Donald Trump at war with fellow Republicans as he eyes new White House run
- The ex-president called Ron DeSantis, his main threat in the party, ‘DeSanctimonious’, and said another potential rival’s name ‘sounds Chinese’
- Trump is expected to announce his 2024 candidacy within days, but Republicans are blaming him for their weaker-than-expected midterms performance
Days before he is expected to launch another White House run, Donald Trump is again at war with his own party, angrily denouncing potential rivals, airing old grievances and acting more like the insurgent who stormed to victory six years ago than a former president.
The former one-term president has slapped the man seen as his main threat, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, with the label “DeSanctimonious” and tried out a nickname with a racist tone for Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin as he looks to ward off any challengers for his party’s 2024 nomination.
For Trump, who has long viewed himself as a wrecking ball within the party, it’s much same playbook he ran in his successful 2016 campaign and in his failed 2020 re-election bid.
But it comes as a growing chorus of Republicans are blaming him for their weaker-than-expected performance in Tuesday’s congressional elections and when Trump may need to build support across the party rather than drive it away.
Erstwhile Republican luminaries such as former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former congressman Paul Ryan and conservative outlets such as Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal have criticised Trump for injecting himself into the midterms, arguing that his involvement spurred Democratic turnout and alienated independent voters.
