https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/547821-trump-digs-in-on-attacks-against-republican-leaders
Former President Trump is showing no signs of wanting to unify the GOP even as party leaders scramble to smooth out divisions that they fear will be damaging in the 2022 midterm elections.
In a Saturday night speech to attendees at a donor retreat in Florida, Trump railed against his perceived enemies in both parties and offered little, if any, reassurance that he would try to rally together a GOP riddled with internal divisions and desperate to regain governing power in Washington.
The former president’s remarks served as a reminder of just how difficult it will be for Republicans to move past the controversies and infighting that have plagued them since Trump’s loss in last year’s presidential election.
“It was just Trump being Trump,” one person familiar with the former president’s remarks said. “That’s not surprising, but I don’t see how that moves the conversation forward.”
For many of the party’s top fundraisers and dignitaries, the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat in Palm Beach represented a chance to regroup after a series of devastating losses in recent months that cost the GOP the White House and its Senate majority.
What attendees got instead was an airing of old grievances by Trump, who nearly three months after leaving Washington remains fixated on relitigating his loss in the 2020 presidential election and advancing his feuds with Republicans whom he sees as insufficiently loyal.
Among his most notable targets was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to one source with knowledge of Trump’s speech to donors. The former president railed against McConnell, calling the Senate’s most powerful Republican a “dumb son of a bitch” and bashing him for acknowledging President Biden’s victory.
He also attacked Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia who made an enemy of Trump last year when he rejected the former president’s pleas to reverse the outcome of the presidential election in the Peach State. Trump has vowed to back a primary challenge to Kemp ahead of his reelection bid next year.
Trump also said that he remains disappointed with former Vice President Pence for not doing more to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results by Congress in January, according to a Politico report. The former president has repeatedly insisted that the presidential contest was rigged against him, claiming that widespread voter fraud and systemic irregularities were responsible for his loss despite the courts dismissing multiple lawsuits brought by Republicans challenging the results.
Trump remains the most influential Republican in the country and commands the continued support of a loyal voter base that appreciates his willingness to attack his political enemies, including those in his own party.
But some Republicans have grown weary with the intraparty feuds and argue that Trump’s attacks too often detract from a unified conservative argument against Democratic control in Washington.
One Republican who was briefed on Trump’s remarks on Saturday expressed frustration with the former president’s fixation on fellow Republicans, arguing that he should be directing “100 percent” of his energy on countering Biden and congressional Democrats.
“He’s still going after [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and all of them,” the Republican said. “All this other stuff though complicates things ... it makes the message less clear.”
Republicans need to gain just five seats in the House and only one in the Senate next year to recapture their majorities in Congress.
But redistricting delays due to the coronavirus pandemic have created at least some uncertainty about the House map, and Republicans are facing a more challenging Senate map than Democrats are. The GOP is defending 20 seats in the upper chamber compared to only 14 for Democrats, and several of those seats are in expensive and ultra-competitive battleground states, like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida.
At the same time, Trump’s vow to support primary challenges to GOP incumbents who have broken with him sets the stage for a series of bitter and uncertain nominating contests that will pit the former president’s political operation against that of the Republican Party.
Last week, the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with McConnell, endorsed Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) 2022 reelection bid, setting up a fight with Trump, who pledged to oust Murkowski after she voted in February to convict him in his second Senate impeachment trial.
metmike: Trump is going after people that did not support his fake Biden steal narrative. A guaranteed/100% losing position and gift to the democrats. The dems are hoping for Trump to be exactly like this.
IMO, Biden, et al are doing more to unite the pubs electorate than Trump could ever do to divide them. Trump will fade into obscurity sooner, rather than later.
His ideas/policies are great, his leadership/personal presentation sux. This party will probably never see another Reagan, but we only have to do slightly better than Biden, so the bar is pretty damn low.
Pretty telling.
The main thing uniting the republicans is the horrible leader of the opposing party............not their leader.
The main thing uniting the democrats is the horrible leader of the opposing party.......not their leader.
This is not me trying to make it sound interesting, it's a stone cold fact/reality.
In November 2020, what people saw on the ballet was:
1. Donald J. Trump
2. Not Donald J. Trump
Not Donald J. Trump won, then Donald J. Trump did the most diabolical thing in the history of presidents which makes him an order of magnitude more toxic to the republican party then he was when he lost.
Enough so that in future elections, the democrats are hoping for this on the ballet
1. Supported by Donald J. Trump
2. Not supported by Donald J Trump
Trump is hoping exactly for this.....................to have enough influence that he influences the minds of republicans at the voting booth. That is exactly what the democrats are hoping the most for too because its exactly what got them the White House and Senate.
Trump sees himself as the Messiah. The reality is that he's the biggest gift in history to the democrats. Trump's ego won't let him shut up, so the amount of vindictive damage he can do to the republicans he hates is pretty great................even with Biden as a bumbling president with some(not all) bad policies.
Voting GOP for POTUS used to be a near given for me as I did just that 1984-2012 (8 in a row with almost no hesitation). Trump drastically and suddenly changed that in 2016 with NO hesitation. Now I’m wondering when I’ll vote GOP again. It isn’t just Trump, himself, that I would never vote for. It is also those in the GOP that are openly big supporters of him will make me hesitate bigtime. That certainly includes anyone openly supporting the big lie about the 2020 election. I could not see myself supporting anyone doing that. That is pretty much a nonstarter for me.
The GOP is no longer the same for me. A large part of it now has an element of toxicity to it that makes me cringe. Either it changes back to the way it was before Trump or else I will not ever go back to it the way I used to for POTUS. I guarantee that there are many millions of right of center/moderate voters thinking similarly.
Not voting GOP in the near future wouldn't necessarily mean voting Dem by the way.
WxFollowers views might not seem a big deal for many here that are republicans forever but they reflect the thoughts of MANY millions of republicans.
Whether you agree with him personally is one thing. Whether you recognize the profound significance to the reality of what he says is another.
So added to Trump uniting the dems, we have him repelling/turning off millions of republicans.
You can take this to the bank: The more involved that Trump is in the republican party the next couple of years, the more that he WILL hurt it.
He's that toxic and there's no way to change anybody's views about him because he defined himself very clearly the last 3 months of being in office. This is what everybody will remember him for, no matter what happens in the future. His legacy is entirely anchored by those last 3 months.
You might not like it but that will never change NO MATTER WHAT.
All the smart people in the republican party know this with certainty but can't come out and say it. They would do anything to get Trump to go away. This would be the best case scenario if republicans want to maximize unity.
————-
It’s true that Larry has always hated Trump. .......but now, thanks to his actions after the election, many millions more feel that way.....and though I vehemently oppose that destructive emotion....hate, I understand why people feel that way about trump......but wish they could get over that part.
His toxicity to the Republican Party is way off the charts compared to any other person in US political history.
well Trump is gone. Trump will never run again. Can we get over Trump now? Larry is doing exactly what
Cnn and every other lib msm has done for 5 years. Trump, Trump. Trump. Why because they got rich doing it. They could not beat Trump policies, not by a mile. So they, with Trumps help of course, killed the man. Made him poison. Made his kids, no matter how smart, well spoken and clean cut they were poison. Made his wife, one of the most beautiful, intelligent, well mannered and dressed first ladies in history poison. All poison whether true or not day after day, month after month poison. So Larry has a choice next election he can vote for another lost ball lib or go back to his original game plan and vote good policy {for the most part} and vote for the Gov of Florida, likely our next President.
"well Trump is gone. Trump will never run again. Can we get over Trump now?"
Smart republicans that know what needs to be done to win.....only wish that he was gone but it ain't so............not by a long shot mcfarm!
MM, you are a very smart man. But in this case you are wrong. Trump will never run again, he is done. I will buy you a steak dinner if he runs for President. His time has passed and yes much of the reason is him but does not matter he is done. Do hope the next R has his guts but not his gruff. I enjoyed most of the time when he was on stage but certainly not all of it.
mcfarm,
Where did I ever say that Trump was going to run again?
I sent my comments to start this thread, then I referred them to you again in my last comment and here we go for the 3rd time.
Are you even reading my posts in this thread?
Please read the comments from the start of this thread.
Where are you getting this from?
Trump is fading, and by years end will likely be a weird memory. The MSM will do everything in their power to keep him front and center, and I am sure there are some who will feel the need to view him as significant, but he's now the loud mouthed drunk at the end of the bar with all the significance that entails.
don't really know but I was thinking you had him all in for running again
Thanks mcfarm!
Tim you might be right. You might want to check with tens of millions of other republicans that disagree with you..
I sincerely doubt there are 10's of millions, tho I'm sure the left and the MSM want to portray it that way. Trump as "The Face Of the Republican Party" is a winning image for them. I'm sure there are lots of "Die Hards", but most/all will latch on to the next leading contender with a decent message. "America First" is a compeling concept to many. Sadly, it's viewed as xenophobic and racist by many on the left. That's a topic worthy of lengthy discussion.
"I sincerely doubt there are 10's of millions, tho I'm sure the left and the MSM want to portray it that way."
I am not from the left but am about data. Here's some:
“This is the truest Trump believers,” Rove said. “And for him to only get 55 percent says he is losing strength because he’s not introducing something new. He’s losing strength whether he recognizes it.”
The CPAC poll stands in contrast to other recent findings. A Politico/Morning Consult poll taken from February 19 to 22 found that Trump had a 79 percent approval rating among Republicans, higher than the 69 percent of support seen for congressional Republicans and an abysmal 34 percent for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
A Suffolk University/USA Today poll found that 46 percent of Trump voters surveyed would leave the party in favor of a Trump-created third party if he took that route. (Trump said at CPAC that he would not create a splinter party.) Half of them want the GOP to take a stronger pro-Trump stance.
Another Politico/Morning Consult poll taken from February 14 to 15, after his second impeachment trial, found similar support to the CPAC straw poll — 54 percent said they would support a Trump bid in the 2024 primary, and 59 percent said he should play a major role in the party going forward. But the nearly identical CPAC finding is surprising given Trump’s popularity at the event, which brings together some of the most dedicated factions of the GOP base.
While the CPAC poll numbers were a bit lower than the approval Trump has enjoyed in other polls, he still holds a significant majority over other potential 2024 competitors, and widespread approval among his base.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished second in the straw poll, with 21 percent choosing him as their first-choice candidate — a potential nod to DeSantis’s popularity in the Orlando event’s host state. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem finished in a distant third, with 4 percent.
In a poll that did not include the former president, DeSantis and Noem bested third-place finisher Donald Trump Jr. and fourth-place candidate Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state, suggesting CPAC attendees may be interested in new — albeit pro-Trump — blood, as opposed to Trump’s family and former administration officials.
metmike: I think you may be right Tim, that Trump might fade away because he won't be in our face every day like he was while in the White House. However, there are too many unknowns between now and the election to know what his influence will be, other than...............it would be a disaster for his party if he ran again.
What do you think?
Three months is forever in politics. 3 years?