship and essentially the political stage in 2016 after his presidential candidacy flamed out, former Governor Bobby Jindal is back in the spotlight in the most unlikely way. Jindal was a rising star in the Republican Party, a successful two-term governor who represented American exceptionalism and idealism in his life story and his political rise.

At 24, Bobby Jindal, an Ivy League graduate and Rhodes scholar, was picked by Gov. Mike Foster to head the state Department of Health and Hospitals, commanding an agency with 12,000 employees that accounted for 40 percent of the state budget.

At 28, he was appointed the youngest president of the University of Louisiana System.

A couple years later, President George W. Bush named him assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making him the DHH director’s chief policy adviser.

In 2003, still just 32, Jindal entered electoral politics as a Republican candidate for governor. He led the open primary but lost the runoff, in what soon looked like a brief hiccup in a meteoric career. He was elected to Congress the next year and, in 2007, swept the field in his second run for governor, taking office as the youngest governor in the country. He easily won re-election in 2011.

He was a rising political star, called by some “the Republican Obama” for his youth and nonwhite ethnicity (Jindal was born in Baton Rouge to immigrants from India). The GOP picked Jindal to deliver its response to the 2009 State of the Union address by the nation’s first black president, Democrat Barack Obama.

Much like another successful two-term governor running for president in 2024, Jindal was convinced by hungry donors and establishment wonks that the nation needed him in 2016. During that election cycle's 16-candidate brawl, this is what Jindal had to say about then-candidate Donald J. Trump.

"A narcissist and egomaniac" who only believes in himself. Jindal essentially said the same thing at the 2016 Republican debates on CNN for the low-polling candidates.

Jindal also wrote an op-ed on CNN to further reinforce his arguments against Trump.

The problem with Donald Trump is that he will never be president. His nomination as the Republican candidate would gift the White House to Hillary Clinton. He would self-destruct in a general election. In fact, he may be Clinton’s only hope. And even if he were somehow to win, we have no idea how he would govern.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of a Donald Trump. I love the idea of an outsider who doesn’t care about political correctness and who says things you’re not supposed to. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is the wrong messenger. From the moment he announced his candidacy, everybody knew that, but nobody had the backbone to say it.

Well, I do.

Against all odds, "Trump the Narcissist" did become the 2016 Republican nominee and then won the presidency. Jindal faded into memory. After the 2020 election was called for Biden and he was installed in 2021, Jindal co-authored another op-ed with a known Never Trumper Alex Castellanos to talk about how the Republican Party needed "Trumpism without Trump."

Republicans must jettison Trump's demeanor, but pick up where Trump's policies left off. They should fight the concentration of political and economic power that has benefitted technology and financial giants, gather allies to force China to compete economically on a level playing field and reshape the government's spending, immigration, trade and tax policies to benefit the working class. They can show how an open economy, bottom-up growth and limited government can empower and enrich working-class Americans more than any old, top-down, artificial program. These policies will benefit working-class and all Americans willing to invest their labor and talents towards living even bigger American dreams.

The siren songs of unity and bipartisanship will tempt Republicans to revert to complacency, as a satisfied but ineffective minority. Trump understood it is impossible to gain traction without friction. Republicans must take their ideological opponents seriously, and fight for their principles with passion worthy of the stakes. Trump stood up to the political correctness mob and refused to play by their rules, or apologize for it. His supporters fear cancel culture will come for them now that he is gone, and Republicans must convince them they have the backbone to fight.

Trump built a multi-ethnic coalition of working-class voters because he fused populism and conservatism. A renewed populist conservatism would give Republicans a chance to build a durable majority coalition, but Sen. Bernie Sanders's left-wing populism beckons if they fail.

The Left and its media enablers are eager to dispose of both Trump and Trumpism. They want to undo his policies, erase his legacy, turn the clock back and reassure themselves the last four years were an aberration. The challenge for Republicans is to separate Trump from Trumpism, and there is a lot in Trumpism that is essential. Many conservatives would not miss Trump, the man, if they could preserve the ideas that were making America great.

What a difference eight years makes, or maybe it's the poll numbers that reflect that despite all the indictments and the gag orders, the American people appear to not want Trumpism without Trump. They just want Trump. So, Jindal's warming to Trump's "coalition" and certain elements of his success has morphed into warming to Trump himself. Jindal took to X to announce his endorsement of Trump for President in 2024. Wisely, he led with Trump's success with Israel and his tough stance on Iran. 

I just had a great conversation with President Trump, and I told him that he has my full and complete endorsement to win back the White House and Make America Great Again!

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) October 16, 2023

President Trump brought order to the Mid-East by standing with our friends and refusing to coddle terrorists. President Trump was tough on Iran, first withdrawing from Obama’s foolish Iran deal, then reimposing sanctions.

He cutoff taxpayer funding to terrorist supporting Palestinians, and he stood unapologetically with Israel. That’s the clarity of thought and leadership we need right now.

 As Jindal continued his X thread, he made the case that many are making about why Trump should be the choice, even culling from his own knowledge and experiences as a governor during the Obama White House years. After making a reasoned case on "Why Trump," Jindal returned to the hyperbolic, end-of-the-world language he employed against Trump in 2015.

Lastly, and this is the most important thing – WE ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING THIS COUNTRY. The wolf is at the door, and this is true in terms of every issue, from economics, to culture, to foreign policy.

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) October 16, 2023

Then Jindal affirmed that Trump fails most likability and personality tests, but for the sake of the republic, we need him because we need a warrior.

Trump may not be warm and cuddly, but he is a warrior, and that is what we need right now.

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) October 16, 2023

After 2016, Jindal seemed mostly content to fade into the woodwork, and for all intents and purposes, did just that. But it's a new day and a new election cycle, so Jindal is making his face and his stances known once again. As Trump moves forward in his campaign, Jindal is now by his side as a willing surrogate and probably an attack dog for the former president. 

Who failed so miserably for all those years when Republicans could have provided an alternative to the decline of America? Was it Donald Trump? No, it was the old Republican establishment.https://t.co/j5vatKD2qD

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) August 31, 2023

The question is, why now and why Trump? Jindal was throwing signals earlier this Summer, co-authoring another op-ed with Castellanos telling the Republican Party to wake up to populism and stop opposing Trump.

Meanwhile, despite the old establishment's incredulity and a ticker-tape parade of indictments, Donald Trump isn't going anywhere. And if Republican insiders who prowl the dark caves of our nation's capital hate Donald Trump, they should feel free to advance better arguments for middle-class America than he does. No one but the establishment itself has ever stopped them from taking a crack at that.

Jindal managed to keep his commitment under wraps until now, but incorporated himself back into the fray by posting about foreign policy, Bidenomics, and his bailiwick, healthcare policy. Jindal penned an op-ed with Newt Gingrich in May about the debt ceiling and Medicaid work requirements. Perhaps Jindal is looking for a cabinet position, say Secretary of Health and Human Services (an area in which he has served before), or maybe Jindal is angling to become Trump's running mate. With his return to the main stage and his mostly effective (and positive) electoral experience, there's lots in the realm of possibility, and apparently, Bobby Jindal plans to make a comeback.