Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a file photo combination during the midterm election rallies in Dayton, Ohio, USA, November 7, 2022 and Tampa, Florida, USA, November 8, 2022. give a speech
Galen Morse | Reuters
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has issued new broadsides to two Republican governors as he gears up for the start of the 2024 presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday. Two Republican governors have emerged as early favorites to challenge him in his party’s nomination: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Virginia Governor Glenn. Youngkin.
Trump’s attacks came as scores of Republican officials across the country, on Trump’s doorstep, squarely blamed him for the party’s disappointing results in Tuesday’s election.
“‘You’re fired!’ That’s the message Republicans must get to Donald Trump. ASAP!” Republican New York State Rep. Pete King said he’s a longtime Trump supporter . “He held mass rallies, endlessly ranted about himself, complained about the 2020 election, and attacked other Republicans. It was Trump’s ego first, last and always. ‘” King said in a tweet on Thursday.
Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson said Trump’s endorsement of the candidate didn’t help him in the general election. “Trump’s support comes at a price. The price is to attract independents and minimize their ability to win in November,” Hutchinson said Friday in PBS’s “Filing Line with Margaret Hoover.” ” said.
Trump even seemed to have lost the support of influential conservative blogger Mike Cernovich, who told his one million Twitter followers that Tuesday’s defeat was “at least no one anymore.” No need to be obsessed with Trump,” he said.
Trump and his team have responded to some of the blame by showing his record of endorsing hundreds of winners.
“President Trump has won more than 215 victories. It is possible because there is
Trump-supported candidates have actually won hundreds of elections in the midterms, many of them in districts considered uncompetitive and by Republican-wide candidates.
“There’s no doubt this was a bad election for Donald Trump,” said Asher Hildebrand, an associate professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. [gubernatorial candidate] Kari Lake in Arizona and [Senate candidate] In the case of Georgia’s Herschel Walker, it appears that all the gubernatorial and senatorial candidates he has endorsed in five major battleground states have lost. “
“Combined with DeSantis’ strong performance in the Florida gubernatorial race, there is increasing pressure among the Republican elite to find another representative in 2024,” he added.
DeSantis won re-election by a wide margin, defeating former Florida Governor Charlie Crist by 19 points and winning praise from conservative media and Republican officials.
In a lengthy statement on Thursday, Trump sought to take credit for pulling DeSantis out of relative obscurity in 2017, saying DeSantis “came to me in 2017 in a hopeless fashion – he was politically dead… low approval, bad polls and no money, but he said if I supported him, he could win.”
Trump also made startling allegations that he “deployed the FBI and U.S. attorneys” to Florida shortly after the 2018 election, and “fixed” what he claimed was voter fraud in Broward County, de Santis said it cost And now Sen. Rick Scott he gets tens of thousands of votes per day.
If the allegations are true, then-President Trump would have made a rare admission that he personally interfered in state elections.
But as of late Friday, NBC News and other major broadcasters could find no indication that this had in fact happened. Isger tweeted on Friday that the alleged intervention “never happened.”
DeSantis remains focused this week on the damage and recovery efforts from Hurricane Nicol that hit his state on Wednesday.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference to update on ongoing efforts to help people after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on October 4, 2022 in Cape Coral, Florida. increase.
Joe Ladle | Getty Images
In addition to DeSantis, Trump took aim Friday at Youngkin, Virginia.[s]Sounds Chinese, right? “
Like DeSantis, Youngkin is a rising star in the GOP. His mixed victory over former Governor Terry McAuliffe in 2021 is widely seen as writing a new strategy for Republicans on how to win statewide elections in battleground states.
Trump said Jonkin “couldn’t have won without me. I endorsed him and did a very big Trump rally for him on the phone and got MAGA to vote for him. He wouldn’t have come close to winning if he had, but he knows it, and he admits it.”
In a statement shared by a Trump spokesman on Friday, Youngkin said: “I work hard to bring people together. It is.”
The statement also included a subtle plug-in to Youngkin’s own ability to rule in the purple state, and he’ll likely amplify this message if he runs for president in 2024.
“We could split the government in Washington, and we proved that we can get things done together, just as we split the government in Virginia.
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin speaks at an election night party at a hotel in Chantilly, Virginia, USA, November 3, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Both DeSantis and Youngkin have been coy about whether or not to entertain their presidential run, but DeSantis has gone further in the process, gaining far greater national recognition than Youngkin since Tuesday. increase.
Still, both are far from where Trump is in progress, just a few days away from his scheduled announcement.
“President Trump is scheduled to announce his candidacy for president on Tuesday, and it will be a very professional and very tense announcement.
Miller said more than 250 media outlets were in attendance and “we already have 1,000 people out there with autographs.”
Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, also used the upcoming announcement to boost fundraising, sending out sweepstakes offers to win two free trips to Palm Beach on Tuesday, saying, “First I became a person to meet [Trump] At Mar-a-Lago after my big announcement. “
Trump’s fundraising appeals are notoriously hyperbole, and this one was no exception, telling those wishing to donate that “this announcement will probably be the most important speech in the history of the United States.” rice field.
But even as Trump faces detractors within his own party, inside the Trump campaign, his advisers see the political climate in America radically changed by the former president and his America First agenda. We see millions of voters staying true to their agenda.
Trump’s influence was evident as Republican House and Senate leaders grappled with the changing face of the caucus and challenges to their position.
Current House Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump loyalist, faced a potential challenge to his leadership from more conservative members of his caucus.
Meanwhile, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faced his own problems. Four of his members of his caucus circulated a letter requesting that the leadership election be postponed until after the Georgia Senate runoff vote on December 6. The most powerful Republican in the Senate in the last 20 years.
In a memo obtained by the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Republican Chief of Staff Paul Cordes said, “As a party, we consistently navigate power struggles between Trump and the party’s anti-Trump faction. “That power struggle ended with too many bystanders, hurting Republicans in important elections.”
But for Trump’s team, the theory of the incident is simple. “President Trump will look to the future and continue to defend the America First agenda, which won an overwhelming majority at the ballot box,” Gravitch told CNBC.
