Former President Donald Trump’s rant-filled weekend campaign halt highlights the challenges he faces in the 2024 election — getting billionaire funders to endorse him and even longtime supporters to turn him on. including endorsing
The 76-year-old Trump hit a stump for the first time since announcing his third consecutive victory at the White House in November and didn’t sing a new song.
Instead of brushing off critics who say his message is corny — and potentially implicating wealthy Republican donors — Trump has dismissed his long-disproved allegations of 2020 election fraud. , hit the windmill, and ripped apart a prospective primary opponent and the Governor of Florida: Ron DeSantis.
“It’s time for young people and new people to have some time for themselves,” said Karen Amberger, president of the Republican National Committee’s annual meeting at Trump’s address Saturday in Salem, New Hampshire. told the post.
New Hampshire Representative Bill Bowen has said he will endorse DeSantis after Trump-backed candidates have performed poorly in the midterms.
“We really need a candidate who can appeal to the middle class,” said Bowen, one of 400-strong attendees at a campaign event held in a local high school auditorium.
“The question is, how do we do that without alienating Trump-ish voters?”
Marilyn Houston of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, told the outlet that Trump was too “unpredictable” to lead the country again.
The typical Republican big donor seems to agree, arguing that Trump is too loose and politically toxic to fall behind financially.
In a speech in New Hampshire, Donald delivered Quixote’s eccentric hatred of windmills while mocking President Biden’s energy policies.
“There’s no drill. We’re not going to drill. We’re going to the wind. Let’s kill all the birds.” Trump said sarcastically.
Chris Wood, 65, of Concord, told The Washington Post:
A recent New Hampshire poll found that DeSantis has a 42-30% edge among potential Republican primary voters in the state. Trump won when he ran as an outsider candidate in 2016.
Outside of Granite states, DeSantis’ advantage over Trump increased to 64-36%, according to national polls.
Hours later, longtime candidate Trump repeated the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him at a small event in Columbia, South Carolina.
He raised the issue even as ruling Republicans warned that meddling on the issue would undermine his support in the next election cycle.
Despite gaining endorsements from the likes of South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), some local Republican leaders who attended the event expressed their support for Trump. He declined to endorse and said he was waiting to endorse President Trump. better option.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, was conspicuously absent from the event due to ongoing talks that she could challenge him.
Trump accused DeSantis of considering running against him after speaking to a small gathering in Colombia.
“I think it would be a huge act of dishonesty because I let him in. He never had a chance. His political career was over,” the former president told reporters.
Trump has generally received a warm reception at both events, and many of his supporters say he cannot be left out.
“People are waking up. People are realizing what their lives were like two years ago compared to now,” Nick Blanchard, 33, told The Washington Post. “I believe he will be the 47th president.”
But Terry Sullivan, former campaign manager for Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), was asked by an outlet in 2016 how Trump’s White House campaign was going.
“What campaign?” Sullivan quipped.
