Gaelen Morse | Reuters WASHINGTON — As former President Donald Trump prepares for Tuesday’s scheduled launch of his 2024 presidential campaign, he issued new sides against two Republican governors who have emerged as early favorites to challenge him for his party’s nomination: Gov. Florida Ron DeSandis and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. Trump’s attacks came as many Republican officials across the country laid the blame for their party’s disappointing results in Tuesday’s election squarely at Trump’s doorstep. “‘You are fired!’ That’s the message Republicans need to send to Donald Trump. As soon as possible!” said New York Republican Rep. Pete King, a longtime Trump supporter. “He held rallies where he shouted endlessly about himself, complained about the 2020 election and attacked other Republicans. It was Trump’s ego first, last and always,” King tweeted Thursday. Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Trump’s support of the candidates did not help them in the general election. “Supporting Trump comes at a cost. The cost is that it minimizes your ability to attract independents and win in November,” Hutchinson said Friday on PBS’ “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover.” Trump even appeared to have lost the support of influential conservative blogger Mike Cernovich, who told his 1 million Twitter followers that Tuesday’s losses meant “at least nobody has to suck Trump anymore.” Trump and his team responded to the charge in part by touting his record of endorsing hundreds of winning candidates. “President Trump has amassed more than 215 endorsement wins — a truly unprecedented feat and one that is only possible because of President Trump’s ability to pick and choose winners,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowitz told CNBC . Trump-backed candidates did win hundreds of races in the midterms, though many of them were in districts not considered competitive and by candidates endorsed by Republicans across the party spectrum. “There’s no doubt that this was a bad election for Donald Trump,” said Asher Hildebrand, an associate professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. “With the possible exception of [gubernatorial candidate] Lake Kari in Arizona and [Senate candidate] Herschel Walker in Georgia, every governor and Senate candidate he endorsed in five key battleground states appears to have lost.” “This combined with DeSantis’ strong showing in the Florida governor’s race increases the pressure among Republican elites to find another standard-bearer in 2024,” he added. De Sandys won re-election in a landslide, defeating former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist by 19 points and earning accolades from conservative media and Republican officials. In a lengthy statement Thursday, Trump sought to take credit for elevating DeSandis from relative obscurity in 2017, posting on his Truth Social website that DeSandis “came to me in a desperate situation in 2017—he was politically dead.. .low approval, bad polls and no money, but he said if I supported him, he could win.” Trump also made a stunning claim that he “sent the FBI and US Attorneys” to Florida during the 2018 election there and “fixed” what he claimed was voter fraud in Broward County, which he said cost to De Sandys. and now-Sen. Rick Scott tens of thousands of votes a day. If the allegation were true, it would amount to an extraordinary admission by Trump, who was president at the time, that he had personally interfered in state elections. But as of late Friday, NBC News and other major media outlets could find no indication that this ever happened. Sarah Isgur, who served as Trump’s Justice Department spokeswoman in 2017, tweeted Friday that the alleged interference “never happened.” DeSantis, for his part, remained focused this week on the damage and recovery effort from Hurricane Nicole, which hit his state Wednesday. Florida Governor Ron DeSandis speaks during a news conference to update information about the ongoing relief efforts after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on October 4, 2022 in Cape Coral, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images In addition to DeSandis, Trump took aim at Youngkin, Virginia, on Friday, going so far as to make fun of his name, spelling it “Young Kin” and calling it “[s]sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?’ Like DeSantis, Youngkin is a rising star in the GOP. His upset victory over former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2021 is widely considered to have written a new playbook for Republicans on how to win state elections in swing states. Trump posted that Youngkin “couldn’t have won without me. I endorsed him, gave him a really big Trump Rally on the phone, got MAGA to vote for him — or he wouldn’t have come close to winning. But he knows that and admits”. Youngkin responded to Trump’s comments Friday in a statement shared by his spokesperson, saying, “I work very hard to bring people together, I don’t call people names. This is a time to come together.” The statement also included a subtle plug about Youngkin’s ability to govern in a purple state, a message he would likely reinforce if he were to run for president in 2024. “We’re going to have potentially divided government in Washington, and just like we’ve divided government in Virginia, we’ve proven that we can come together and get things done.” Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngin speaks during his campaign party at a hotel in Chantilly, Virginia, U.S., November 3, 2021. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Both DeSantis and Youngkin have played coy about running for the presidency, but DeSantis is further along in the process and has far more national name recognition after Tuesday than Youngkin. However, neither is anywhere close to where Trump is in the process, which is days away from an expected announcement. “President Trump is going to announce on Tuesday that he’s running for president, and it’s going to be a very professional, very buttoned-up announcement,” Trump adviser Jason Miller said on “The War Room,” the former Trump adviser’s television program in White House, Steve Bannon. . Miller said more than 250 media will attend and there will be “1,000 people there with the signs already.”
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Washington turns up the heat on crypto ‘darling’ Sam Bankman-Fried after FTX near-collapse We may not know who controls the US Senate until December. The house could be decided much earlier Biden is expected to touch on Chinese economic practices, Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine in first meeting with Xi as president Midterm results look increasingly sunny for Biden as Democrats avoid ‘red tide’ Senate control hinges on a handful of states that could take days — or more — to resolve Pivotal Georgia Senate race between Warnock and Walker headed to runoff, secretary of state says Midterm elections: Several key races are still too close to call, leaving control of the US Senate and House up in the air Senate control hinges on a handful of states that could take days — or more — to resolve Trump’s favorite candidates disappoint on Election Day, raising questions about his 2024 bid Live updates — Midterms: Democrat Shapiro wins Pennsylvania governor’s race, Senate primary contest too early to call, NBC projects Republican JD Vance defeats Democrat Tim Ryan in Ohio Senate race, NBC News programs 2022 midterm elections: Here are the states where recounts are likely Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins re-election in bellwether Virginia district, NBC News projects Democrat Josh Shapiro wins Pennsylvania governor’s race, NBC News reports Edit: The 2022 midterm elections matter less to the stock market than investors think
Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, also used the upcoming announcement to raise money, sending out sweepstakes offers to win a free trip for two to Palm Beach on Tuesday “to be the first person to meet [Trump] at Mar-a-Lago after my big announcement.” Trump’s fundraising appeals are famous for their hyperbole, and this was no exception, telling would-be donors “this announcement will be perhaps the most important speech in the history of the United States of America.” But even as Trump faces critics within his own party, inside Trump’s camp his advisers see an American political landscape that has been radically changed by the former president and millions of voters who remain loyal to his “America First” agenda. As Republican leaders of the House and Senate grappled with the changing face of their respective chambers and challenges to their own positions, Trump’s influence was plain to see. Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has been a Trump loyalist, has faced potential challenges to his leadership from more conservative members of his caucus. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, faced his own problems as four members of his caucus released a letter calling for the leadership election to be delayed until after the Georgia Senate runoff on the 6 December. The letter amounted to a clear rebellion against the most powerful Republican figure in the Senate in 20 years. “As a party, we have found ourselves consistently engaged in a power struggle between Trump and anti-Trump factions of the Party, primarily within the donor class,” Michigan GOP chief of staff Paul Cordes wrote in a memo that received by the Detroit Free Press. . “This power struggle ended up leaving too many people on the sidelines and hurting Republicans in key races.” But for Trump’s team, the theory of the case is simple. “As President Trump looks to the future, he will continue to champion the America First agenda that won…
