Trump tightens his circle of allies in the Republican ranks between insults and slights

In 2016, when he was still a candidate, Donald J. Trump said that he would govern only with the most “serious and good” people to end corruption in Washington. “Drain the Swamp” or “Drain the Swamp” was one of his campaign slogans, often chanted by his supporters.

After the capture of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the attempt to pressure to change the 2020 electoral results and his pending accusations and investigations with the Justice, many members of his government have tried to distance themselves from the former president.

Officials, the military and bureaucrats with a long history and influence in Washington and in the Republican Party with whom the magnate governed to “end corruption” now turn their backs on him, while Trump once again fights for the Republican nomination to aspire to retake the keys to the White House in November 2024.

The former president has not remained silent in the face of slights from former allies and has responded with personal attacks and insults to his former officials, further burning the bridges with the Republican elite that helped him rise to power in 2016.

Trump against his former officials

‘Fox News’the private television channel with a very conservative tendency that supported Trump during his administration and lost a lawsuit for echoing the unsubstantiated accusations of electoral fraud by the former president, has also distanced itself from the narrative trumpist.

Bret Baier, one of the channel’s main journalists, interviewed the former president and presented him with a list of “serious and good” former officials of his government whom he now insults.

“Your Vice President Mike Pence runs against him. Her ambassador to the United Nations, nikki haleyis also running against you. Mike Pompeohis former secretary of state, said he did not support him,” Baier told Trump in the interview, adding that the national security adviser, john boltondoes not support it either. “The attorney general Bill Barr says you shouldn’t be president again. He calls him ‘the consummate narcissist’ and ‘a troubled man’. You recently called Barr ‘a gutless pig.’

The journalist continued with the list: “Your second secretary of defense does not support you. He called you irresponsible. This week you called your White House chief of staff, john kelly, ‘weak and ineffective’ and ‘born with a very small brain’. You called your G boss a born loseracting White House Cabinet, mick mulvaney. You called your first Secretary of State ‘stupid as a rock’, Rex Tillersonand ‘the world’s most overrated general’ to your first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. You called your White House press secretary ‘vapid’, Kayleigh McEnany. And, on multiple occasions, you have referred to your Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, as ‘Mitch McConnell’s China-loving wife. So why did you hire all of them in the first place?” Baier asked.

Faced with the public exposure of the stream of insults proffered by the former president to his former work team, Trump responded by saying that he should not forget “that for each one of those mentioned, there are 10 who love us.

Days later, the Republican tycoon publicly complained about the interview he had on Fox in another conservative outlet: “There was nothing friendly in that interview. You know, it was dirty, not friendly at all… There were no smiles, no let’s enjoy ourselves and make America great again, it was all like a punch.”

Republicans Against Trump

Parallel to Trumo’s bluster, the list of top Republicans and former officials now criticizing him is growing ever longer. paul ryan, former speaker of the House of Representatives, said Biden would win re-election if Trump is the Republican nominee. “Right now, I’m all for anyone not named Trump… I think we’ll beat Biden hands down if we nominate a Republican not named Trump,” Ryan said.

About, kevin mccarthy, current speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republican Party and an ally who has defended Trump and his influence in what happened on January 6, 2021 in Washington DC, said in an interview on ‘CNBC’ that Trump could win an election, but that the question was “if he is the strongest to win the election; I don’t know the answer to that.”

According to other US media reports, McCarthy called the former president to apologize. He told the former president that he misphrased himself and blamed journalists for taking his comments out of context. Later, her campaign sent out a fundraising email saying Trump was stronger than ever.

For his part, Alyssa Faraha former director of strategic communications for Donald Trump, a former press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence and a former press officer for the Defense Department, has repeated that he is not fit to be president.

“Believe those of us who worked with him, I was in countless meetings in the Oval Office, I gave him reports on the presidential plane. I know him and he is not capable of being president, ”said Farah, today a commentator on the program.The view‘.

The Republicans against Trump also have the financing of the brothers Charles and David Koch, two of the richest people in America, who have so far raised $70 million to fund another Republican proposal. “The Koch network’s goal in the 2024 presidential primaries, according to internal communications, is to stop Trump from winning the Republican nomination, reveals the ‘New York Times’.

Trump radicalizes his message

Many are still unable to voice their opposition to the former president because of the political consequences they may face. There are Republican congressmen who, although they oppose the former president and his policies, cannot defend these theses in public because they would lose potential voters trumpists in conservative states ahead of his re-election to the Lower House.

“I still think the time will come when they will break ranks,” said Joe Biden in a interview recent in which he told how six senators Republicans expressed their rejection of Trump privately.

To these congressmen, as mitt romney and Liz Chaney among others, they have been cataloged as RINO’s, “Republicans In Name Only” or “Republicans in name only.” And the list seems to grow longer and longer.

However, near the 30% of the Republican electorate in the United States supports Trump and does so passionately. It is not a vote that is going to change much and it tends to become even more radical after the accusations and judicial investigations against the former president. Some processes that he has used to raise funds and pay his own defense costs.

In fact, after the exponential increase in legal expenses, “about 20 million dollars have been set aside from the ‘Save America PAC’ to cover these expenses,” a Trump adviser told the ‘New York Times’.

The former president has known how to turn his problems with Justice around to monetize them and strengthen his electoral niche. But the price has been the radicalization of his positions, the attacks against members of his own party who do not support him and the rapprochement with questionable ultra-conservative political figures who do not attract center-right voters, who could be key in the next elections. presidential.

Given this scenario, with whom would Trump govern if he won the elections?

The campaign for the Presidency of Donald Trump for 2024 is being led by the Republican consultant Chris Lacivita and the lobbyist Susie Willes, who had access to the maps and classified national security information that the former president illegally shared at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as revealed by recently released audio files released exclusively by ”.

She is also co-director of the global public relations firm ‘Mercury’, which has had large Chinese companies such as ‘Alibaba’ as clients, ‘Yealink‘ and ‘Hikvision‘, ‘The world’s leading provider of video surveillance products.

Another strategic advisor for 2024 is Jason Miller, spokesman for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and former White House communications chief. Miller had an extramarital affair with Arlene Delgado, a companion of the campaign team, with whom he had a son. Delgado sued Miller for failing to support her child. He was also sued for a stripper for allegedly introducing an abortion pill into her drink without her consent, causing the termination of the pregnancy.

brian jackk, former White House Political Director, Justin Caporale, Scott Gast, Boris Epstein, Steven Cheong, Ross Worthington and vincent haley They are also part of the 40-person campaign team that Trump has and who could be part of an eventual government team.

Meanwhile, the Republican candidates will have their first debate on national television on August 23, and it is unclear if Trump will participate. His advisers say that with such an advantage in the polls, they see no value in his participation.

Analysts, for their part, say it is better that Trump not expose himself publicly amid the legal proceedings against him. The journalists in charge of the debate will be Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier of ‘Fox News’.