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Some of Trump's longtime allies are refusing to back him as he is poised to launch a presidential campaign

Nov 15, 2022, 18:24 IST
Business Insider
Donald Trump speaks to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during an event about judicial confirmations in the East Room of the White House on November 6, 2019 in Washington, DC.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
  • Ex-allies of Donald Trump are sounding lukewarm at best over his 2024 candidacy.
  • Trump has teased November 15 as the date to announce a presidential run.
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Former President Donald Trump has been teasing November 15 as the date of his much-anticipated announcement of a 2024 presidential bid.

But in the run up to the date, and in the wake of the Republican Party's dismal showing in the midterm elections, even some of the president's staunchest allies are sounding less than enthusiastic about the prospect.

When asked by Politico on Monday if he would endorse a Trump 2024 presidential bid, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina declined.

"Let's see what he says … I'll tell you after Georgia," said Graham, referencing the Georgia senate runoff between GOP candidate Hershcel Walker and his Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock.

Graham has long been among Trump's key Senate allies — breaking with Trump briefly after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot only to declare support for him again as the former president's popularity with the GOP base held firm.

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"It would be a bad mistake for the Republicans to have Donald Trump as their nominee in 2024," said Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, previously a close congressional ally of Trump, when speaking to Al.com over the weekend.

"Donald Trump has proven himself to be dishonest, disloyal, incompetent, crude and a lot of other things that alienate so many independents and Republicans. Even a candidate who campaigns from his basement can beat him."

Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump administration's former press secretary, also sounded skeptical that Trump should press ahead with plans for the announcement in an interview last week. Unlike many former Trump staffers, McEnany has mostly been supportive of the former president.

Nonetheless, she told Fox News that: "I think he needs to put it on pause. Absolutely."

Behind the scenes, some of the former president's advisors are also reportedly urging him to put the announcement on hold, at least until after the runoff in Georgia.

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Others, though, want him to go ahead, and believe that cancelling the announcement now would be humiliating.

Sources told CBS News that despite concerns, Trump would be going ahead with Tuesday's announcement.

The former president put his support behind hundreds of candidates in the midterms last week, most of whom endorsed his bogus election fraud claims, and was planning on using their success as a springboard to launch his own candidacy.

But in key Senate races in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada his candidates were defeated — meaning that the Democrats retained control of the Senate, defying predictions of an electoral rout. In the House, Republican expectations of a sweeping success was also dashed, with the party projected to hold only a slender majority as of early Tuesday.

Some Republican critics say Trump's fixation on his election fraud "Big Lie", and the extreme beliefs of many of his candidates were behind the failure.

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Some are now publicly backing Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor, who won reelection in a landslide last week and has been the target of social media attacks by Trump ever since.

"The question is: who is the current leader of the Republican Party? Oh, I know who it is: Ron DeSantis," Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican told Politico. "Ron DeSantis is the leader of the Republican Party, whether he wants to be or not."

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