Donald Trump seemed bullish on the eve of the midterm elections in Nov. He was preparing to launch his bid for the presidency in 2024.
He was poised for credit for what many thought would be huge Republican victories in the midterms and was intensifying attacks on President Joe Biden and Republican rivals.
Trump’s political standing is deteriorating as 2017 draws to a close. Former allies and senior Republicans are calling for the Republican Party not to elect a 2024 candidate or risk losing their support.
Insiders examined the attacks by Trump’s former allies as the 2024 primaries were near.
Bill Barr, an attorney general, broke with Trump in his bid to reverse the 2020 election.
Barr was considered one of Trump’s most trusted allies and the funniest official during his tenure as attorney general in 2019-2020.
He was a crucial part of preventing legal scandals from engulfing Trump, including the 2019 release by Robert Mueller, the special counsel on Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Barr published a memoir in March in which he was harshly critical of his former boss. He also stated that he opposed Trump’s attempt to hold on to power after his defeat in 2020.
He has also criticized Trump for taking government records to Mar-a-Lago with him after he left office. In a New York Post article, he called on Trump’s Republican Party to abandon Trump after the midterms.
Barr wrote that Trump was the most unlikely to win the general election out of the current crop.
Mike Pence, an ultra-loyal vice president who became more vocal in his opposition to Trump
Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, played a significant role in attracting conservative evangelical voters, who made up a large part of Trump’s support.
Trump was furious at his refusal to assist Trump in his bid to reverse his 2020 election defeat.
Hardline Trump supporters hated Pence, and some chanted for him to be executed during the attack at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Pence fled with other members of Congress.
In the aftermath of the riot, Pence mostly refused to criticize Trump. However, rumors exist that he may be considering a rival presidential run.
Pence recently spoke out about Trump’s actions and words on January 6, 2021, in an interview with ABC News.
Pence stated that the president’s words at the rally “endangered me, my family, and everyone at Capitol.”
Mike Pompeo, the ex-secretary of state, takes swipes at Trump from far
As secretary of state, Pompeo represented Trump’s “America First” foreign-policy agenda on the international stage.
He’s also rumored as a possible 2024 rival to Trump, like Pence. Although Pompeo has not criticized Trump directly, he has made jibes at him.
“We were told that we would get tired of winning. But I’m tired of losing. “And so are most Republicans,” Pompeo tweeted following the midterms. He responded to Trump’s claim that Republicans would be so successful under his leadership they’d tire of winning, echoing Trump’s 2016 campaign boast.
He also criticized Trump’s recent dinner in New York with Ye and Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist. Pompeo tweeted, “We stand by the Jewish people in fighting against the oldest bigotry in the world.”
Chris Christie, a former confidant, now claims Trump is dragging down the GOP.
Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, was one of the first prominent Republicans who endorsed Trump in 2015 when he launched his insurgent campaign for the presidency.
After Trump’s 2016 victory, Christie was fired from his transition team, apparently at Jared Kushner’s request. Kushner’s father, Christie, had been a prosecutor.
Christie has been a frequent critic of on cable-news programs of Trump and has described him as a serial loser after the midterms.
“We all recall that he stated in 2016 that if he were elected, there would be so many winning and losing and winning that they would get tired of winning,” Christie said recently on ABC. “None of us realized at the time that he was referring to the Democrats.”
Stephanie Grisham was the press secretary who resigned following the Capitol riot.
Grisham was Melania Trump’s White House Press Secretary and a top aide.
After the Capitol riot, she left the White House and published damaging information behind the scenes about Trump in her October 2021 memoir. Now, she is a frequent critic of Trump on cable TV.
She said that she regretted working for Trump and called for the GOP’s disengagement from Trump after the midterm elections.
“The Republican Party needs to take a deep look at itself right now to decide if they will go with the voters who hire them or if they will go with Donald Trump. In November, she spoke out to CNN.
John Bolton, a former national security adviser who believes a second Trump term is “unacceptable,” says
Bolton was Trump’s national security adviser and advocated a hawkish strategy against threats from adversaries like Iran and Venezuela.
Shortly after he departed from office, he turned against Trump and wrote in 2020 about the chaos and dysfunction of Trump’s administration.
Bolton also criticized Trump for his midterm failures and suggested that he could run his presidential campaign in 2024 to stop Trump’s bid.
Bolton recently stated to NBC News, “There is one thing that would make me enter the presidential race,” which he had looked at in previous elections. It would make it evident to the country’s citizens that Donald Trump is not acceptable as the Republican nominee.”
