- Candace Owens said on her Daily Wire show that Donald Trump was rude to her.
- The conservative firebrand said the experience made her "question him as a person."
Candace Owens, speaking on her Daily Wire show after the midterms, said that former President Donald Trump being rude to her made her question for the "first time" what kind of person he is.
Owens, who once referred to Trump as "the savior" of the free world, described how the former president "actually got upset" with her following an interview with him in which he defended COVID-19 vaccines.
After the interview in December 2021, Owens defended him in an Instagram video, saying that people often forget "how old Trump is" and that he comes from a generation who "came from a time before TV, before the internet, before being able to conduct independent research."
The Daily Beast covered it, headlining the story: "Candace Owens: Trump Is Pro-Vax Because He's 'Too Old' to Understand the Internet."
—Yashar Ali یاشار (@yashar) November 12, 2022
In her monologue on her Daily Wire show this week, Owen's said she was sharing the "personal story" because "it's something that made me for the first time question him as a person."
The conservative firebrand went on to say that Trump twisted a "completely kind and fair interview."
"That is not being a leader, that is not owning things that you did wrong, that is not owning that you misunderstood something about your base," she said. "That's not growing, that's not developing."
Owens said that was the moment she realized he was "not listening" and made her question if he was becoming "too angry."
Owens said that in previous elections, Trump was "having fun," and "the energy, it was electric." However, she said after the 2020 election, he is in "an angry space" and has become paranoid.
She repeated that "he was so rude to me."
Owens said that there are conversations going on behind Trump's back that deserve to go public. She suggested he is "holding onto a vengeful spirit" and questioned if he has a vision for 2024. "It needs to be more than, 'I'm back,'" she said.
Trump is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid imminently, but The Guardian reported that some advisors and allies are urging him to delay it.
Owens said there's a sense of "trepidation" in Trump, which, she added, was evidenced in him taking a swing at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week. In a flurry of posts on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump called DeSantis an "average Republican governor" and referred to him as "Ron DeSanctimonious."
Trump endorsed more than 330 GOP candidates running for both state and federal offices in this election cycle, but several high-profile candidates lost or badly underperformed in the midterm elections.
Owens said Trump needs to exercise "a little more humility" when he gets something wrong, adding that the midterm results, which saw Democrats maintain control of the Senate, show that Trump and his base are "not sure."